Special Strong is giving local businesses a platform to share how their services can make a difference for people with special needs. This service provider is Expressing Life Chiropractic.
About Expressing Life Chiropractic
Here’s something you might not know about me. What I’m about to share changed the course of my life. It’s a BIG reason why I’m committed to paying it forward to other parents in this community.
With the birth of any child, a parent experiences a vast array of emotions; unfiltered excitement, unbridled affection, immense pride and pure joy to name a few.
I am a father of a kiddo that has struggled in life and a chiropractor, more specifically one that helps a ton of kids with neurodevelopment challenges like Sensory Challenges, ADHD, Autism, anxiety and more. Given my experience and the fact that I am in constant communication with some of the leading pediatric specialists in the country, I’ve had countless conversations with Moms and studied not only patterns of behavior and care options, but case histories. I don’t believe there is a singular cause for all of the Sensory Challenges that have seen a meteoric rise over the last couple of decades…but I do see patterns.
Quite possibly one of the most overlooked childhood epidemics facing our kids today is birth trauma. Interventions are in many cases absolutely necessary, but that doesn’t negate or dilute the physical and neurological toll it takes on a child and mother. C-sections save lives, but the medical literature tells us that they put upwards of 60+ pounds of pull force on a baby’s delicate head, brain stem and neck! Over 90% of the countless case histories with Sensory Challenges and neurodevelopmental disorders have some story attached to the pregnancy or birth. While the root causes of these challenges can be ambiguous, it is abundantly clear that a child with ADHD or Autism or SPD is a child whose brain is stuck in the fight or flight mode……the sensory stress mode. It is a clearly defined neurological state with predictable markers and patterns.
How Expressing Life Chiropractic Got Its Start
We, like many of you, got stuck in that idea of simply not knowing there was another option. We followed what the doctors told us to do because we thought they knew best. My ex-wife’s pregnancy was very stressful for her and my son Jacob. She had some health problems, and we followed the “mainstream” recommendations. Jacob’s birth was not any easier. After several hours of mom not dilating, they decided to place pitocin and see if that would cause her to begin to dilate. All that did was increase Jacob’s heart rate and cause more stress on him and mom due to increased in contractions. After several hours, we were told the only thing that could be done was to get an epidural and prepare for a c-section. I had no idea at the time the impact birth trauma would have on Jacob’s nerve system and development. As young parents, we didn’t know how to comfort my son. Mom suffered from post partum depression and really wanted no connection with him. She couldn’t produce enough milk so we were told to stop breastfeeding and start him on formula. We went through every possible formula out there! He would scream from the pain and discomfort. We didn’t know how to help him and the stress just kept piling up…..yet we kept following our pediatrician’s advice. At the age of 2, his pediatrician came in and said, “I think your son has Autism.” I asked him why and he told me that he had just gotten back from a seminar and Jacob had many red flags/markers that they taught in the seminar. I told him I would like to know more before we just slapped him with the label. Jacob was 6-8 months behind in speech, we could never control him. They would call him the tasmanian devil when he would come into the office.
At the age of 4, he went to visit his family in Mexico like he had done many times before. But this time when he came back, he came back with medication that his grandmother had gotten for him after taking him to a doctor there. When he walked into the door, my little Jacob….my son was gone. He was a complete zombie. Disconnected. There was a vacancy in his eyes that terrified me!! I did not want this for my son…At this time, I still did not know what I know now, but I am so glad that I listened to my gut and took him off the meds immediately !
Fast forward a few years and Jacob’s mom and I went through a divorce, a huge (emotional) stress and Jacob began to struggle even more in school. His anxiety was now off the charts, his anger and behavior began to get worse and he ended up missing 50+ days between absences and tardies in 4th grade and that number rose to 60+ in 5th grade. For three years, I would adjust Jacob on the weekends that I would have him, but it was never enough. He would go back and have meltdown after meltdown so much that they created a “cool down” zone outside his classroom that he could leave and go to after being triggered. He was always crying. It was a constant stressful situation for him and he could not function.