#39 - Wired for Healing (A Kingdom Mother’s Guide to Neurologically Focused Chiropractic) Ft. Dr. Nick Shelby

In this episode of the Kingdom Mothers Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Nick from Hope Chiropractic, a neurologically based pediatric and family practice, to talk about how the nervous system impacts our health, our children, and our homes. 

We explore how stress, trauma, and life’s demands can dysregulate the body in ourselves and in our children—and how neurologically focused chiropractic care supports the body’s God-designed ability to heal and thrive. 

This conversation is especially for Kingdom mothers who desire holistic wellness for their families who may have children struggling with delays, focus, emotional regulation, and want to steward their health from a place of wisdom, discernment, and faith. If you’ve ever felt stuck in survival mode or wondered how nervous system health connects to emotional regulation, development, and overall wellbeing, this episode will bring clarity, hope, and practical insight. 

Connect with Dr. Nick and Hope Chiropractic:

https://www.instagram.com/hopeindychiro/

https://www.facebook.com/hopeindychiro/

Transcript

09:34:45 Welcome back to another episode of Kingdom Mothers. I'm your host, Brandon Thomas, and like you heard in the intro, I'm so excited to have Dr. Nick.
09:34:52 Who is Elijah's neurologically based chiropractor on the show today. Welcome, Doctor Nick.
09:34:58 Thanks, Randy. Pumped to be here.
09:35:01 So, before we get started, I would love to just pray for you and our show today.
09:35:05 Absolutely.
09:35:07 Awesome. Alright, Father, I just thank you so much for this… the opportunity to just share Dr. Nick with my guest and with our listeners today.
09:35:18 But I just… I just thank you so much for bringing Dr. Nick into my life, and for just how he's blessed Elijah. I just ask your blessing and favor to fall upon him and her chiropractic, and that you just continue to activate.
09:35:29 His talent of healing as he comes into contact with his practice members.
09:35:33 And I just ask just an overflow of abundance over his… his just life, his family, his business.
09:35:40 And we just thank you so much for the work that he's doing.
09:35:43 I just asked your blessing over this episode, and then it reached the people who need to hear and learn about this.
09:35:48 And I pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.
09:35:52 Amen. Thank you.
09:35:55 Here, welcome. All right, so let's just dive right in, because the goal of this episode is really to help educate on what is neurologically-based chiropractic care.
09:36:04 Um, and just educate on that, and what support for that looks like. So, can you first off, just help us understand what is the difference from.
09:36:12 Between neurologically-based chiropractic care versus other types of chiropractic care that's out there.
09:36:17 Totally, yeah. So, uh, so chiropractic for most people, when they think of chiropractic, they're usually thinking, uh, something along the lines of,
09:36:26 Like, neck pain, back pain, headaches, you get in a car accident, you gotta see a chiropractor, and…
09:36:31 And these days, it's also also a lot about, like, what you see on social media.
09:36:29 Mm-hmm.
09:36:35 Um, a lot of sensational… sensationalism around that.
09:36:40 Um, but chiropractic has actually forever always been about the nervous system first.
09:36:46 So the whole reason that chiropractors work with the spine in the first place is because that's where your spinal cord is.
09:36:53 And so if your spinal cord was in your thumb, we'd be playing with thumbs all day.
09:36:57 That's… that's the thing that we care about the most.
09:36:56 Mm-hmm.
09:37:00 But there are different ways to improve the way that that functions, the brain, the spinal cord, and the spine itself. And so, it falls into three categories.
09:37:10 So, one category would be what we call, like, the bone approach, or the bone-first approach.
09:37:15 And that's what most people are used to, where you go to a chiropractor,
09:37:19 They adjust 5 to 10 things. Usually, it sounds like, you know…
09:37:19 Mm-hmm.
09:37:23 things are just like, you know, snap, crackle, poppin' all over the place, right?
09:37:28 Yep.
09:37:27 And that's a bone-first approach, and what you're trying to do is you're trying to influence the brain and nervous system and the muscles through that.
09:37:36 The other approach is what we call a muscle-first approach. So, that's where you get very much into the world of rehab, stretching, exercises, and…
09:37:45 Time and place for all of it, but the goal of that approach is to influence
09:37:50 the brain and the nervous system and the spine through the muscles.
09:37:53 Because it's all one active unit.
09:37:55 But the third approach is the one that we take, which is the neurologically-based approach.
09:37:56 Mm-hmm.
09:38:00 Which says that the nervous system controls and coordinates
09:38:04 every single function in the body.
09:38:06 It tells your heart to beat, your lungs to breathe, your food to digest, your muscles to contract, your bones to move, it does…
09:38:11 everything. And so what we try to do is we try to optimize how well someone's brain and nervous system functions.
09:38:20 And as a byproduct of that, some really cool things end up happening with their health.
09:38:26 I love it. Thank you so much for explaining that, because I was under the impression, probably more of, like, the crack, pop, tweak.
09:38:32 Um, and then I was introduced to a muscle chiropractor, and then you came into my world, and I was like, what? There's a whole other option.
09:38:40 So, I think it was really important that we just kind of specify and clarify, like.
09:38:45 There are actually more than one type of chiropractor and chiropractic care, and not all chiropractors are the same. Like, I've experienced that on my own personal journey.
09:38:54 Um, and just… I received different benefits from different styles, too.
09:38:58 Most definitely. And there's a benefit to all of the styles.
09:39:01 It's just dependent on what you're trying to achieve, what your goal is.
09:39:04 Mm-hmm. So, can you share some early warning signs.
09:39:10 geared more to it, because we're… we're a Kingdom Mother podcast, so you're gonna be talking to mamas here, so what are some early warning signs or symptoms that we may be seeing in our children that.
09:39:22 Would raise a flag that says, hey. neurologically-based chiropractic care may be the right approach for you.
09:39:28 Yeah, for sure. So, the early stages of, like, you know, baby's just born and everything like that,
09:39:36 The things you really want to keep an eye out for are the basics of, is my kiddo eating?
09:39:42 Meaning, like, do they have the ability to latch appropriately, suck and swallow and do that?
09:39:49 Also, do they have the ability to keep food down? Or are they just spitting up every time that something comes up?
09:39:53 Right? Um, or are they consuming something, or drinking milk, and then they're just, like, immediately… it's going out the other end?
09:40:00 Mm-hmm.
09:40:00 Right, so that inability to eat, that system isn't working the way that it should. That's a huge red flag that they need… potentially need some neurologically-based chiropractic care, and we can get into why that is.
09:40:11 The second one is pooping. We talked about poop a ton with our kids and our parents, okay?
09:40:18 Mm-hmm.
09:40:17 Because if we're not pooping as often as we need to, um, or if we're pooping way more than we need to, again, a sign that the nervous system is dysregulated and things need to be addressed.
09:40:28 So, eat, poop, sleep.
09:40:31 Baby's not sleeping, or they're sleeping too much.
09:40:34 Right? Or they're waking up, they're sleeping a ton, but they're not… or let's say it's, you know, an older kid.
09:40:39 Then they're sleeping, like, 12, 13 hours a day, but they're waking up just exhausted.
09:40:45 Another sign that something's not working.
09:40:46 Mm-hmm.
09:40:47 The other one would be, uh, something wrong with the motor system, or movement. So, missing a milestone, not crawling, army crawling instead of crawling on all fours.
09:40:58 Um, the inability to roll or to keep their head up, or they're always arching, and stuff like that.
09:41:05 Those would all be initial signs for little ones and babies that, hey, something isn't quite working the way that it should. Nervous systems are dysregulated and stressed.
09:41:16 And so what happens is that those basic systems really start to shut down.
09:41:20 And so, those would be the foundational things for most kids.
09:41:24 that we would keep an eye on, um, or that we would say, hey, there's something that we want to look at.
09:41:27 Hmm.
09:41:29 But then what we'll see is that those issues then oftentimes become big issues, something we talk a lot about in the office is that
09:41:37 Kids don't grow out of things, they grow into things.
09:41:42 Right, and so an example of that is, you know, for example, let's say a baby has colic.
09:41:42 Mm-hmm.
09:41:47 Can't sleep, can't soothe, can't calm, system's really stressed and dysregulated.
09:41:52 Well, you know, in a baby, we call that colic.
09:41:55 But in a 9-year-old that can't sleep, can't soothe, can't calm, we call that anxiety.
09:42:01 It's the same neurophysiology, but a different diagnosis for a different age.
09:42:00 Mm-hmm.
09:42:07 And so what happens is that oftentimes kids take, or when they have these struggles early on,
09:42:12 Those develop into other things, like the anxiety, like the inability to focus, like the sensory struggles.
09:42:19 And things along those lines.
09:42:22 Yeah, I wish I would have known about this when Elisha was born, and that's why I wanted to get you on the podcast, because.
09:42:30 he had… I mean, I was drenched and sped up, like, for 6 months, and.
09:42:36 He had a traumatic, um, you know, C-section and was on Pitocin with his birth mother.
09:42:42 So, like, his birth story had some trauma in it.
09:42:45 And then, yeah, like you said, he didn't grow out of these things, he grew into bigger things, and here we are at five and a half, going on 6 years, and like.
09:42:54 that the emotional dysregulation and the. You know, delays in the focus issues, like, it's.
09:43:02 You have, for me, I've just been such a blessing, and I was actually, like, crying a little bit this morning, because I've just seen so much improvement.
09:43:10 And even today, like, man, our mornings and our evenings are so much better, and he's like.
09:43:13 Awesome.
09:43:15 just more engaged, and I'm like, I have my… sun back, like, the Elijah that I love, and not like this.
09:43:22 I mean, I love all parts of them, right? But there's parts that were really hard, and it's… and I knew that that was not him, like… So, I just feel like he's coming back into alignment with.
09:43:34 Yeah. That's awesome.
09:43:33 God's will and design for him. And so I'm like, man… When I went through your first workshop.
09:43:40 the Perfect Storm Workshop, and you were going through, like, the different, um, like, traumas and toxins and stressors, and I was like.
09:43:49 Totally.
09:43:46 Check, check, check, like, more people need to know about this, whether, you know, you know, and I'll give you space at the end to just share more about your practice for those local who are listening, but, you know, if they can't.
09:43:58 you know, get to Indianapolis area, like, how do we… how do we find more people like you around the country or the world, you know, so… Um, so yeah, thank you for sharing the early warning signs. So, what.
09:44:10 results, let's… since I kind of mentioned that, what results should families see after going to a neurologically-based chiropractor?
09:44:18 Oh, uh, it really depends on what the…
09:44:21 what the goal is, and what the kid was struggling with.
09:44:23 Mm-hmm.
09:44:24 Okay. Um, I think it would be helpful if we took a step back and we hit on, like, kind of what you talked about, that birth trauma, stressful pregnancy?
09:44:32 And then we play that out, and we kind of reverse engineer what we see with a lot of our kiddos.
09:44:32 Yes. Perfect.
09:44:38 So…
09:44:38 Okay. Do you want to tap into, like, the Raging Bull Drunken Bull scenario stuff, too, with this conversation?
09:44:45 Yeah.
09:44:47 I can do that. So, what we see…
09:44:45 Okay, let's do that.
09:44:50 So, they're actually, like, over a thousand of us across the world that do this type of work.
09:44:54 It's expanding rapidly, and part of that is because of moms like you, who are like, listen, I've been everywhere, tried everything, I don't know what else to do.
09:45:04 Um…
09:45:03 So you end up at a neurologic-based chiropractor's workshop at a Roselli's Pizza. Shout out to Roselli's Pizza.
09:45:11 But that's… that's where moms are at now.
09:45:14 And because of that, there's a huge demand for docs to switch over to the type of work that we do, which is super cool. So it's expanding, and we'll hit into that.
09:45:23 Mm-hmm.
09:45:24 But when we sit down and we talk to parents, and we actually dive deep into a kiddo's case history and a kiddo's story,
09:45:31 What we find in about 80-85% of all of our kiddos' case histories
09:45:38 Or these two things. One, there is a significant amount of stress during pregnancy, or the fertility journey.
09:45:46 And so, for some moms, that's an accident. Sometimes it's a family struggle.
09:45:52 sometimes… I mean, that's COVID, and living through all of that. We're working with a lot of those kids right now.
09:45:56 That could be, you know, you get a call after the 20-month ultrasound saying you found something, and your nervous system is just wound up for the rest of the pregnancy.
09:46:05 Mm.
09:46:05 Um, there are a lot of things that feed into that, but the importance of that is that…
09:46:10 When babies developing in the womb,
09:46:13 The thing that connects mom to baby is the umbilical… umbilical cord.
09:46:20 And that umbilical cord brings oxygen, nutrients, blood flow, all the things to that developing baby.
09:46:26 And so, like, we know, especially Crunchy mom community, like, we need to keep BPA out of our water bottles. We need to avoid alcohol or stuff like that, because that goes to baby.
09:46:33 Mm-hmm.
09:46:36 But what we don't talk about enough is that that umbilical cord is also the power cord.
09:46:42 And it connects mom's nervous system to baby's nervous system.
09:46:45 So, when mom is stressed, when mom is wound up, when mom is worn out, when mom is disempowered,
09:46:51 That creates a hard wiring of that stress response into that developing baby.
09:46:57 And so, so often for the kiddos that we take care of, before they even get to day one,
09:47:02 They're nervous system is already what we call, stuck in fight or flight. We're on the gas pedal.
09:47:08 So to say. So the nervous system has essentially a gas pedal and a brake pedal, and we should have balance.
09:47:14 Between those two.
09:47:16 But what happens is that when that stress is there, it gets us stuck on the gas, and we just don't know where the brake pedal is.
09:47:21 And what should happen is that, like, again, we should have balance light with that, so if I'm going home tonight, or if I'm going to work today,
09:47:29 And let's say a deer pops out in front of me,
09:47:31 But part of my nervous system that should activate is that gas pedal, that fight-or-flight response.
09:47:36 I should my adrenaline should…
09:47:38 spike, my blood pressure goes up, my heart rate goes up, I start to feel it in my stomach, I'm like…
09:47:44 Hello! But what should happen 10 seconds later?
09:47:49 It should… yeah.
09:47:51 Guess what our kids can't do?
09:47:50 You should calm down, yeah.
09:47:54 They can't come down.
09:47:56 They're just stuck on the gas. So as those accumulation of instances accumulate, it just further pushes them on the gas, and they get stuff there. And so again, for a lot of our kiddos, before they even enter the world, they're already…
09:48:10 tapping that gas, okay?
09:48:12 The second thing that we're gonna see with the majority of the kiddos that we see
09:48:10 Mm-hmm.
09:48:16 is some sort of birth intervention in their story.
09:48:19 So whether that be a C-section, forceps, vacuum extraction,
09:48:25 heavy-duty manual assistance, getting them out, induction, things like that.
09:48:31 And this is where chiropractic really enters the picture, because if we use C-section for an example,
09:48:30 Mm-hmm.
09:48:36 And there's a time and a place for everything, and thank God we live in 2025, where we have access.
09:48:40 to these things, but when a baby's born via C-section, there's over 60 pounds of force
09:48:47 Please send them babies head or neck.
09:48:48 And it usually comes, like, it pulls, tilts,
09:48:53 and twist, right here.
09:48:55 And what's crazy about that is that if I just walked up to anyone and I just pulled on their head with 60 pounds of force,
09:49:01 They'd punch me. Right? It doesn't go over very well.
09:49:05 But for so many of our kiddos, that's how they're brought into the world.
09:49:05 Yeah.
09:49:09 And so the significance of that is that most of a kiddo's brake pedal, part of their nervous system,
09:49:15 is in their upper neck. And it's at something called the vagus nerve.
09:49:20 And the vagus nerve comes from the brain stem, comes all the way past down the upper neck, and then goes all the way down, heart, stomach, lungs, digestive tract, everything like that.
09:49:30 But when we're born via C-section or some other traumatic injury to the upper neck as we're being pulled out,
09:49:35 Mm-hmm.
09:49:38 What happens is that that vagus nerve gets damaged.
09:49:41 that upper neck gets damaged.
09:49:44 Right? And so, now, we have a stressful pregnancy, and we have birth trauma, that's a one-two punch, so gas pedal stuck on.
09:49:51 Brake pedal shut down.
09:49:53 And now we have a baby that can't match.
09:49:55 Or that's spinning up, or that's fussy, colicky, constipated, uh, all the things, right?
09:50:02 Or we have a torticollis or a plagiocephaly.
09:50:05 And again, what happens is that that ends up becoming a kid who struggles with immune issues.
09:50:11 Because when this is stuck right here and stagnant, well, now the ears… our ears aren't able to drain the way that they should, so oftentimes that'll develop into an ear infection.
09:50:20 or a sinus infection, or a respiratory infection. Things are stuck and stagnant.
09:50:25 And then we get a little bit older, and that ends up becoming the terrible twos. Or maybe we missed a milestone, or behavior and dysregulation is just… it's not the normal terrible twos, it's like…
09:50:32 Mm-hmm.
09:50:35 Why is every single second of my every single day
09:50:38 constant fight to get my child to just put on a sock.
09:50:39 Yes.
09:50:44 Yes. Mm-hmm.
09:50:44 Right? Or to get out the door on time. Not normal stuff, like, it just… everything is over the top.
09:50:52 And then that kid ends up becoming the kid that can focus, or has those sensory struggles, or has the, uh…
09:50:58 The emotional dysregulation struggles, or the anxiety, and then that just goes and goes and…
09:51:04 and goes. And so, to go back to your original question, the thing that parents will often experience is that, let's say that that's a kiddo's story.
09:51:13 Stressful pregnancy, birth trauma, tough.
09:51:17 first 6 to 12 months, and now we have a kiddo who's, you know, 5 to 10 with big ol' emotional dysregulation stuff.
09:51:24 First thing that's gonna happen is that they're gonna go back
09:51:27 and work their way through. So, oftentimes, the first thing that parents often notice is that their kiddo starts sleeping better.
09:51:35 Or they start sleeping through the night, because the first thing that goes on a nervous system is dysregulated is sleep, because when your brain thinks you're being chased by a tiger,
09:51:43 It doesn't care about sleeping, right?
09:51:45 Mm-hmm.
09:51:46 a bigger fish to fry. And so, that's the first thing that so many of our kiddos experience, and the second thing that they often experience is that bowel movements start to regulate.
09:51:55 They start to go more often, more frequently, they normalize in consistency, because again, your brain thinks you're being chased by a tiger,
09:52:03 doesn't care about poopin', because it's trying to survive.
09:52:08 Right.
09:52:07 Right? And so those are the first two things that so many kids start to experience, and then it often starts to branch out into other things, like
09:52:16 wow, my kid used to get the flu every fall,
09:52:19 But we're not getting it this fall. Or, my kid has had strep every 2 months for the past year,
09:52:25 that's not happening this… these next couple months.
09:52:28 Right? Or…
09:52:30 my kid has really struggled with coordination. They fall a lot.
09:52:35 But now that's no longer an issue.
09:52:37 And so these basic systems really start to come online, and then…
09:52:42 that's when we start to see the improvements in emotional regulation, focus, sensory…
09:52:47 things like that. They have to re-go back through that developmental process, so to say,
09:52:52 basically, like, check, check, check, check, check, until we get this big stuff that we're struggling with today.
09:52:59 But that's the sequence that 80% of our kids will go through.
09:53:06 Awesome, thanks for explaining that. And that's how I've… seeing Elijah's process go, like, sleeping better.
09:53:13 Digestive bowel movements better, and then, like, now we're finally getting to emotional regulation, where it's not a 45-minute.
09:53:21 like, hardcore… cries, and just like, what is happening here? I just asked you to brush your teeth, like… So, that has, like, just bringing calm back into our home and into our lives, and…
09:53:36 So yeah, I… it's been really exciting to go through that process, and we're only, like.
09:53:42 two and a half, maybe three months into our journey.
09:53:45 And we're starting to see those results, and so I'm just like.
09:53:49 What I find it fascinating, but two, I'm like, I need to share this with my other mamas who I know I'm not alone on this journey, and, like, there's things that… We're just, like, trying all these different, you know, detoxes, parasite cleanses.
09:54:03 diet changes, and while all those are great. there, like, I was checking the list off, and I'm like, okay, nervous system, and oh, now there's this whole chiropractic journey, or there's, like.
09:54:14 That seems to be a tagline right now, is like, nervous system regulation, trauma-informed, and there's so much education coming out, and so I'm like.
09:54:22 Yeah, this is… this is, like, getting to a root cause.
09:54:27 Um, and I think what you guys are doing is getting to.
09:54:32 kind of, like, more of that root cause, like, all of these things are great, but if you're.
09:54:37 Nervous system, your body can't actually absorb. And take on, like, counseling, or take on… some of the cleanses and things, it's… It's like, we have to get the foundation laid first, and then all those other things that we're doing as mamas.
09:54:53 Most definitely.
09:54:52 are just gonna only enhance. Is that… am I, like, correct? That's in my mind that, like, I need to get his nervous system regulation, and then all of these things I'm doing.
09:55:00 are gonna just even be more beneficial.
09:55:04 100,000%. Um, so I just drew it on a sheet of paper. Not everyone will be able to see it on the podcast, but if you watch on YouTube or anywhere else like that, shout out to our YouTube channel.
09:55:13 Um, you'll be able to see this. So, this is… I can barely see it, but anyways…
09:55:18 This is something that we reference all the time in our office. What it is, is it's a hierarchy of neurodevelopment.
09:55:25 And so, what that means is that it's the specific sequence in which a baby and a kid develops.
09:55:32 But it's also the same sequence in which they get into what we call the storm, or the perfect storm, when they start to get into these struggles.
09:55:37 Mm-hmm.
09:55:39 And so what that means is that it's also the same sequence that we have to take in order to get out of…
09:55:44 the storm. Sequence matters most when it comes to taking care of these kids.
09:55:49 And so the… so I just drew out a chime for anyone who can't see, I drew out a pyramid, a little triangle, and there are four different parts to it.
09:55:56 And so the foundational part is what's called the autonomic nervous system.
09:56:00 Which is that gas pedal, brake pedal relationship. That's the first thing to develop as baby's developing in the womb.
09:56:09 And that coordinates the development of everything else. And so what comes online next is the motor system.
09:56:14 So, movement, motor milestones, gut motility, holding the head up, being able to latch.
09:56:21 Things like that. And then there's gut and immune, which would be immune function, gut health, things like that.
09:56:28 And then above that would be brain.
09:56:30 So, that would be social-emotional regulation, communication,
09:56:35 Things like that. Social awareness, things like that.
09:56:38 And so what happens is that oftentimes when our kiddos have a struggle,
09:56:42 up here, at the very top, with the emotional regulation, or the focus, or the anxiety, or whatever it is.
09:56:48 Oftentimes we go right to there in regards to how we're trying to attack that.
09:56:53 Meaning, the therapies, the medications, the reward charts…
09:56:57 Things like that. And those are… those are great. The time and place for all of it.
09:56:59 Yeah.
09:57:02 But what'll end up happening, oftentimes is that if the nervous system is dysregulated and stuck in that fight-or-flight state,
09:57:08 It doesn't stick. Or you do it for a little bit, it helps for a couple months, but then we're plateauing.
09:57:15 Mm-hmm.
09:57:15 And then that often leads parents into going to, like, the whole world of, like you said, the gut, the parasite cleanses, the motor therapies,
09:57:23 the diets, the detoxes, all the things. And so they start to tackle the gut and immune and the motor system right here.
09:57:30 Which, again, super beneficial, I do all of it, we should all be doing all of it.
09:57:35 But if that kiddo doesn't have a regulated nervous system,
09:57:38 Same thing. Their system isn't going to be able to take that and do what it needs to do with it.
09:57:43 Because it perceives every detox or every diet change, or every therapy,
09:57:48 as a stressor.
09:57:51 Hmm. Right.
09:57:51 Right? Which should be the opposite, right? If you're gonna do a diet change, it should be productive.
09:57:56 But, if you're gonna do a diet change, and your kiddo's stuck in fight or flight, and all they want is essentially just rocket fuel,
09:58:04 sugar, artificial stuff, everything like that. The moment you take that away from a dysregulated nervous system,
09:58:07 Mm-hmm.
09:58:11 The house is gonna just burn down.
09:58:14 Right. It's hard to make those shifts and changes. And so what we want to do is we actually want to go
09:58:15 Yeah.
09:58:20 bottom-up. We want to start with nervous system regulation first. Get that gas pedal, brake pedal relationship, or what we call subluxation in the office.
09:58:30 We want to get that under control.
09:58:32 And then, we want to go to motor or movement.
09:58:35 Okay, and then we've gotten immune, and then the brain. And what's cool is that when we go, when we work with
09:58:43 the sequence of neurodevelopment.
09:58:45 Oftentimes, what ends up happening is that the stuff that the brain is struggling with, or that the gut is struggling with, or the immune system is struggling with,
09:58:53 Oftentimes, those will just end up getting better.
09:58:57 Because that's the way that we're designed.
09:59:00 When you get that foundation and things are all of a sudden able to just, boop, do what they should do,
09:58:59 Mm-hmm.
09:59:05 Oftentimes, those things get better.
09:59:07 But even if they don't, like, maybe we do need to work on the diet, or maybe we do need to go do, you know, a round of OT and help with some of these integrations and everything like that.
09:59:16 Well, once you do that with a regulated nervous system,
09:59:20 Now, all of a sudden, that stuff starts to stick.
09:59:24 And that's the cool stuff, you know, it's the kid who's plateaued at OT,
09:59:23 Mm-hmm.
09:59:29 But we're going through the care plan, and now all of a sudden, they're coming back every single day, saying OT is saying, like, hey,
09:59:36 There's a different kid. What have you been doing?
09:59:39 Right? Or the therapist says, hey, he communicated a little bit differently today.
09:59:45 He responded to my suggestion a little bit differently today.
09:59:48 Right? What's going on? That's…
09:59:50 That's what happens when you work with neurodevelopment, not trying to…
09:59:55 piecemeal it all together.
09:59:55 Mm-hmm.
09:59:57 And honestly, you moms have, like, the toughest job.
10:00:01 Because y'all are just bombarded.
10:00:04 with a constant, just, flow of information, social media,
10:00:10 moms groups on Facebook,
10:00:09 Yeah.
10:00:12 You get one mom who tried one thing and said that, like, it had a miraculous change with their kiddo, and so you're like, great, this is what my kid needs, and so many of the moms that we meet
10:00:21 I've done, like, 10, 20 things.
10:00:23 that are great things for their kid.
10:00:26 But again, they plateau or none of it sticks.
10:00:24 Mm-hmm. Yeah.
10:00:29 And that just gets really confusing really fast.
10:00:32 For moms and dads.
10:00:34 I think it's discouraging. I think that's…
10:00:35 For sure. And you start thinking, like, what's wrong with me? Like, what am I doing wrong? And oftentimes, it's not that…
10:00:39 Mm-hmm.
10:00:42 you're doing anything wrong as a parent, it's just that your kiddo's nervous system just has, like,
10:00:47 No capacity to do anything new.
10:00:51 They're just straight survival mode.
10:00:50 Mm-hmm.
10:00:54 And so just nothing works the way that it should, so…
10:00:59 Um, so yeah, working with the sequence of neurodevelopment really allows that.
10:01:04 stick the way that it should.
10:01:04 Yes. Awesome. Can we dive into, like, a day in the life of a practice member, like… The tools that you use, we've, like, done scans at your office, like, what does the table talk time look like?
10:01:20 Um, yeah, share with that, like, what can people expect if they go into a chiropractic office like yours?
10:01:25 For sure.
10:01:26 For, um, care.
10:01:27 Yeah, so the first thing that's gonna be different is you're actually gonna sit down with the doctors.
10:01:34 And you're actually gonna talk, not a 5-minute conversation, but we're actually gonna go deep into your kiddo's case history.
10:01:41 all the struggles. Our paperwork is obnoxiously long, um, because we're not looking for, like, hey, you know, what brings you in? We're actually looking for…
10:01:51 the depth of the situation. What are we actually looking at? Not just trying to just work with the…
10:01:58 the overall symptom that's bringing the kiddo in.
10:02:01 So that's the first thing that's different, is like, we're going deep, all the way back to pregnancy and fertility, all the way up to today in regards to what the struggle is.
10:02:10 And then something that we do is we use something called Insight Scans.
10:02:13 Which is some technology in the office that shows us what's going on with a kiddo's nervous system.
10:02:20 And so, to kind of go back to your question of, like, the Raging Bull, drunken Bull, and stuff like that,
10:02:25 What we see is that the nervous system has different presentations. We're kind of struggles that it shows up with.
10:02:31 And so, the scans, the inside scans, show us exactly what's going on.
10:02:36 on with that kiddo's nervous system. And sometimes the kiddo is what we call a raging bull.
10:02:42 And that's the kid where it's like…
10:02:45 They're all over, they're touching everything, you take them to Target, and they're running off into the next aisle, they talk really fast, they move really fast, they want to just… just eat all the things, like…
10:02:55 It's just like, boo! It's chaos, it's all over the place.
10:02:58 It's a bull in a china shop, right?
10:03:00 That kiddo needs to be
10:02:57 Mm-hmm.
10:03:04 unwound. Calm down. And they're adjusting style is very…
10:03:09 low-force calming down to their nervous system.
10:03:12 Because if you do what you see, and we don't do… we don't do what people see on social media to kids anyways,
10:03:17 But, just as an example, if you were to take a wound-up Raging Bull and take what you see on social media and apply it to that kid,
10:03:25 It's gonna overstimulate an already overstimulated system, and we're gonna have a rough
10:03:30 a rough go of it. So, that kiddo very much means, again, the low force, the calming down, the little instruments that we use in the adjustment room, like what we call the integrator, or the arthrostim.
10:03:42 Which we call the fun gun, or the little clicky thing. Like, really simplify it for the kiddos. We also call it the fart blaster for our kiddos.
10:03:48 they get a kick out of that one.
10:03:50 Some of our kids are what we call a drunken bull.
10:03:54 And the drunken Bull is the low-tone…
10:03:58 Slow walking, slow talking,
10:04:01 can't hold themselves upright against gravity.
10:04:04 really struggling with OT and PT, court, like, core stability…
10:04:11 Stuff like that. Like, they're kind of like a sloth, just moving all over the place, man.
10:04:16 That kid's nervous system with that low tone, we need to wake things up.
10:04:21 Right? So it's a different clinical approach in how we're doing that.
10:04:25 But most kids these days are actually a combination of both.
10:04:29 Where their nervous systems are wound up and they're worn out at the same time, and we have to get that back into a cohesive state of balance.
10:04:38 And so the cool thing about the scans is the scans show us
10:04:42 you know, raging, drunken, or are they both?
10:04:45 Where's the primary issue? Meaning, like, where's that primary, what we call subluxation, or that stuck stress and tension in the system that's keeping him
10:04:53 stuck on that gas pedal.
10:04:55 And then the third thing it tells us is how much care does this kiddo need?
10:05:00 Do we need a little bit of care? Do we need a lot of care? Do we need very high frequency?
10:05:04 of care? Do we need lower frequency of care? So we can really get a customized approach to this kiddo's nervous system.
10:05:13 Because not every kid gets the same exact care plan, and definitely not every kid gets the same exact approach on the adjustment table. It's very much customized to
10:05:18 Mm-hmm.
10:05:22 that nervous system.
10:05:24 And then in the adjustment room,
10:05:26 The adjustments are honestly super chill.
10:05:29 very… I mean, very underwhelming for most parents, especially if they have any history of going to a chiropractor, where they're very much used to, like, the twisting, cocking, popping,
10:05:35 Mm-hmm.
10:05:37 you know, adjusting 10 things, and then, you know, next time you're doing the same exact thing, essentially.
10:05:43 Um, it is a totally different approach to that. Less is more…
10:05:51 for our overwhelmed.
10:05:53 Kiddos. Um, so we think of it kind of like a…
10:05:58 a really targeted, like, sniper.
10:06:02 approach, as opposed to a shotgun.
10:06:04 approach. Where the shotgun approach, you're trying to do everything all at one visit.
10:06:06 Mm-hmm.
10:06:10 Right? Nervous systems don't handle that very well when they're overwhelmed. So instead, we're looking to get, like, the one, or two, or maybe 3 things that, like, really need…
10:06:23 attention that day.
10:06:25 And then we give the system a rest.
10:06:27 And then we pick right back up next time. And we just meticulously and tactically work our way through.
10:06:32 As opposed to what most people are used to, which is just everything, every single time,
10:06:37 All at once. But again, overwhelmed nervous systems don't handle that very well.
10:06:54 Great.
10:06:44 Yes, yeah. My technical term for Elijah was fartness skillet, uh, because that's why he reminded me of. I don't know if you've heard of that. That's more of my hillbilly Appalachian family coming out.
10:06:57 Accurate. Accurate.
10:06:55 But that's… yeah, I like… Elijah is a ranging goal.
10:07:01 Uh, and so my experience, from a mom's perspective, I love, like, when we walked into your practice, like.
10:07:09 He could be himself, and you guys were able to do his adjustment anywhere. Like, he's standing up, he's on the table, he's over here in the corner, he's playing with a toy.
10:07:19 And you can really just meet him where he was at, at that specific time.
10:07:23 And you also listen to him, like, he would be like, don't touch me there, or like.
10:07:27 And you would, you know, do your best, but.
10:07:31 For sure.
10:07:30 You won't have to want to come back. And we notice, like, he's hugging you, he's, like, engaging with you now, and so we're seeing, like, he feels safe, and so I really… I appreciated how you guys.
10:07:41 just allowed him to be… who he is, and meet him where he's at.
10:07:44 For sure.
10:07:46 And, you know, for me as a parent. A lot of times we get, like, the looks and the fine eyes, and like… and you just kind of take on that.
10:08:00 Yeah?
10:07:56 Like, I'm okay with him being this way, but society's not okay with him, and so it was nice to come into a practice.
10:08:03 Where you guys, like, also saw me as a parent, and we're like.
10:08:08 You're, you're doing great, like, this is. This is exactly where he needs to be right now, like… I'm… there's no judgment, I guess. It was, like, a no-judgment, safe.
10:08:17 space, and so hopefully, like, whether you get to come to Dr. Nick's practice, or you find a pediatric chiropractor in your area.
10:08:25 Like, hopefully you have a similar experience, where they're, like, they get this, they understand this life, like.
10:08:30 And they're just gonna meet you where you're at.
10:08:33 And your perfect storm workshop, when you were talking about, like, sometimes we go to the car, or sometimes we're like.
10:08:38 You know, adjusting in the waiting room or in the playroom, which I love that you guys have a playroom for the kids, too.
10:08:44 Um, so I don't know if you want to share any of that.
10:08:47 Yeah.
10:08:48 just, like, how you really do custom with… when and where and how you… You care for your patients or your practice members.
10:08:54 Yeah, so there are really two rules when it comes to taking care of…
10:08:59 kiddos. Uh, rule number one is you never force anything.
10:09:05 Um, so, if a kiddo's ever coming in, and they're just not having it that day,
10:09:09 We're not gonna force anything, because, like, just like you said, we want it to be the place where they… where you guys pull up to the office, and the kids are, like, sick. We're at Hope Chiropractic.
10:09:18 Mm-hmm.
10:09:20 or even some of our kids will drive by, not even, like, stop in, and the kids are just pointing to it and being like, oh, are we going to Hope?
10:09:27 Alright? That's what we want, not what kids end up… or what ends up happening for most kids with most other places, which is they just despise going to other places.
10:09:35 Mm-hmm.
10:09:36 That's just totally counterproductive. So, we'll meet the kid where they're at. So, if that means we're not adjusting that day,
10:09:44 Totally. If that means that we're, yeah, we're adjusting in the car, or in the kids' room, or in the lobby, or on the floor, um, or we're adjusting on the roller stool on top of the adjusting table,
10:10:00 They're people that we adjust outside,
10:09:56 Mm-hmm.
10:10:02 big… like, just because that's what their nervous system needs. So whatever that ends up looking like,
10:10:07 We're gonna work with the kid, not against them.
10:10:07 Mm-hmm.
10:10:11 Because, yeah, just like you said, now with Elijah, he comes in and he's showing me, like, hey, look at this, look at that, gives me a hug, which is just, like, super cool.
10:10:20 And then, but that happens with every kid. When we start meeting them where they're at first.
10:10:27 Um, the second thing is that the space
10:10:31 should be…
10:10:26 Mm-hmm.
10:10:33 totally accepting of…
10:10:35 who they are and what their struggle is.
10:10:38 So, at any given afternoon shift, because afternoon is after school, and that's where all the kids end up,
10:10:43 Mm-hmm.
10:10:45 on our schedule, at any given time, there are kids running up and down the hall.
10:10:50 There's hot chocolate being spilled, there's roller stools being slid up and down the hall,
10:10:57 There are kids yelling and struggling, because that's the struggle that they came in with, and so they're just having a moment, and we need to give them space for that.
10:11:04 But like you said,
10:11:00 Mm-hmm.
10:11:07 a safe space to do so.
10:11:09 And no judgment from team or other practice members, or the doctors, like,
10:11:12 Mm-hmm.
10:11:14 Full acceptance of where we're at, because if we can't accept where we're at right now, then it's absolutely impossible to progress our way through that and to get to the other side of that.
10:11:22 But one of the coolest things that we do see…
10:11:25 that we just enjoy on a day-to-day basis.
10:11:30 are those kids who initially,
10:11:32 really don't want to be there. They don't want to get adjusted. They don't want to get on the table. They don't want to interact with me or the other docs or anyone else.
10:11:36 Mm-hmm.
10:11:41 But then as we progress through, they start to realize two things. One,
10:11:46 This is a safe place. Like, okay, I've been here a couple times, I kinda know the gist of this, I…
10:11:52 This isn't scary.
10:11:54 The second thing is that kids are super aware…
10:12:00 of what's going on in their bodies, and what their nervous system is doing. They just don't always have the ability to communicate it the way that we do.
10:12:08 as adults.
10:12:06 Um…
10:12:10 So when kids start to come in, and they start to say, like, you know, a kiddo's on vacation,
10:12:16 And just out of nowhere, and this which means that they don't get adjusted for 2 weeks.
10:12:21 And this just happened last week, and a kiddo, he's like 12 years old, looks at mom one day, and he's like,
10:12:28 Mom, I think Hope Chiropractic was really helping me poop.
10:12:35 Yeah.
10:12:33 Like, just to have that awareness of, like, I need to go back and do that, because I can tell the difference.
10:12:41 Right? Or, when a kiddo says, like, an 8-year-old says, I feel more… I feel like I have more control.
10:12:49 That ability to see that and to observe that and experience that…
10:12:55 Um, those are super cool things that really start to happen with our kiddos as we progress through.
10:13:00 But it only happens when…
10:13:02 we have that environment that's suited
10:13:04 for them to really express themselves.
10:13:07 Great. Yes. What's the appearance look like if they are on the search for a pediatric chiropractor?
10:13:15 Great question. Um, so the couple things that you want to look for… one, you want to look for, do they have any advanced training in pediatrics?
10:13:25 Um, so two great organizations, uh, that teach and train pediatric chiropractors. One is called the Pediatric Experience.
10:13:33 The second one is called the ICPA.
10:13:36 You want to look for someone who's involved in one or both of those organizations, and have gone through their trainings.
10:13:43 Because that's going to be… typically be someone who…
10:13:43 Mm-hmm.
10:13:46 Again, we'll meet your kid where they're at, have that safe space for them, and to be able to meet them
10:13:50 where they're at. The second thing you want to look for is, do they use some sort of objective measure
10:13:57 to really see what's going on with your kiddo's nervous system.
10:14:01 And that would be something like an Insight Scans, or a set of Insight Scans.
10:14:05 So we can see exactly what's going on, and we can test it instead of just guessing.
10:14:12 Mm-hmm.
10:14:13 The third thing that you want to look for is you want to look at their social media, you want to look at their website, you want to look at their Google reviews, and you want to see…
10:14:23 Hey, does this person, like,
10:14:26 say, like, do they just say?
10:14:28 They take care of kids?
10:14:31 Or do they actually, like…
10:14:34 Do they actually take care of kids?
10:14:33 Mm-hmm.
10:14:36 You know, those are going to be two different experiences within the office, and that doesn't mean that you can't go to someone, or you shouldn't go to someone,
10:14:44 Who takes care of other people other than kids, you just want to get a feel for, hey, does this person actually have
10:14:50 a special… does this person actually specialize in…
10:14:53 kiddos, right?
10:14:57 The other thing that you want to look for, the last two things…
10:15:01 there are a lot of things, but the one would be, do they care plan?
10:15:05 Mm-hmm.
10:15:07 Meaning, do they give you, like, a plan for a certain duration, a certain frequency,
10:15:14 Where it's like, hey, we're gonna do it, we're gonna do this, this is what we're gonna accomplish or try to accomplish in this time frame.
10:15:20 And throughout that care plan, are we going to redo those objective measures?
10:15:25 It's like in our office, we do the inside scans every 12 visits, like clockwork.
10:15:29 Because we need to see that things are changing, right?
10:15:34 What we want to avoid is a situation where we go somewhere,
10:15:39 And they say, hey,
10:15:42 we're gonna start, you know, once or twice a week,
10:15:45 for 6 weeks, and we're just gonna see how it goes.
10:15:50 That's… that's not what we want. We don't… that's…
10:15:53 That's better than nothing, but we should have a plan and a way to track progress.
10:15:59 Mm-hmm.
10:15:58 throughout. That's… that's what we want to look for. The last thing that we want to look for…
10:16:05 is a chiropractor that
10:16:07 that has multiple different tools within the toolbox.
10:16:13 Okay. So, uh, you don't want just one chiropractor that just does one
10:16:18 what we call technique, right? Where every adjustment is the same.
10:16:22 Things should shift throughout the care plan, which will require different adjusting approaches.
10:16:28 So sometimes we have to wake things up, sometimes we have to calm things down,
10:16:33 And so you want to go to a place that has the ability to do whatever your kiddo needs.
10:16:39 As opposed to trying to force your kid into a model that that chiropractor's really good at.
10:16:46 Right?
10:16:47 Yeah.
10:16:48 The best way to do that is to go to the… what would be called the pediatric, or pxdocs.com.
10:16:56 And on there is a directory of, like, over a thousand chiro-pediatric, neurologically-based chiropractors across the world.
10:17:04 who have the same training, do the inside scans,
10:17:08 do this care plan approach instead of the guess and see approach, and we'll also adapt their adjusting the style throughout the process.
10:17:18 to meet your kid where they're at. That would be the best place.
10:17:22 To start, and then also using the ICPA directory as well is a really, really good place to be.
10:17:29 Okay, so ICPA directory, and then what was… was it, like, PX? Is that what you said?
10:17:34 Yep, so the letter P, the letter X, D-O-C-S,
10:17:39 dot com.
10:17:41 Okay, perfect. I'm gonna drop those in the show notes for sure.
10:17:44 Awesome.
10:17:44 Because that was my next question, is there, like, some sort of deposit of all of these information, like a database of all of these different chiropractors that are specific in this.
10:17:57 And the great thing about…
10:17:55 section. Um, so yes, thank you for… you went ahead and answered my next question, so that works for me.
10:18:02 Absolutely.
10:18:04 Um, okay, so let's wrap this up. I have loved this conversation, I just am so grateful.
10:18:10 again, just for, like, what you're doing in our lives, but just that you made the time to come on and just share with the audience and the listeners about this type of approach, because.
10:18:19 I know I'm not the only mom who has a kiddo that's just struggling, and we're trying to do all the things, and all the things aren't working.
10:18:26 And so maybe this is actually the next right step for you as a mom who's listening for your kid.
10:18:32 Um, so I would love for you, Nick, Dr. Nick, to shout out, like, your location, your social medias. I'll also put them in the show notes for.
10:18:40 For listeners as well, but just… give you the time to kind of shout out your practice and what you guys… if there's anything extra you want to share.
10:18:47 Yeah, or chiropractic in Carmel, Indiana, just north of Indianapolis.
10:18:53 The website's HopeIndy.com, you can find us on social media at Hopeindie Cairo.
10:19:00 But the biggest two things that I want to leave moms with is, one, don't lose hope.
10:19:06 There's… there's always a cause to what's happening,
10:19:11 And so, there's always a cause, there's always something that we can do about it.
10:19:15 We just have to find, or you have to find, the right place and the right strategy and the right approach.
10:19:20 To help your kiddo. So, don't lose hope, it's out there.
10:19:24 Okay. The second thing is that if you feel like you've been everywhere, you've tried everything, you don't know what else to do,
10:19:32 Or, if you're starting to notice some struggles in your kiddo, and you want to avoid…
10:19:38 the medication routes and everything like that.
10:19:43 highly, highly, highly recommend that you either go to that PXDocs website, and you go to the directory, and you find someone as close to you as possible.
10:19:52 Or, if you can't find anyone, shoot us an email, give us a call,
10:19:57 And we'll direct you in the right direction. We'll find someone for you in your area.
10:20:03 My hope is that every kid
10:20:06 has the opportunity to get or be under neurologically-based chiropractic care because of the impacts that it has. So whatever we have to do to help you find that for your kiddo,
10:20:16 And I don't care if it's with us, or someone else, or across the world, whatever we can do to help you get those changes for your kiddo.
10:20:24 Just let us know.
10:20:29 Thank you to everybody listening today. We'll see you back on our next episode.