The purpose of this article is simple; to better help teachers, parents and caregivers understand what is happening with their child as they heal and restore neurological balance through chiropractic wellness care in our office.

Truth is, when children with challenges such as autism, ADHD, anxiety, sensory processing disorder, behavior issues, autoimmune challenges, frequent colds/flu, and such begin neurologically-focused chiropractic care they often experience what some would term “regression before progression.” While that term may be correct in what is going on the “outside” it is not true of what is going on the “inside” with that child, and that is exactly what we will explore and explain in this article.

It is very true that once they begin getting adjusted, things such as seizures, anxiety, tempers, tantrums, etc., often will “flare up” and increase in frequency. For very young children, this usually lasts no longer than a few days, and for older kids it’s a few weeks at most for the majority of cases. 

We tend to see this early on in the Care Plan, which is what we have shared with you is the ‘Unwinding’ phase. As we know from the Perfect Storm science pathway, many of the kids we care for have had their nervous systems ‘stuck’ in sympathetic overdrive all the way back into the prenatal period. And many of our “Kick the Sick” immune challenged cases have had suppressed and imbalanced immune systems from the earliest stages of life as well.

That means things are locked in deep within the Neuro-Immune System, and when we make our first “unlocking” and “unwinding” adjustments to activate the Vagus Nerve and Parasympathetic System,
this “cleaning house” effect is common to see. 

To get one bit nerdier even, the symptoms are classified in our note-taking system as Subjective Findings, and the clinical findings such as scans and the table-side exams we do each visit (temperature checks, posture, palpation, tone checks, etc.) are the Objective Findings. To break it down further: 

“Subjective” findings are those related to signs and symptoms, things such as fever, headache, seizures, pain, etc.. Therefore these findings are very much varied from person to person (for example: pain tolerance), and therefore not the best measure of improvement or change.
“Objective” findings are those that are measurable and more definitive, things such as posture, diagnostic imaging (ie. Scans), blood work, etc. It is a hallmark of “functional wellness” care that objective findings are more important and more reliable than subjective findings.

As upside down as it may seem at first, it’s always a good sign to see these changes. And the reason for that is as simple as can be – things are changing. These children with very challenged and overstressed
nervous systems, immune systems, and digestive systems have unfortunately been that way for a long time, meaning they have become “hard wired” with that stress, tension, and toxicity.

Their ability to properly perceive, regulate, and express their emotions, energy, and even gut or immune
elimination elements have been suppressed and held back for so long… that when we stimulate and activate that healing process, there is an immediate game of “catch up” that needs to happen. The stress, tension, and toxicity has been trying to “get out” for so long and been unable to. So when it can, it gets rolling.

A proper parallel analogy here is the idea of a person going on a nutritional detox program. The purpose of nutritional detoxes is to “rid” the body of built up toxins and junk. The ingredients in the detox are usually ones that are known to kick in our bodies “cleaning and excretion” organs such as our liver, kidneys, and gut. Therefore, oftentimes people experience headaches, diarrhea, skin sores, and more
when going through this detox. While those are all what many perceive to be “negative symptoms” (subjective), when you understand physiology… you understand they are really “positive responses” (objective) the body goes through.

Well think of the types of subjective challenges many of these kids are going through that must eventually “come out” in order to heal, or free from: anxiety, hyperactivity, poor behavior and outbursts, coughing, mucus, gut issues, etc. These things are all bound to increase on the “outside” as the body gets them out of the “inside” as care begins.

The real “deep” answer to this is explained in having an understanding of the Innate Intelligence each
child has within them. Innate Intelligence is not a familiar term to most, but is something we all know to
be true. It is what explains why a cut on a living human being will heal, and why one on a cadaver will
not… the living human has that continuous innate intelligence or “life force” that controls and
coordinates the healing process for that cut.

The beauty of chiropractic wellness care is that we work from inside-out, meaning that the goal of our
care is to simply allow the body to better function and better express that innate intelligence or life
force. The body is designed to heal, the adjustment just removes the interference (subluxation) to
that healing allowing it to better do its job. The adjustment does not do the healing, the body does.
Most importantly, the control and coordination of this process is governed and done within the central
nervous system – the system most affected by chiropractic care.

So how can an increase in seizures, tics, and outbursts be healing? In the same way that a body “dumps” toxins in a nutritional detox, the nervous system dumps “stress” in the same manner. If that nervous system had years of seizures, tics, and anxiety “hard-wired” into it, it needs to “get rid” of them in the end.

Now one last point to consider – the alternative to chiropractic wellness care: Western Medicine (drugs).
Drugs are designed to work outside-in, not inside-out. What this means is they attempt to “control” the
change, “control” the healing, “control” the physiology. They do not take innate intelligence or the environment into account at all.

They attempt to “bottle up” and control the symptoms. For example, take Tylenol to bring down a fever
(the body’s natural response)… antidepressants designed to control mood and behavior… stimulants for
ADHD… anticonvulsants for seizures. Each of them is trying to mask and get rid of something the body is innately expressing as an adaptation to excessive stress and toxicity. Just because it is not a pleasant or positive symptom, does not mean that the body is inherently wrong in producing it.

So when you put it all together, “regression before progression” is not regression at all, it is healing.
Many times the body must go through this to get to the end desired result, it must “get ‘sick’ to get
well.” That is why we as chiropractors often get excited when we get these reports back. We are not
callous and crude people who like the fact that the child is having more fevers, tantrums, or hyperactivity. But we understand and respect the healing process the body must go through to ever be
well again, and we know that without going down that road… it never will be well.

So if you are reading this article as your child goes through this, please know we understand. We will talk to you and walk you through each and every step, answer every question, and continue to show you the vital objective and functional findings that are likely improving with each and every visit. Please know that the care we provide allows your child to better heal and better express that innate
intelligence within them. In the end, that is exactly what they need to have a chance at a healthy, bright, optimum future.

Evan’s Detox Story:
Evan first came to us right at his 3rd birthday, recently diagnosed with autism. Like most children with
autism, that meant not only significant challenges with his speech, social, and emotional development,
but also lots of gut and immune issues.

We started with our Perfect Storm Protocol of daily adjustments, and immediately after his first few
upper cervical (Vagus Nerve) adjustments, he spiked a significant fever of 103-104 sustained. It was an
unusual response for Evan because he had none of the other signs of an illness (congestion, cough, etc.),
and also because he rarely even got a fever when he did get sick (a sign his immune system had been
suppressed and imbalanced prior to chiropractic care).

We checked him for subluxation each day during the fever run, and he remained balanced with his last
adjustments holding, so no more adjustments were made during that period of time.

Shortly after his fever broke, his speech started to explode. He was calmer, happier, and words coming
together more than ever!

Then in the 2nd and 3rd week of care, as his adjustment protocol moved down to focus on some
thoracic and sacrum work, he went through a bout of significant diarrhea that lasted about a week.
Turns out that just like his immune system, his battles with gut issues needed to be “reset” as well, and
this is how the innate nervous system response needed to handle it in order to bring things back to
balance.

After he got through this Neuro-Gut healing phase, his speech, social, and emotional development
exploded once again! He was putting sentences together, smiling, laughing, and engaging with his
siblings and other kids for the first time! Now that his Neuro-Gastro-Immune systems were coming back
into balance, his whole life was!

A few months down the road, Evan had his 3rd run-in with the Neuro-Detox and it was an important
one. His growth had been exploding in all forms, including now physically! He was getting taller and
stronger, fast.

This physical growth spurt again put some extra tension on his upper cervical and lumbosacral
neuro-spinal regions, and thus put some interference in play for the Parasympathetic calming side of the
nervous system. So we boosted his Care Plan back up to 3x per week (he had been on 2x/week), and
worked right through it in a matter of weeks!

Evan never looked back again and today many years later is a thriving, healthy, thriving dude!!!

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