FEATURE – Many parents have been there. Staring at your son or daughter and thinking, “What went wrong? Why does my child have autism, ADD or ADHD?” The next flare up, the next time that they won’t respond is always right around the corner.

Sometimes you look in their eyes and you can just see them in there, struggling to come up for air like they are drowning in their own thoughts. Some experts believe that autism spectrum disorders decrease the ability of nutrients to be shunted to the brain at critical moments during development, just like what happens during a fight-or-flight response. In both cases, nutrients are decreased from the brain at critical moments.

If that’s the case, then spectrum disorders could be compared to the chronic sympathetic nervous system, or SNS, state. The SNS is responsible for your flight and fight responses; when active, it quickly moves blood to the extremities, away from the core and higher functions of the brain, decreasing digestion and increasing the heart and breathing rates. It is a highly stressful state to be in. The only way to quiet down and suppress the SNS is to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, or PSNS.

The PSNS is responsible for calming down your system, decreasing your heart rate and breathing, as well as controlling rational thought. The PSNS also increases digestion by shunting blood back into the center of the body, where important nutrients can be collected and used for growth and healing. In other words, metabolism is increased and nutrients can now be efficiently digested and directed to the brain and body for proper development and healing; hence the warm, happy, sleepy feelings after you have a good meal.

The danger is when the PSNS is not working properly and the SNS is allowed to dominate the system, and a chronic SNS state begins. Some of the dangers of allowing the chronic SNS to dominate are decreased digestion, chronic stress, chronic inflammation, decreased development (especially mentally) and healing. The real trouble begins when your body realizes it cannot escape from this chronic SNS state and this is when anxiety, sleeplessness and depression begin to set in. With the decreased function of the PSNS comes the chronic takeover of the SNS, and vital nutrients required by the brain during development will be starved.

The cause of spectrum disorders is unknown; there are some hopeful horizons out there, but experts are not concluding on any one cause just yet. At its core, chiropractic has the means to unwind the mental knot that is holding your child back from expressing their highest potential. How does it do that? By unlocking pressure put on their PSNS. This then allows the brain and body to calm down and develop the way creation intended it to.

At some point, changes to the development of your child will be permanent, and no two patients are quite the same in disposition and condition. One way of improving changes of development and maintaining the PSNS integrity is by removing chronic pressures from the tenth cranial nerve. This nerve extends from the brain stem down the neck to the internal organs and is responsible for sending PSNS signals to the system.

Chiropractors unlock joints and relax muscles to improve how the body responds and how the brain works. It can be done naturally, without harmful side effects. Many times, medications can be reduced or eliminated once the client has had proper time to heal. No other profession can claim this ability to improve such odds without risk. Simply Health Chiropractic aims to be the premier family clinic offering this service in the St. George area.

As a chiropractic clinic that specializes in the upper neck, we make adjustments to children with very little pressure and without popping, cracking or rotating the neck. Our system for locating techniques for pressure on the nervous system are the most specific in the chiropractic industry. We have many families who see great results and relief from the devastating effects of autism spectrum disorders. Many chiropractic offices, like ours, offer free consultations.

Despite the huge lack of knowledge we have about autism and other spectrum disorders like ADD and ADHD, what we do know is that chiropractic is a reasonable, affordable and effective alternative for your child. We cannot cure autism spectrum disorders yet, but there is hope and we can help.

Written by Dr. Kyle Durieux, D.C., for St. George Health and Wellness magazine and St. George News.

Ed. note: The opinions stated in this article are the author’s own and not representative of St. George News. Readers are encouraged to evaluate and understand both the associated risks and rewards before engaging in any health practice.

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