In many cases, yes. The immune system can be compromised from an injury either at birth or from the numerous falls of a normal childhood. Axial Stability Method (ASM) stabilizes the core of the body improving biomechanical efficiency. This increase in efficiency takes stress off of the central nervous system, allowing the immune system to function more optimally.

Several years ago Martha* brought in her delightful 14-year old son, George*, who had a long history of immune issues. As an infant George had had a runny nose and his cheeks would often be red. As a toddler he was known as “Twin Rivers”. At age 5, a fever and stomachache often accompanied his colds. By middle school George had improved as long as he wasn’t too active. It is interesting to note that as a newborn, George’s head always tipped to one side (torticollis) and at 3 month’s old holding his head up for sustained periods of time was difficult. While George was able to reach his developmental milestones on time, his coordination wasn’t the same as his peers (running and bicycling were a chore) and he didn’t or couldn’t sit up straight! Martha began searching for help when George was 3 months old. They tried traditional chiropractic, homeopathy, elimination diets, craniosacral therapy, and naturopathy. These all provided some relief but they didn’t seem to get to the underlying cause of the immune dysfunction.

When George presented to Lydian Chiropractic his main complaints were: poor immunity, sore neck (torticollis had cleared), bilateral knee pain and low muscle tone. Both he and Martha were hoping that this time they might get more permanent results. After just a few visits, George experienced dramatic changes. First, he started to smile, laugh and skip after every treatment. Then it seemed like his arms and legs became connected to his core. Riding a bicycle and running became easy for him. He then joined the swim team and even though he was working his body hard, he stayed healthy! It seems his immune system had been compromised by his inefficient structural system.

Our bodies want to be healthy. Sometimes even with a healthy diet, plenty of outdoor exercise and proper sleep, the immune system struggles, expending precious energy trying to find a way to health through a confusing, dense fog of biomechanical inefficiency. One of the most under diagnosed underlying causes of immune system failures is biomechanical injury. Any child struggling with immune issues should be checked for biomechanical injury.

 ~ Susan Grace, DC

 *Names have been changed

When Axial Stability Method stabilizes the whole brain-body system, it can also dramatically stabilize a child’s emotional system as well.

One of the great joys of my day is working with children.  Children are so responsive to the subtle and powerful work that we do at Lydian Chiropractic and the Lydian Center.  One such child is Anna (not her real name), a 6 year-old neighbor of mine. Theresa, the mom, reported that her daughter Anna had been like a slow moving “Buddha” ever since she was a baby.   But emotionally Anna was not a peaceful, happy “Buddha”. She was difficult to soothe, had wild mood swings, and frequent meltdowns. Developmentally she was fine, but in addition to being unhappy, she didn’t seem to really want to move.  When she was a toddler her mom never worried about her climbing up and falling off of furniture--she was quite content to sit! Walking anywhere was a huge chore, with frequent falls.   Theresa knew Anna needed to move more, and even tried some chiropractic care, but the treatments she was getting didn’t seem to help much. They started Axial Stability Method chiropractic treatments at the Lydian Center last year, and the change they saw in Anna after just 8-10 treatments was nothing short of amazing. Anna began to want to move. Now she loves to move! She loves to run, do gymnastics, monkey bars, play soccer, ride her bike, swim… and she is much more coordinated than ever before.

The remarkable “side effect” of her increased physical stabilization seemed to be a stabilization of her emotional system as well. Her frequent meltdowns and mood swings became a thing of the past.  She became more even-keeled, easygoing and happy, with better sensory integration and a stronger immune system. In addition to the chiropractic, Anna had the great fortune to work with the homeopaths, Cindy Lategan and Begabati Lennihan, as well as Joy DelGiudice and Eve Kodiak here at the Lydian Center. Everything together made big shifts for her.  

And then recently, while they were enjoying a pleasant Sunday morning, out of the blue Anna became completely undone. First, she said she wanted to go play outside.  Her mom said okay and that she would join her in a couple of minutes.  Then Anna changed her mind.  That was okay, but then she collapsed on the floor in tears.  Then she recovered after a hug and said she was going outside.  She came back a few minutes later and said that she got halfway down the steps, sat down and cried.  She said she didn’t have the courage to go outside by herself.  She loves to play outside in her backyard, so this was a sign that something was wrong. Outbursts, tantrums, mega-pouting and crying episodes used to be a daily occurrence. But since her transformation into a pleasant, more easy-going child, emotional dysregulation has become a red flag for her mom that something is going on. Her mom asked if I could pop over and have a look at her. I found that Anna’s immune system was in high gear fighting off a cold though she as yet had no symptoms. A quick Axial Stability Method immune boost helped calm her down and feel better. The next day she did have some mild cold symptoms, but she did not get overtly sick, and she was back to her old cheerful self.

On a different occasion Anna had another strange meltdown.  Everything seemed fine, and then she just started crying and could not leave her mom’s side.  They have a tight bond, and they love to be near each other, but this time Anna said she could not leave her mom’s side.  She said, “Every time I try to go away from you I start to cry; I don’t know why.”  Luckily she is a very articulate child!  So then her mom thought, ‘Okay, what is going on here?’  She asked Anna if she fell at gymnastics or bonked her head. And sure enough, she had fallen and hit her head when trying a new move at gymnastics camp.  So in this case it was her structural system that needed a tune-up. After treatment she was completely fine! Theresa said it was like magic.

What I really witness in Anna, as well as my other patients, is that often when a child’s (or sometimes an adult’s) nervous system is ‘fragmented’--so are they!   Underlying incoherence in the nervous system (usually from biomechanical injury) can be like static in a radio. On a radio station that’s not tuned in all the way, you might be able to hear the music, but it’s much harder and not as enjoyable with all the interference.  That’s something like what Anna was feeling.  She did not know what was wrong, but her nervous system let her and her mom know that things had just gotten too hard.  They are both glad that it was an easy fix!


Kelliana Maya, DC

Absolutely. Chiropractic can be a remarkably helpful treatment in the recovery from a concussion. We can help many of the acute as well as lingering symptoms that make recovery so challenging. Headache, fatigue, visual disturbances, memory loss, reduced reaction time, foggy brain, are some of the symptoms we often help. 

Once you have been checked out by a medical doctor (to rule out any serious medical conditions), our work begins. When you receive a blow to your head, in addition to injury to the head itself, almost always the neck and the little muscles that guide the movement of the head, get injured. With Axial Stability Method we can specifically address the underlying injury to the muscles of the neck, even the tiny muscles (call the rectus capitii) at the top of the spine. This restores stability to the head as it sits on the spine, and eases the tension on the very sensitive sheathing around the brain, call the dura. Stress on the dura is often the cause of headaches and pain. When the head is stabilized and tension released from the neck, many concussion symptoms resolve. As always, our chiropractic treatments are entirely non-force and safe for even the most aggravated concussions. 

If more than chiropractic treatment is needed to get you well, we may refer you to one of our colleagues at the Lydian Center. We often work  closely with Eve Kodiak, our cranial sacral therapist, as well as Dr. Charles Krebs who has developed an unusual technique to resolve hypoxic stress on the brain due to the concussive injury. Whether the concussion happened yesterday or you are still suffering from a concussion from decades ago, we can often make a significant difference.

-Lydia Knutson, DC