Natural Treatment for Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Using Applied Kinesiology
INTEGRATIVE THERAPY
By Eugene Charles, DC, DIBAK
If you investigate any reputable source, you will see that a silent epidemic is affecting our children. This epidemic is most commonly called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
1. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder diagnosed in U.S. children. While this disorder is most often diagnosed in children when they ai e in elementary school, it is increasingly being identified in preschool children.” (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db201 .htm)
2. In The Economist, “Nearly one in six boys in America under the age of ten has been diagnosed with ADHD, and a majority of these children take medication for it.” (http:// www. economist, com/news/special-report/21657021childhood-conditions-such-autism-and-adhd-are-nowwidespread-youthful-folly)
3. The New York Times reports, “The rising rates of ADHD diagnoses aie ‘a national disaster’ fueled largely by dragcompany ads that target clinicians and parents alike.” (http ://www. ny times, com/2013/12/15/health/the-sellingof-attention-deficit-disorder.html?pagewanted=all)
4. The New York Times again reports, “You may wonder what accounts for the recent explosive increase in the rates of A.D.H.D. diagnosis and its treatment through medication. The lifetime prevalence in children has increased to 11 percent in 2011 from 7.8 percent in 2003 — a whopping 41 percent increase — according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And 6.1 percent of young people were taking some A.D.H.D. medication in 2011, a 28 percent increase since 2007. Most alarmingly, more than 10,000 toddlers at ages 2 and 3 were found to be taking these drugs, far outside any established pediatric guidelines. Some of the rising prevalence of A.D.H.D. is doubtless driven by the pharmaceutical industry whose profitable drugs are the mainstay of treatment.” (http:// www.nytimes. com/2014/11/02/opinion/sunday/a-naturalfixforadhd. html?_r=0 )
5. An article in the Journal of Pediatrics states, ‘“We do not know what the long-term effects of psychotropic medication are on the developing brains and bodies of little kids,’ said a CDC official in a news release. ‘What we do know is that behavioral therapy is safe and can have long-term positive impacts on how a child with ADHD functions at home, in school, and with friends.’” (http : //click .j watch. org/ct s/click? q=227%3B68166233 %3BTeqk%2BQ621BqjXAv9R63Vd3wqBkRlQyxS7bJ Xo2FwIR4%3D)
Most respected authorities agree that ADHD is reaching frightening proportions, and most also agree that medication may not be the best first line of treatment for ADHD.
Then what is?
I propose that if the CDC is correct and ADHD is a “neurobehavioral disorder” then it looks like the answer can be found in the neuro-behavioral relationship. In other words, I believe that if we can take stress off of the child’s nervous system, then naturally we can affect his or her behavior positively. I feel that if we try to influence the effect (behavior) without addressing the probable cause (nervous tension) then the treatment is doomed to failure.
Here is a case study of Oliver (Ollie). He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was eight years old. Ollie was medicated, but the drugs did not help. He was unruly and could not do his schoolwork, and he was about to be sent to a “special” school. Ollie’s parents brought him to the Applied Kinesiology Center
ofNew York for drug-free chiropractic treatments. His therapy consisted of applied kinesiology therapy, which included chiropractic, cranial work, percussion, kinesiological muscle techniques, diet, and specific exercises. (Power Kinetics®)
In applied kinesiology, we address a phenomenon known as “neurological disorganization,” and you are probably familiar with its signs. It represents a neurological overload due to stress that manifests itself in behavior, such as lying face down when you ask a patient to face upward; turning left when the patient meant to go right; and brain fog, confusion, mood swings, or the jumbling of words. Children who experience this functional problem with processing information will often be diagnosed as dyslexic, hyperactive, or with ADHD. In Ollie’s case, in addition to being diagnosed with ADHD, a powerful clue that he was experiencing “neurological disorganization” was that his pants were on backward when he came in for his first visit.
Percussor on cranium
Using muscle testing, I found that Ollie had the most common contributors to “neurological disorganization” because he had what is called in AK “cranial faults.” Besides doing the standard AK cranial corrections, I used a soft head on a VibraCussor® from IMPAC to release tension from the dura mater connecting his brain with the skull. (Theoretically, this is what I feel accounts for the dramatic changes I see or that others tell me about.)
AK cranial corrections
In 1994, the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (JAOA) published a landmark paper proving “that the absolute diameter of the skull changed 2.2 mm over a 10 second period.” (1) This skull function is very important for the healthy functioning of not just the 12 cranial nerves and the parasympathetic nervous system, but to the entire nervous system via the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
Along with cranial therapy, treatment also included releasing spinal dural tension through specific chiropractic adjustments to correct spinal fixation patterns. Afterward, a rolling device placed again on the VibraCussor® was implemented to release sympathetic dominance from his thoracic region.
Percussor rolling up spine
These chiropractic adjustments and percussion techniques to release sympathetic dominance along with the cranial techniques to support the calming parasympathetic impulses appeared to work well in Ollie’s case and eased his hyperactivity and “attention deficit.”
Treatment also consisted of stimulating the brain’s neurolymphatic reflex, which was incredibly ticklish on this patient initially.
Brain Lymphatic Drainage
It used to be thought that the brain did not have lymphatic drainage, but a recent study at the University of Virginia published in Nature on June 1, 2015 proves that there are “lymphatic vessels lining the dural sinuses.”(2) The manual stimulation of these neurolymphatic skin reflexes along with the cranial therapy can now be seen as a powerful and necessary adjunct to chiropractic spinal adjusting. I feel that adjusting the cranium is at least as important to optimal health as adjusting the spinal and sacroiliac segments (which were also once thought not to move).
To see the video footage explaining these chiropractic/ applied kinesiology treatments, along with Ollie’s teachers’ testimonials, visit www.charlesseminars.com.
Go to Dr. Charles’s YouTube channel at the bottom of the home page.
As you can see, Ollie is showing great improvement. He is now able to sit for mandated state exams as well as sit in class to do his schoolwork. I feel that the greatest testament to what we do as chiropractors and as healers is best exemplified by one of his teachers who stated, “As a result, he’s happier in school. He didn’t like coming to school before, but now he runs into the room. He smiles and laughs and doesn’t feel like he is in crisis like he once did.”
This case study illustrates the power of what we do when we tailor individual therapies to fit the patient’s needs. It’s been said that “if you only own a hammer, then everything looks like a nail.” I feel that AK is able to give us a bigger toolbox to use the proper therapy for each individual instead of trying to make the patient fit the only way we know how to treat him or her. I also feel that this ability to use various and appropriate therapies is what distinguishes one as a chiropractic physician as opposed to being a chiropractic technician.
References
1. JAOA vol 94 No 9 Sept 1994 p 28 The Cranial Kinetogram: Objective Quantification of Cranial Mobility in Man.
2. Nature 2015 Juni, doi: 10.1038/nature 14432 [Epub ahead of print] Structural and functional features of central nervous system lymphatic vessels.
Eugene Charles, DC, DIBAK, graduatedfi'om the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic in 1987. He acquired his Diplomate Degree in Applied Kinesiology in 1994. Dr Charles has certified hundreds of doctors in AK through his seminars and DVD programs. He is the author of Precision Adjusting for the Master Chiropractor and developer of The Practice Leadership Program™, teaching doctors how to have a successful cash practice. He can be reached at www.charlesseminars.com or at 800-351-5450.
