Anxiety can be overwhelming and tough enough for adults, but it’s heart-breaking to watch a child with anxiety suffer through it.
It may be your 8-year-old that doesn’t want to go to school, or 12-year old that suffers from the constant stomach pains that can come along with that anxiety, or the teenager that doesn’t want to engage socially with their peers because they’re so worried and anxious. Anxiety tends to hit harder during big transitions as well.
What we see in practice is that Anxiety links in with the nerve system. We can tackle feelings of anxiety externally, where it’s coming from, and internally, with the nerve system, your bodies control system.
External vs Internal
Stress can build upon itself. More often than not Anxiety starts with one external occurrence, such as a bullying at school, getting a bad test result, or an accident in school for little ones. After something like this happens, the brain develops patterns that make it very tough for your child to work through.
The first step in tackling anxiety or worry in any child, is talking to them and trying to find out the cause. That may mean talk therapy, support from a counsellor or teacher, and doing what you can as a parent to figure out where this external factor of anxiousness is coming from. Once we find that out, we can help eliminate or conquer that from the external side.
The problem is, oftentimes that anxious feeling gets hardwired into the nerve system and what we know is nerves that fire together, wire together. So next we need to help that internal nerve system relax.
The concept of “Gas vs Brake”
From the nerve system perspective there is a simple analogy often used and this is referred to as the “Gas Pedal” and “Brake Pedal”. This represents the two sides of the nervous system – the Sympathetic side (Gas Pedal), and the Parasympathetic side or (Brake Pedal).
Our bodies sway from one side to the other depending on the state of our nerve system. When children get fired up with anxiety, the gas pedal side goes through the roof. That comes from the emotional stressors and the physical side of it.
When a child is experiencing anxiety we tend to see their shoulders come up, they flex forward and they lose their appetite or experience constant stomach aches.
The gas pedal side of the nerve system when stuck here, has the child in fight or flight mode. It’s a protective state for our bodies that we go to when we don’t feel safe or comfortable.
Contrast this with the brake pedal. The brake pedal side of the nerve system is the rest, digest and immune function station. It’s where the body is in growth, healing, and development state. We see the opposite of the worrying and overwhelming symptoms. When a child gets stuck in that flight and flight state we need to dig deeper. It’s also important that we measure and test how their nerve system is coping. We do this by using our INSIGHT neurological scans.
Every child has their own story
Each child is unique, so each child needs a unique care plan.
One thing we can say for sure though is that in our practice all of the children that we’ve taken care of get so much better when there’s a chiropractor involved to help them with that internal side of anxiety too. We need to help their nerve system switch from the gas pedal side to the brake pedal side, which helps their body become more relaxed and chill to get that rest and good sleep.
At Eastern Bay Chiropractic we are focused on paediatric and family chiropractic care. We provide individualised recommendations and track your child’s improvements after they come in.
The majority of families under care quickly see improvements with sleep, mood, and emotional regulation once getting adjusted.
We think this is the perfect recipe for helping a child with anxiety. If you can help them get better sleep and help get their emotions under control, that is going to help them so much more. It’s definitely a multifaceted approach to helping these children. They need the right people in their lives – you as parents to really engage with them as well as having a neurologically focused chiropractor on their side that can make all the difference if they’re struggling with anxiety, worry, or overwhelm.
Dr. Anna Heath
B.Chiro, DACCP
Dr. Anna is the principal chiropractor at Eastern Bay Chiropractic, Whakatane and Opotiki. She holds a masters level qualification in pediatric and pregnancy chiropractic care (DACCP), with 10 years of practice experience. Dr. Anna’s passion is educating, empowering, and informing parents about the nerve system's role in natural healing for all pediatric cases. She and her team at Eastern Bay Chiropractic pride themselves on providing subluxation focused chiropractic care from the heart to the communities of the Eastern Bay of Plenty and surrounding areas.