Did you know that over 10% of kids 17 and under have been labeled as ADD/ADHD? A label that they will likely carry with them the rest of their lives. Over half of these kids are prescribed a medication and that number is rising very fast over the past few years. The average age of diagnosis is 7 YEARS OLD and much more common in boys.
Like all conditions, you must ask yourself… Are those symptoms expressed because they have a lack of a specific medication in their body? If the answer is no, why is the answer to throw medication at it? Why not find the reason they have those symptoms and address the cause? The vast majority of these cases shouldn’t be labeled as ADD/ADHD, they should be labeled as an imbalance in the nervous system.
The characteristics of ADD/ADHD are impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattention. It is common to have trouble staying focused and concentrate on one thing. Sometimes they might be fidgety or have a short temper and trouble controlling emotions. Its almost like they have the gas pedal floored to the ground and can not slow down. This is an imbalance in the nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system is broken into 2 parts, sympathetic and parasympathetic. Our sympathetic controls the “fight or flight” response or “gas pedal” while the parasympathetic controls our “rest and digest” or “brake pedal”. Stressors flip the switch from parasympathetic to sympathetic and if we are bombarded with these stressors, we can get caught in sympathetic dominance which leads to a lot of symptoms such as impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattention.
The chiropractic approach focuses on “taking the foot off that gas pedal” naturally rather than “covering up the dash” with medications so we cannot see how fast we are going or if there are any indicators out of the norm, not to mention all the side effect that come with medication including suicidal thoughts.
How can chiropractic do this naturally? Well, those stressors that we are bombarded with on a daily basis can lead to dysfunction of the vertebra of the spine, whether that’s a stuck vertebra or a misaligned vertebra. When this dysfunction happens, it can negatively influence your health and well-being and get you stuck in sympathetic overload (almost like you are constantly running from a bear!) By making sure the nervous system is functioning properly, our brains have a better chance at properly communicating with other parts of the body leading to an optimal life.
At Restoration Chiropractic, we have great technology that helps us see if someone is stuck in a sympathetic dominance and help them return to normal. No diagnosis is needed… just balance needs to be restored. With gentle and specific chiropractic adjustments, we can remove the tension and interference and allow the body to better adapt to stressors. Essentially, health is your body’s ability to adapt.
This scan below is what we typically see when someone is sympathetic dominant. The color in the scan is showing tension in the muscles of the back. The nervous system has them ready to fight or run from a stressor such as a bear.
