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Monday 8a-6p
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 8a-6p
Thursday 8a-6p
Friday 7:30a-2:30p |
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The Role of Chiropractic in
the Care of Children with Autism
The November/December 2003 issue of the magazine "Autism
Digest" contained an interesting article on the subject
of Autism and the effect of chiropractic care on those
children. The article was authored by world known
chiropractor for children, Dr. Joan Fallon. In her
article she notes, "While it has regularly been
associated with back pain or headache, increasing
numbers of parents are seeking chiropractors for
children and especially for children with developmental
issues."
The article starts off by noting that Temple Grandin, an
author of two books on autism, is herself autistic. The
article notes that in her books she repeatedly discusses
sensory integration difficulties as being the core of
her autism. Additionally, a growing numbers of
professionals also tout sensory difficulties as one of
the hallmarks of autism.
Dr. Fallon describes this phenomenon by saying, "Sensory
integration is defined as the disorganization of the
multisensory input into the body. People who experience
sensory integration problems have profound and often
debilitating difficulty with touch, taste, smell, sound
or visual input. Non-autistics can often experience
sensory issues as well, such as the irritation we feel
from a band playing too loudly, or an immediate headache
from a certain smell. While these may be bothersome to
the typical person, such sensory stimuli can be
“noxious” to the autistic child and often manifest in
infancy as colic and in the older child as
hyperactivity, the “inability to listen”, or unexplained
behavior issues, especially in children who lack
communication."
The article continues by stating that Chiropractic care
should be the cornerstone of the sensory integration
treatment plan for the Autistic child. Dr. Fallon notes,
"Chiropractic care differs from many of the other
therapies used with autistics in that it is directed to
the heart of the problem: the lack of homeostasis in the
body, which can, in turn, produce a disease state.
Treatments are directed to the imbalances in the nervous
system which inhibit sensory processing. By directly
affecting the nervous system, chiropractic care for the
autistic child can begin to change the many sensory
integration issues by facilitating input into the organs
and areas of the body involved in sensory integration,
including the skin and the nervous system."
The article then explains that the imbalances in the
nervous system are caused by "Subluxations" in the
spine. "The presence of Subluxation can cause illness as
well as a host of other problems for the child,"
contends Dr. Fallon. "The chiropractor administers an
adjustment as the mainstream portion of care. The
adjustment is administered in areas where there is the
presence of a SUBLUXATION. Subluxation occurs where a
segment of the spine consisting of two vertebrae and a
disc between them, has lost their juxtaposition. Proper
juxtaposition is necessary to maintain the integrity of
the various systems that are located there, not the
least of which is the nervous system."
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