I attended the 22nd annual conference held by The Institute of Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP) in the city of Vienna, Austria. It proved to be well worth the visit in terms of the incredible insights I was able to gain.
Therefore, I would like to share some topics covered in the conference which I hope would be as insightful and helpful in allowing us to have a neurological perspective and understanding.
As I am beginning to believe only awareness can become a first step towards the well-being of our bodies, mind, and soul.
All of the speakers were from medical fields such as Neuro-Scientists, Occupational therapists and The Brain Anatomy and Brain Physiology experts.
The following text is an extract of what I've learned about how the developing nervous system impacts an individual's educational performance, behavior, as well as emotional and social well-being.
As it is well documented, the nervous system is the master control system of our body and the messages exchanged between the brain and body (through billions of nerves) guide the transformation of a newborn child into an adult.
Each message provides instructions to the child's growing body to provide for growth and repair of tissues, coordination of muscle activity, immune function, respiration and digestion among others.
An upper cervical (neck) misalignment can have a significant impact on the nervous system’s ability to transmit information to and from a child’s body. If communication channels or learning/ input receiving/ sensory -pathways become fuzzy, distorted or damaged - then we experience all sorts of communication errors.
For example, visual pathways (nerves that led to the brain) can consequently result in a lack of binocular vision/convergence insufficiency, accommodation, etc. And auditory pathways are impacted by hyper or hyposensitivity, muffled or intermittent hearing and this is specifically evident in children with a history of ear infections.
Moreover, in babies and toddlers, this ineffective communication may play out as colic or irritability, an inability to suckle and breastfeed, poor sleep and immunity, frequent ear infections, developmental delays, digestion issues, asthma, behavioral problems, low energy, inability to concentrate, headaches, etc – the list is endless. In fact, regardless of what the end result or symptom may be, all roads lead back to the body’s ability to self-regulate and function at a peak level.
While upper cervical care may be able to help with a number of health issues, the focus here is not treating conditions; rather, the focus is on ensuring the nervous system has every opportunity to work efficiently and effectively.
How Do Children get Nerve Irritation?
Nerve irritations (or vertebral subluxations) can occur as a part of normal daily routine life.
It results from physical, chemical and emotional stressors or, such as knocks and falls, bad posture, stomach sleeping, poor food choices, dehydration, exposure to chemicals and toxins, and stress and anxiety.
Even before these lifestyle stressors have an impact, nerve irritation can occur in the uterine life from awkward positioning of the restriction of movement, exposure to toxins, and from birth complications such as prolonged labor, very rapid delivery, forceps or Cesarean delivery.
In addition, during the gentlest of birth processes, the presentation of the baby’s head through the birth canal requires physical pressure exerted by the mother. This can force the baby’s neck to twist or bend causing misalignment of the upper cervical vertebrae.
A study published in the Journal of Manual Medicine revealed that nearly 80% of all children are born with blocked or reduced nerve impulses due to a misalignment of the top three bones in the spine called the "Atlas". Dr. Gutmann, the medical doctor who performed the research, concluded that the blocked nerve impulses can cause the motor and developmental impairments, as well as a lowered resistance to infections, especially ear, nose, and throat infections.
With that being said, even when the newborn makes it through the birthing process unaffected- the inevitable tumbles and falls of childhood increase the risk of injury to the upper cervical spine potentially compromising brain-body communication.
Therefore, we may need to appreciate how easily the nervous system functioning can be hindered and impaired. And consequently, it makes sense that more parents should have their child’s spine and nervous system assessed, perhaps just as a precaution.
Reasons Parents Take Their Children to See Upper Cervical Doctors
To maximize the child’s brain and nerve development (neural plasticity).
To enhance their child’s overall health and well-being.
To improve spinal posture.
To improve their child’s ability to concentrate.
To assist with behavioral disorders and enhance emotional well-being.
To help alleviate digestive problems.
To assist with bed-wetting and sleep issues.
To sum it all up, because the upper cervical spine is the most mobile area of the entire spine, it is particularly vulnerable to injury, making it the most common location for spinal problems to occur. Therefore, having our children assessed for misalignment can be proven worthwhile.
In addition, in the following text, I will briefly mention the highlights of some other topics which were discussed.
1- Stress is led through the immune and digestive system.
2- Gut-Microbiome/gut flora/inflammation of intestines can lead to IBS i.e irritable bowel syndrome.
3- A compromised communication between gut and brain can disturb cognitive functioning/ performance.
Therefore, when a bacterial composition is determined then the treatment of intestine with pro- biopics can have a positive influence upon academic performances as well as physical endurance.
Epigenetics: Refers to the modification of DNA. DNA is a blueprint that makes us who we are.
Nature vs Nurture Epigenetics merges these two lines of thought and explains how nurturing as well as the environmental factors can cause physical modifications to DNA. Which can result in altered functions. The term used for this function is called "Methylation". In a nutshell, the environment plays a key role.
Toxicology: A huge amount of increase in chemical production in the environment is a major contributing factor to an endocrine and immune system dysfunction.
-Compared to our ancestors who had very little exposure. Chances of exposure during pregnancy increases.
An increase in epidemics of ADD, ADHD, Autism, as well as aggressive or disruptive behavior and depression, is a result. specifically among boys.
In conclusion, I hope that this information is as insightful to you as it was for me.
I would also like to end with a quote I once learned from my yoga instructor " may we be healed and be a source of healing to others".
I've found a link of practicing upper-cervical treatment Vancouver based doctors
If this link is not active then please research NUCCA practitioners.
Comments