Have Your Child's Head Examined :: Children and Parenting :: Emotional and Mental Health

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Have Your Child's Head Examined
by author Roger Turner, DC

Since 1985, I have examined many patients with problems related to learning disabilities. In every single one of these cases there was a structural misalignment in the skull that related directly to the type of disability being manifested. Spinal and cranial misalignments were detected in 1,500 out of 1,500 learning disability cases.

The principle of subluxation in the spine is that misaligned vertebrae pinch peripheral nerves, causing either pain or malfunction. This principle also applies to the skull.

Skull misalignments can cause:

Pressure directly on the brain, interfering with its ability to function.

Pressure on the nerves coming to and from the brain, interfering with communication.

Decreased blood supply to the brain, further impairing its function.

These factors produce a brain that is unable to function at its full potential. The brain misinterprets the messages coming from the peripheral nerves in response to various stimuli and sends inappropriate messages back to the various parts of the body. This results in bizarre behavior, incorrect answers, misinterpretation of instructions and reactions totally unrelated to information.

There are other causative factors involved in learning disabilities, such as nutritional deficiencies, toxic diets, yeast and parasite infections, environmental pollutants and a poor home or school environment. All of these other factors can be addressed, but the results will still be unsatisfactory until any misalignments in the skull are corrected.

The bones in the skull do not fuse together. They are joined together with sutures (puzzle-like structures) that remain movable. These sutures cannot be pulled apart but the bones in the skull can be knocked out of place.

The major cause of skull misalignments is the birthing process. Any instruments used during the birthing process, such as forceps, suction and vacuum extractors can misalign the skull.

A very large percentage of the learning disabled children that I have examined were delivered with the use of forceps. Forceps almost always cause problems because of the enormous pressure exerted on a newborn’s soft skull by these hard metal instruments.

Any severe blow to the head can also cause cranial misalignment. Common causes include head injuries from falling while learning to walk, hitting the edge of a coffee table or hard chair and tumbling down stairs.

Sports injuries, car accidents, occupational accidents and habitually poor sleeping positions can also cause misalignments in the skull. The onset of learning disabilities can be directly traced to a head injury.

Sugar–Not So Sweet

Many of the children that chiropractors examine are malnourished and suffering from deficiencies of many kinds. I first analyze the child’s blood to determine deficiencies, malabsorption and infectious agents and make nutritional recommendations.

Sugar consumption is one of the main dietary concerns. Sugar is detrimental to anyone’s health, but is especially harmful in children with learning difficulties. Simple sugars are broken down in the stomach by enzymes and converted into glucose, which enters the bloodstream immediately. This upsets the glucose balance of the bloodstream. However, complex sugars such as starches and cellulose take a much longer time to digest because they must pass through many digestive processes before entering the blood. Therefore, they do not upset the glucose balance. Sugar requires vitamins B, D and calcium to be digested. If it is not present in the food, the body will take it from other sources. Hence, sugar is called "the vitamin robber".

The imbalance produced by simple sugars further causes an imbalance in oxygen and an incomplete metabolism of glucose. Many organic acids are formed, creating acidosis or an acidic condition in the body. Candy, soft drinks and other refined simple sugars will all have this effect, resulting in fatigue, decreased immune function, inhibited nerve function, decreased reaction time, decreased concentration, decreased decision-making ability and an overall decreased in brain function.

Getting children to decrease their simple sugar consumption is one of the reasons why I have such good results treating learning disabilities. Do not substitute aspartame for sugar,as it has been found to interfere with the brain’s abilityto facilitate nerve impulse transmissions.

Dumbed-Down Nutrition

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Roger L. Turner practises in Barrie and North Bay, ON.

Source: alive #215, September 2000

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