FEATURE CLINICAL CARINg FOR ChILdREN wITh SPECIAL NEEdS Chiropractic approach, philosophy ideal for managing symptoms of ADHD A By KIRA BAILEy ttention deficit hyper-activity disorder (ADHD) is now con-sidered the most prevalent psychiatric disorder of childhood, affecting between five and 12 per cent of school-aged children in North America. In addition, 80 per cent of those children will still be man-ifesting symptoms of ADHD, or atten-tion deficit disorder (ADD), as adoles-cents, and 60 per cent will carry them into adulthood. Treatment of ADHD has long been considered to be limited to the use of medication such as Ritalin, with only minor references to the successful ap-plication of alternative medicine prac-tices such as chiropractic care. Chiro-practors are ideally suited to manage the symptoms of ADHD – using their unique tools, techniques and holistic philosophy to offer effective alternative and complementary management strategies. It is crucial to understand the devas-tating impact of living with unmanaged ADHD. Those with ADD have a much higher probability of being diagnosed with learning disorders and with mul-tiple other mental illnesses. They have a higher likelihood of repeating a grade in school, being suspended and failing to graduate. When someone in the family has ADHD, everyone suffers. However, when a practitioner im-proves the life of a person with ADD, they are improving the life of everyone in that person’s family, friend and so-cial networks. Chiropractors are perfectly placed to work with children and adults with ADHD using the wide variety of tools in their professional toolbox. One of the biggest skills that chiropractors possess is their wide-ranging and ex-tensive education. This gives them the ability to assess a complex and multi-system symptom picture and to delve further into a person’s history and symptomatology to weed out the truly important facts from the noise. Understanding functional neurology is a key principle in the management of ADHD. Chiropractors have a deep understanding of the relationship be-tween neurology and its effect on hu-man experience. They also have the perfect tool to affect change in the nervous system – the chiropractic ad-justment. When a neurologically bal-ancing chiropractic adjustment is used in the care of someone with ADHD, ChiroprACTiC CAre Dr. KirA BAiley holds a diploma with the International Chiropractic Pediatrics Association and has special interest in helping children and adults with ADD/ADHD and neuro-sensory processing disorders. She was the clinical advisor for Shine for Doctors, a program that trains chiropractors in the holistic management of ADHD. She can be reached at [email protected]. good things have been shown to hap-pen. There is wonderful preliminary research available demonstrating that children with ADHD under chiroprac-tic care show improvements in behav-iour, hyperactivity and executive functioning. There is a vital relationship between the neurosensory receptor networks found in the spine, spinal cord, dura, joints and muscles and cerebellar func-tion. Spinal mechanoreceptors, and muscle spindle fibres ascending through the spinocerebellar tracts pro-vide the largest source of ascending information to the brain via the cere-bellum. When the function of this re-ceptor array is enhanced, improve-ments in the quality/quantity of information travelling into the cerebel-lum are noted. This stimulates the mid-brain, limbic system and prefron-tal cortex and results in improvements in executive functioning (attention span, ability to concentrate, decision making, memory), improved mood stability, decreased kinetic activity, better emotional control and improved impulse control. There are other excellent tools a practitioner can use to improve cere-bellar function and the co-ordination/ integration of neurosensory informa-tion. A strong education in biomechan-ics and neuroscience gives the chiro-practor a solid foundation when using “functional movements.” www.canadianchiropractor.ca 34 Canadian Chiropractor April 2014
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