2012年8月24日 星期五

Chiropractic Fundamentals - Neurological Integration in Children


Some 30 years ago, Dr Jean Ayres identified a process which correlates neural function and a child's degree of success in school. This process is known as neurological integration.

Problems with neurological integration are evident in a child that is very sensitive to bright lights, loud sounds, or quick movements. They may have a very high pain tolerance or throw themselves against people or walls. There is an apparent increase or decrease in activity levels. Coordination problems, speech and language delays, and issues with attentiveness and self-regulation all indicate a problem with neurological integration. Most of these children are quickly diagnosed with something along the lines of ADHD or ADD by the medical profession.

When an infant is playing or interacting, their brain gathers information and attempts to organise it. If the information becomes scrambled or disorganized, this is evident in the infant's behavior. ADHD and ADD are purely a diagnosis of symptomology and not the cause in some cases.

"The number of young children entering school exhibiting sensory processing disorders is increasing every year and currently is estimated to affect 12 to 17 per cent of all children in the United States," according to the Sensory Integration Education and Research Foundation.

"It is extremely important for parents and education professionals to be proactive in the neurological development and wellbeing of children," says Chiropractor Cody Hanish. "The learning capabilities of infants and children exhibiting neurological integration disorders can greatly increase through chiropractic care."

Foot position

According to Foot Levelers, a recent survey of 52 five-year-old children showed that 92.3 per cent had knocked knees, and 77.9 per cent had hyperpronation of their feet, or underdevelopment of the ankle bone or heel bone which restricts the foot's range of motion. While knocked knees tend to go away, pronation of the feet do not.

"Pronation is the most common foot problem we see at our Chiropractic. All three foot arches, medial longitudinal, lateral longitudinal, and transverse, are far too weak to keep the foot in proper alignment which causes the tarsal bones to drop," says Cody. "Considering the importance of the feet in sending neurological information to the brain, this is extremely concerning."

Postural control

The act of standing or moving relays signals from the body to the brain and then back again. The body automatically and reflexively takes on a particular posture based on a combination of responses from the feet and other limb positions. All of this is controlled by the brain's messages to these areas.

Over the surface of the feet, there are millions of pressoreceptors (receptors that sense pressure). These receptors send information about your body in space to the brain which then coordinates the body to accommodate to the particular position.

Any disruption in this process can not only affect balance but many other senses as well. Instability can be triggered by malfunctioning responses to visual cues, vestibular, and proprioceptive reflexes, according to studies performed by Nashner, Norre, and Lord et al.

"Research shows how foot positioning directly interferes with the neurological development of children," says Cody. "It's easy to see the importance of foot position, posture, and the effects it has on health and wellbeing in the long term."





Cody Hanish, a Sydney Chiropractor and Doctor of Chiropractic, has provided this summary out of a series of articles on chiropractic care written by John de Voy. Cody is practicing together with John at John's Wynyard Chiropractic practise based in Sydney, Australia.

Cody himself first saw a chiropractor at age 17 following multiple sports-related injuries and two severe car accidents. His own chiropractic care has allowed him to pursue his love of sports and live an active lifestyle. Like many other successful chiropractors, his personal experience with his recoveries has given him the compassion and interest in sports-related injuries and post-trauma spinal rehabilitative care.

You can find more articles on pediatric and chiropractic care at the Sydney Wynyard Chiropractic Website.





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