Chiropractic Can Be A Great Benefit To Children With Behaviour Or Learning Difficulties
Chiropractic Article
Unfortunately, most people don't make the association of behaviour when it comes to chiropractic care for children. Why? Because most children don't suffer from back pain. We often hear, "If my child gets a sore back, I'll take him to a chiropractor". This is based on the premise that Chiropractic is just another of the various treatment options for a sore back. As I like to say, Chiropractic is not really a "treatment".
Sometimes it's difficult for people to connect the spine and behaviour or mental function.
It's easy once we realize that our physiology affects our mental functions. Your body is a chemistry lab that we can't totally fathom. These chemicals interact with one another to keep you healthy when things are functioning optimally. It's easy to see how body chemistry affects our thoughts and feelings.
When you consume food, that food is broken down into various chemicals, like glucose. Glucose feeds the brain. If you ingest too much glucose, the pancreas, if it's dysfunctional, may overreact and cause low blood sugar. That will lead to a hazy brain and if extreme, can cause you to faint.
If you consume too much alcohol, what happens to the brain? Not only are there physical changes, but personality also changes. Speech may become slurred, thought processes are disturbed, and behaviour may be aggressive or even violent.
Let's look at menopause. There is a drop in estrogen levels. The physical changes are apparent, but so are the mental ones for many women. There are mood changes along with alterations in cognitive ability. Depression is common in women going through menopause. A physiological change in hormone levels affects the brain.
If we look at children, it was well-established many years ago that children can be affected by what they eat. Dr Benjamin Feingold, a paediatrician, famously promoted a diet of eliminating food additives, including colouring agents. It was all the rage in the 1970s when I was in the early days of chiropractic practice. We did have parents say that when their children ate artificial foods, their behaviour became hyperactive. There was a lot of controversy about Feingold, especially from psychiatrists who poo-pooed his theory. It did work for people. This speaks to the "you are what you eat" motto.
According to the immunization schedule, numerous chemicals have been injected into infants and children in recent decades, notably vaccines. This has been associated with an exponential increase in conditions like autism. This affects children neurologically. By removing interference to the nervous system, Chiropractic can impact this aberrant behaviour component.
In the following paper, there was a demonstrable improvement in chiropractic care. Disregard "manipulation" as the correct chiropractic term is Spinal Adjustment.
An evaluation of chiropractic manipulation as a treatment of hyperactivity in children
Their conclusions: "While the behavioral improvement taken alone can only be considered suggestive, the strong interest agreement can be taken as more impressive evidence that the majority of the children in this study did, in fact, improve under specific chiropractic care."
Another study showed the beneficial effects of chiropractic care.
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