Across the globe, a silent epidemic is unfolding in the lives of our children, with 40% of kids today having at least one chronic condition. From neurodevelopmental disorders like Autism and ADHD to complex autoimmune conditions, allergies, and mental health challenges, today’s children are facing unprecedented obstacles to their well-being.
Somehow this dramatic rise in chronic health issues in kids has not been a priority much at all for policy makers and public health leaders, and has barely been mentioned within the traditional media landscape either. Thankfully just in the last few months thanks to powerful change makers like RFK Jr. and mom advocacy groups, discussion is being had about banning toxic chemicals in our food and making other long needed changes as well.
After spending the last 20 years of my life and career studying the root causes of why our kids and families are so chronically sick, and what we can do to reverse it, I can tell you this – we have the answers. While they are multi-faceted and complex in some ways, as you’ll see throughout this article they are also quite simple and straightforward.
Simply put we must first lower our levels of stress, anxiety, and “hidden in plain sight” neurological dysfunction and dysregulation. And second, we must decrease the toxic burden of environmental chemicals our kids are exposed to at unheard of levels on a daily basis.
Those two primary moves in combination will go a long way to reversing the epidemic of chronic illness and disease that is not only destroying the health of our families, but also bankrupting our local communities, school districts, and various government agencies. As you’re about to see, nothing is more profitable to the large pharmaceutical, medical, and food companies than chronic disease, but nothing is more costly to our communities and families either.
A System Built on Profit Not Purpose
While the main purpose of this article is to address the real root causes of these chronic conditions, let’s first address the elephant in the room as to why the conventional medical system and traditional media have let this epidemic of chronic illness unfold and continue to turn a blind eye to its reality.
From our experienced and well researched perspective, there are ten (10) primary driving influences behind this largely ignored epidemic of chronic health issues in children today:
1. Focus on Acute Care Over Chronic Health Issues
- The conventional medical system is designed to address acute illnesses and emergencies, not long-term, root-cause chronic conditions. This outdated framework leaves little room for understanding or addressing the complex factors driving the explosion of conditions like Autism, ADHD, and autoimmune disorders in children.
2. Pharmaceutical Influence
- The medical system is heavily influenced by pharmaceutical companies that profit from symptom management through medications rather than addressing the root causes of health issues. This creates a bias toward treatments that maintain dependency on medications rather than fostering prevention or holistic healing.
3. Lack of Incentives to Investigate Root Causes
- Chronic health issues often require multi-faceted approaches and long-term interventions, which do not align with the “quick fix” model of conventional medicine. The system lacks incentives to investigate early-life stressors, toxins, and lifestyle factors contributing to neurological and immune dysfunction in children.
4. Media and Corporate Interests
- Traditional media outlets often rely on advertising dollars from pharmaceutical companies, creating a conflict of interest that discourages them from reporting on the failures of the conventional medical system or promoting alternative approaches to health.
5. Suppression of Alternative Narratives
- Voices that challenge the status quo, such as RFK Jr., Children’s Health Defense, Pediatric + Family Chiropractors, and other natural or holistic health practitioners, are often dismissed or censored as “anti-science” or fringe, despite their evidence-based critiques of the traditional system. In recent years we’ve come to learn that so much of what the traditional medical system purports to be evidence-based, really isn’t.
6. Normalization of Chronic Illness
- Society and the medical establishment have normalized chronic conditions in children as inevitable or genetic rather than questioning the environmental, dietary, and neurological stressors that have contributed to their rise.
7. Failure to Recognize Environmental and Neurological Stressors
- The conventional model frequently ignores the role of factors like toxins, birth trauma, vagus nerve dysfunction, and dysautonomia in creating the “perfect storm” of chronic health issues in children, which are central to our “Perfect Storm” and “Toxic Load” theories taught by myself and many other leading experts in pediatric health and development.
8. Over-Reliance on Vaccination and Medication as the Only Preventive Measures
- While vaccines and medications are marketed as the solution to health problems, they fail to address the growing burden of chronic illnesses, leaving parents without real answers or solutions for their children’s suffering. Also, no research has effectively been done to determine the role vaccination may play in the development of chronic disease in children, since there has never been a true long-term, multi-faceted study to compare the fully vaccinated to the unvaccinated when it comes to overall health and quality of life.
9. Dismissal of Parental Concerns
- Parents seeking answers beyond conventional medicine are often belittled or dismissed by pediatricians and the media, creating a cycle of mistrust and misinformation that leaves chronic issues unaddressed.
10. Resistance to Change
- Admitting systemic failure would require a complete overhaul of medical education, research priorities, and healthcare delivery, which many institutions are resistant to undertake due to entrenched interests and funding streams.
From this perspective, addressing the chronic health epidemic in children requires a paradigm shift that values prevention, addresses root causes, prioritizes the health and function of the nervous system, and listens to the concerns of parents and advocates who are fighting for a healthier future for their children.
The Growing Frustration Among Parents
Parents often find conventional medical explanations lacking and that each symptom or condition their child struggles with adds up to another medication, or multiple medications. This often prompts a late night online search for “alternative” approaches that can help them better understand their children’s health challenges, and hopefully to finally find their root cause.
Today’s parents are just fed up with standard “cookie cutter” medical approaches that continue to blame poor genetics and bad luck, dismiss their concerns and belittle their questions, and prescribe and recommend medication after medication. They want hope, answers, thorough explanations, and drug-free options to help restore and rebuild their family’s health naturally and holistically.
Foundational to this understanding and getting parents the answers and explanations they seek is the concept of the “Perfect Storm,” which is a transformative concept and theory we first introduced to our community in 2008 and now has spread all around the world thanks to this PX Docs Platform and the Experience Miracle Podcast.
The “Perfect Storm” concept teaches and emphasizes the dynamic interaction between genetic, environmental, and developmental influences on children’s health, and specifically looks at the integral role that early life stressors like fertility and pregnancy challenges, birth interventions, and early exposure to toxins, medications, and other medical interventions play in creating this pandemic of chronic illness seen in our children today.
This deep dive into groundbreaking neuroscience sheds light on how nervous system dysregulation is at the core of most acute and chronic health challenges in kids, empowering parents to uncover the true reasons behind their children’s struggles.
Traditional medical providers and pediatricians have very limited education and thus understanding about nervous system dysregulation, dysfunction, and subluxation. Therefore they provide no testing and no education to parents about these important topics, which is why they continue to “hide in plain sight” for so many kids and families.
Let’s go beyond the basic, outdated answers you’ve come to expect and truly explore key areas like neurodevelopment, vagus nerve function, gut health, and more. Let’s begin!
The “Perfect Storm” of Early Life Stressors
At the heart of this pattern lies a pattern of early life stressors that occur during “critical” and “sensitive” periods of development that then set the stage for future health struggles in children.
These early developmental stressors often include:
- Stressful fertility journeys, highly stressful pregnancies, and other medical or physiological conditions during the critical fetal (perinatal) developmental period
- Birth interventions, such as C-sections, forceps deliveries, and vacuum extractions
- Early childhood challenges, including colic, reflux, breastfeeding difficulties, and sleep disturbances
- Frequent respiratory infections and illnesses, leading to repeated antibiotic and medication exposure and their undesired side effects
- Delayed motor milestones and sensory processing difficulties
- Emotional dysregulation, anxiety, and behavioral challenges
While each child’s journey is unique, the cumulative impact of these stressors cannot be overstated. Research increasingly points to the critical role of early life experiences in shaping neurodevelopment and long-term health outcomes, and our practice-based research continues to reveal common patterns that disrupt and alter neurological development and well-being in our pediatric population.
When a child’s developing brain and nervous system are exposed to their significant environmental stressors early and often, it causes their autonomic nervous system to shift into a sustained and often “stuck on” sympathetic fight-or-flight response. Being stuck in this protective stress response at nearly all times keeps children from being in their more natural “growth and development” state and thus throws them off track developmentally, alters their gut and immune function, and so much more.
The Limitations of Conventional Medical Advice
Many parents face a medical system that struggles to meet the complex needs of their children, with pediatricians often assuring them that their kids will “grow out of” their challenges.
Parents continually report to us that they feel entirely dismissed, ignored, and often even belittled by their conventional pediatricians. Deep down they have that parental “gut feeling” that something is wrong, but they had no one they could trust to help listen and guide them to the answers and solutions they were looking for.
As a result, parents are turning to different approaches and different providers that will take the time to truly listen, address their concerns, and provide safe, natural, effective solutions to their children’s compounding health challenges.
Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care is a leading approach in this movement, addressing the neurological imbalances at the root of many pediatric health issues. This method offers hope for families who have found little relief through traditional avenues, and perhaps have even exhausted other natural remedies, holistic approaches, and biomedical care options!
In the following sections, we will explore the science behind this approach, how early stressors can disrupt neurological development, and share stories from parents who have seen positive changes, providing inspiration for others on their healing journeys.
The Neurological Roots of the “Perfect Storm”
To truly understand how early life stress affects children’s health, we need to explore the complex process of brain and nervous system development. Neuroscience shows us how stress, trauma, and environmental factors can alter and disrupt this delicate process, setting the stage for developmental delays and chronic illness later on in life.
In a simple construct, we’ve broken down the “Perfect Storm” into three (3) main elements:
- The Profound Impact of Fertility and Prenatal Distress
Decades of research have revealed the powerful role of stress in molding the nervous system from the earliest stages of development. We now know that high amounts of stress, especially if over sustained periods of time, can lead to an overactive and imbalanced nervous system for the mother, who then shares her neurology or neurological “status” with the developing brain and nervous system of the infant in-utero.
During pregnancy, maternal stress hormones can cross the placenta, influencing fetal brain architecture and stress response systems. This stress can come from all sorts of factors such as regular life and work stress, loss of a loved one, socioeconomic stress, health and medical complications, etc. For example, we know that the excessive and unwarranted Covid-era lockdowns and high amounts of stress and fear placed on expectant mothers plays a role in adding more stress and dysregulation to the development of their young children.
It’s important to think of that umbilical cord as not just a conduit for nutrition, oxygen, and nourishment to get from the mother to the developing baby, but that it also serves as the neurological “power cord” and connection from mom’s nervous system to baby’s sensitive developing nervous system. If mom is experiencing consistent and persistent high levels of stress, anxiety, and disempowerment, then the infant’s brain and nervous system will too.
This is the first and most foundational area that needs significant change within the medical system. It’s time we switch from loading expecting moms up on excessive amounts of fear, stress, and medical testing and instead advocate for education, empowerment, and community support via a network of trained, holistic providers and professionals!
- Birth Trauma’s Lasting Neurological Toll
For many children, neurological dysfunction and developmental delays can be traced back to the earliest moments of life. The process of birth, even when natural, represents a significant stressor for the infant’s delicate nervous system. Interventions such as forceps, vacuum extraction, and cesarean section can amplify this stress, potentially leading to subluxation and nervous system dysfunction in the brainstem, upper cervical, cranial, and other neurospinal regions.
This strain and physical trauma can impair function of the brainstem—the master control center of the autonomic nervous system—as well as the cerebellum and vagus nerve, which play crucial roles in sensory processing, motor coordination, and emotional regulation.
The resulting cascade of dysfunction can manifest as difficulties with feeding, sleep, digestion, and temperament—the first warning signs of a nervous system under duress. While colic, chronic ear infections or congestion, constipation, eczema, and other early life conditions are something again a conventional pediatrician may dismiss and say children will “grow out of it” we know now that is simply not the case, and that they are indeed early warning signs or “red flags” for conditions such as autism, ADHD, SPD, anxiety, autoimmune conditions, and more.
- The Gut-Brain Connection
The developing microbiome—the complex ecosystem of bacteria in the gut—plays a particularly vital role in this process, helping to train and support the developing immune system and influencing the production of neurotransmitters.
Disruptions to this delicate balance, often from antibiotic overuse, poor diet, and other environmental toxins that are all too common today, can have far-reaching consequences for neurological health.
The Building Blocks of Brain Development
Just as a house needs a strong foundation, advanced cognitive and emotional skills rely on early motor development. Infant movements like tummy time, rolling, sitting up, and crawling stimulate brain growth, building critical neural pathways for later development and overall brain function such as cognitive, behavioral, and emotional regulation.
When these movements are disrupted—due to neurological issues, environmental factors, or well-intentioned devices—the effects can impact a child’s development significantly. Effective intervention must focus on rebuilding this foundational development for long-term success.
The interplay of early life experiences creates a “Perfect Storm” that can derail healthy growth. It’s not just one factor but a cumulative effect that disrupts and interferes with the developing brain and nervous system.
By recognizing these connections and adopting a holistic, neurologically-focused approach, we can begin to address pediatric issues and promote optimal development, resilience, and overall adaptability in our children. With all the stress and toxicity now unfortunately common to this current world, there has never been a time where our children need optimized neurological function and increased resilience more than they do right now!
In the following sections, we will examine how these challenges manifest throughout a child’s development and how parents and providers can work together towards a positive path forward.
The Progression of Neurological Dysfunction
Left unchecked, the neurological imbalances and dysfunction that show up as colic, reflux, and feeding difficulties in infancy do not simply disappear with time, and most children don’t just magically “grow out of them” as many conventional pediatricians and even other parents often state. Instead “nerves that fire together wire together” and oftentimes the neurological dysfunction and dysregulation gets further driven into the “hard wiring” of the brain and nervous system.
The once-fussy baby becomes the toddler with severe separation anxiety and sensory sensitivities. The little one with constipation and congestion grows into chronic ear infections, asthma, allergies, and chronic gut-brain issues. The child who skipped crawling and walked on tiptoes faces fine motor difficulties and attention deficits in school. The teenager with chronic digestive issues and anxiety struggles to form meaningful social connections and meet academic milestones.
These are not isolated anecdotes, but rather the predictable consequences of a nervous system under chronic duress, subluxation, and dysfunction. Without early identification and intervention for these neurological stress patterns and “Perfect Storm” challenges, children can face a future of escalating struggles and limited potential.
How Quality of Life Is Affected
For children navigating the world with a dysregulated nervous system, daily life can feel like an uphill battle. Sensory overload, sleep disturbances, exhaustion, emotional dysregulation, chronic gut and immune issues, and learning difficulties can make even the most basic tasks feel overwhelming and insurmountable.
Oftentimes these continual health struggles cause children to withdraw from life and not be as carefree, joyful, and expressive as they would be if they were experiencing optimal health and neurological function.
The impacts of these struggles extend far beyond the child, creating a ripple effect of stress and heartache for the entire family. Parents find themselves constantly advocating and explaining, desperate for answers and support. Siblings feel neglected or resentful of the accommodations necessary to maintain peace. Marriages strain under the weight of competing needs and dwindling resources.
This is not to paint a picture of hopelessness, but rather to underscore the profound urgency of intervening early and getting parents the truth behind what’s really going on with their children’s chronic health struggles and developmental delays. When we recognize and address the neurological foundation and root causes of these struggles, we open the door to incredible amounts of healing and transformation for the entire family!
The Limitations of Conventional Approaches
Despite the best intentions of dedicated healthcare providers, the conventional medical model often falls short in addressing the complex realities of pediatric neurological dysfunction, dysregulation, and dysautonomia.
Nowadays more and more medical centers like Mayo, Cleveland, and Lurie’s are opening “centers” for dysautonomia and autonomic dysfunction, at least taking the first step to realizing the role these conditions play in the development of chronic health issues in kids and adults alike. But sadly a symptom-focused approach, while essential for acute conditions, most often entirely misses the mark when it comes to the complex interplay between subluxation, dysautonomia, and chronic health conditions or symptoms.
Even though dysautonomia is clearly a condition of altered neurological function, the best they can come up with is still using blood tests and other routine medical testing to try and diagnose it. Then when it comes to treatment it gets even worse, where they recommend increasing salt intake and taking medications to increase blood pressure and suppress immune function. To call this “missing the mark” would be a dramatic understatement.
The Path to Medication Dependency Starts Early
While it’s starting to look at the numbers of children, teens, and young adults taking psychotropic medications today for conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression, it’s not hard to see where this path to dependency was first formed. A meta-analysis of multiple cohorts shows that the number of youth receiving antipsychotics has increased by 50% to 200% over the past 20 years.
So often the path to dependency and even addiction begins with the seemingly “harmless” medication options such as antibiotics, corticosteroids (inhalers, nebulizers, etc.), and over-the-counter remedies like Tylenol, decongestants, and cough suppressants routinely given to infants and young children. These early medication interventions train the body to become reliant on “outside in” mechanisms instead of growing stronger and more resilient itself.
Moreover, the long-term consequences of relying heavily on medication in the developing brain are not fully understood. Emerging research suggests that chronic exposure to certain drugs may alter brain structure and function in ways that could compound existing challenges. The last thing we want is not only an altered brain and neurological status for our children, but also to leave them dependent and addicted to medication and other “outside in” influences.
Clearly, a new paradigm is needed—one that understands the complexity of the developing nervous system and seeks to support its innate capacity for healing, resilience, and adaptability!
The Benefit of a Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Approach
The science is clear: the developing nervous system is extremely sensitive to both positive and negative influences. The cumulative impact of prenatal stress, birth interventions, environmental toxins, and the overuse of antibiotics and other medications can be profound, setting the stage for a wide range of developmental challenges and chronic health issues in kids.
Although we now know the nervous system can easily become dysregulated and thrown off track early in life, by identifying and addressing the root causes and nervous system dysfunction, we can help your child heal, grow, and thrive!
Our favorite time to get a child started with chiropractic care is literally right after birth, checking their delicate brainstem and neurospinal system for subluxation and dysfunction, knowing that the labor and delivery journey especially can be quite stressful and troublesome.
This is where both the philosophy and neuroscience behind Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care really comes into play. We know that God designed our children to be healthy and to develop optimally. Meaning, the brain and nervous system are actually “pre-programmed” to make their way back to balance, regulation, and optimal function, but often just need the right targeted interventions and care protocols to make that happen!
By helping to restore and optimize neurological function, regulation, and overall brain and nervous system development, this specialized form of chiropractic care not only generates incredible results all by itself, but it also opens the door to optimal results from other natural and drug-free interventions as well. Parents and professionals often report improved results from things like PT, OT, Speech Therapy, diet changes, and biomedical interventions when a child is under regular chiropractic care as compared to when they are not.
Children and families who are under regular chiropractic care not only experience fewer colds and bouts of illness, but they have better health habits and functions overall – improved sleep, better mood and emotional regulation, stronger gut and immune function, and more. This path to increased resilience and adaptability pays off in a myriad of ways that leads to an overall much-improved quality of life and keeps kids and families away from the all-too-common path of chronic illness and suffering discussed at the start of this article.
A New Perspective and Path: Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care
A new approach to pediatric care is emerging with Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care, which emphasizes the importance of the nervous system and building resilience in overall health and development. Rather than blaming genetics and bad luck and living in constant fear of bacteria, viruses, and illness, chiropractic kids and families take a proactive approach to health and wellness.
At PX Docs we recognize that God designed our children brilliantly, with each and every step of development coordinated and orchestrated just right. The “conductor” or “air traffic controller” of that path to optimal health and development is the brain and nervous system, which is why it’s imperative that a Neurologically-Focused Pediatric + Family Chiropractor be at the leading edge of your family’s healthcare team.
If we continue to rely on the conventional pediatrician and medical system for our children’s health and development we’ll only get more of what we already have – epidemic rates of chronic illness and dependency on medication. It’s time to chart a new path forward for our children and future generations, one that focuses on natural, drug-free approaches that build strength and resilience in our children instead of sickness and dependence on medical intervention.
Key Scientific Principles of Neurologically-Focused Care
Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care is grounded in several key scientific principles that inform its approach to assessment, intervention, and ongoing support:
- Identifying Subluxation: Subluxation refers to dysfunction or imbalances within the nervous system that can disrupt proper communication between the brain and body. These imbalances can result from physical, chemical, or emotional stressors, including birth trauma, infection, toxin exposure, and chronic stress (ie. “The Perfect Storm”)
- Assessing Dysautonomia: Dysautonomia is a condition characterized by imbalances within the autonomic nervous system, which controls vital functions such as heart rate, digestion, immune function, and the stress response. Neurologically-focused care prioritizes the assessment and support of autonomic function as a foundation for overall health.
- Supporting Vagus Nerve Function: The vagus nerve is a critical component of the parasympathetic nervous system, regulating key functions such as digestion, immune response, and emotional regulation. Dysfunction of the vagus nerve has been implicated in a range of pediatric health challenges, making its support a central focus of neurologically-focused care.
- Optimizing Development: Neurologically-Focused Pediatric Chiropractors are experts in the granular details of optimal neurodevelopment, and can often find disruptions or alternations in development that are looked past and missed by other professionals.
Empowering Parents: Championing Your Child’s Neurological Well-Being
As a parent navigating childhood health challenges, you are your child’s strongest advocate. Educate yourself about the importance of neurological function in their overall health and development to proactively support their well-being.
Trust your instincts when advocating for your child’s health and well-being. You know their needs best – if something seems off, seek out providers who take the time to truly listen to your concerns, dive deep to find the root cause, and deploy natural and drug-free solutions first and foremost.
At PX Docs we feel it’s extremely important to validate your concerns and work in partnership to help your children and family experience good health and the highest quality of life possible! In order to do that we strongly encourage our families to put Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care as the first priority and foundational choice for their healthcare, and then to support neurological function and overall well-being with a healthy, natural lifestyle.
Implement Supportive Lifestyle Strategies
There are many steps you can take at home to support your child’s neurological health and resilience. Some key strategies include:
- Prioritizing sleep: Ensuring that your child gets enough high-quality sleep is essential for brain development, emotional regulation, and overall health. Create a consistent bedtime routine and ensure that your child’s sleep environment is cool, dark, and quiet.
- Nourishing the gut-brain axis: The gut and brain are intimately connected, and supporting a healthy microbiome through whole, nutrient-dense foods and targeted dietary interventions can have profound impact on neurological function. Additionally, certain supplements, vitamins, and other natural remedies can help support healthy gut-brain function.
- Encouraging movement and play: Physical activity and unstructured play are essential for promoting healthy brain development, reducing stress, and supporting emotional regulation. Encourage your child to engage in a variety of movement activities, from outdoor exploration to creative play.
- Managing stress and cultivating resilience: Chronic stress can have a profound impact on neurological health and development. Help your child develop healthy coping strategies, such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and exercising, to build resilience in the face of life’s challenges.
By incorporating these strategies into your family’s daily life, you can create a supportive environment that nurtures your child’s neurological health and well-being.
A Brighter Future for Our Children: A Vision for Transformative Healthcare
The time has come for a significant paradigm shift in pediatric and family healthcare. By prioritizing the vital role of the nervous system and adopting a natural, holistic lifestyle, families can unlock profound levels of health, resilience, and vitality. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care is at the forefront of this transformation, serving as the foundation for families seeking a healthier, more empowered future.
For too long, reliance on conventional pediatricians and a medical system focused on sickness and disease has perpetuated chronic illness and dependency. In contrast, families who embrace neurologically-focused holistic care experience remarkable levels of health by addressing root-cause imbalances and building true resilience. This approach not only enhances physical health but also fosters joy and a sense of empowerment that transforms daily life!
Our vision is to create a world where children thrive naturally – free from unnecessary medications, surgeries, and chronic struggles. By emphasizing the nervous system’s essential role in health and development, educating parents, and reshaping the healthcare landscape, we can inspire a movement that prioritizes drug-free, neurologically-focused care as the cornerstone of pediatric health and well-being.
Families who make this shift discover the profound truth that good health is not dictated by luck or genetics alone but shaped by informed choices, the nervous system’s function, and the body’s innate ability to adapt and thrive. This perspective frees families from fear and dependency, empowering them with the knowledge that they are designed to be strong, resilient, and adaptable.
Through regular Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care and a commitment to natural living, families experience a level of health and vitality they never imagined possible! Teaching parents and children this foundational truth is central to our mission at PX Docs, as it has the power to transform not only individual families but entire generations.
If you’re ready to take that first step toward optimal health and vitality for your family, connect with your local PX Doc today. Together, we can build a brighter, healthier future—one where every child has the opportunity to thrive naturally.
