How Chiropractic Care has Benefited Faith

One of the main reasons we sought chiropractic care for Faith was to help her with her startle reflex. Most people startle when they hear a loud, sudden noise but for Faith her startle can be debilitating. When she was younger, if she startled often in a short amount of time, she would break down in tears.

Her startle made it difficult to do things like being in a school program or going to the movies. It was hard to watch her startling constantly during a church service when someone spoke into a microphone. Her whole body would tense up making it impossible for her muscles to relax.

Besides her startle, we were also having a tough time dealing with her emotions and behavior. She would have screaming fits that left me and Rob feeling helpless, not knowing what to do to help her. We thought as she got older, things would get better. But last year during school, her tantrums escalated, and we chalked it up to pure exhaustion.

Her pediatrician even agreed she was just too fatigued and so he told us to try to do a couple of half-days of school instead of five full days. This seemed to work for a while. But then, there were mornings she was back to her old self, screaming and crying that she didn't want to go to school. It took all of our energy just to get her there. 

We tried everything we could to help her - from disciplining her to trying to talk to her and praying for her. Last January, those prayers were on their way to being answered.

We had connected with a mom whose little boy also had cerebral palsy at the Healing Rooms. Through her, we found out that ABM, an alternative type of therapy, was coming to Bismarck. Also, through her, we got the name of a chiropractor who she thought might be able to help Faith.

Faith and Dr. Steve

In researching what could be going on with Faith, I realized some of what I was reading about neuro-developmental challenges which includes sensory processing. She simply wasn't able to process all of the information and stimulation going through her nervous system. This left her feeling like a complete wreck and was also partially responsible for her severe startle.

Something intriguing I saw on Dr. Steve's website was two goals they had in dealing with children with neuro-developmental issues: "First, we seek to calm and balance the central nervous system.  Secondly, our program uses multiple approaches to 're-program' and 're-integrate' their disorganized nervous system."

Faith managed to make it through the rest of school last year and during the summer, we had a consult with Dr. Steve. She then began getting adjustments about three times a week. Rob and I also started going to his informational seminars and learned about subluxation and how it affected our daughter.

Faith getting adjusted during one of her appointments

After receiving adjustments all summer long, Faith entered the fourth grade a new girl. There are no more morning tantrums, she looks forward to doing things out of the norm like going on field trips and she is able to go to school six hours a day, five days a week. The transformation has been nothing short of amazing. There is sign in Dr. Steve's office that says, "Expect Miracles" - we are true believers that miracles do happen!

We are so convinced that chiropractic care has benefited our daughter that we highly recommend any parent whose child has been labeled with ADHD, anxiety, sensory processing disorder, mood and behavior disorders, developmental delays and whose child even has special needs such as cerebral palsy.

I mentioned subluxation earlier which can be a result of physical trauma like being born via c-section. Many kids with cerebral palsy are born prematurely and their birth often involves an emergency c-section. Click here to see a video of a baby being born via section. WARNING: if you are squeamish, you probably won't want to watch this! But it is interesting to see how they have to pull the baby out by the head and the negative effects that can have on the spine which in turn can affect the whole nervous system. 

 

Chiropractic care has benefited Faith immensely

Just recently, we had a reexamination with Dr. Steve and I was able to check off the following:

• Less temper tantrums
• Less/no anxiety
• Improved sleeping
• Better able to handle stress
• Better emotional control
• Stronger immunity
• More energy/vitality
• Increased concentration

Her startle has not disappeared, but we notice she startles less often and when she does startle, it's only for a moment and she is able to relax soon after. We are hoping that one day she will have a normal startle reflex and that we will eventually be able to check off:

• Improved digestion
• Improved posture
• Improved learning ability
• Improved bowel function

We are very excited about all the gains Faith has made these past four months. Our only regret is that we didn't know about the benefits of chiropractic care sooner!