BPES and Low Muscle Tone in Babies: How Chiropractic Care Helped Maya Dominate Every Milestone
Episode 107, Experience Miracles Podcast | Host: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, Pediatric Chiropractor & Founder of PX Docs | Published: May 27, 2024 | Duration: ~32 min
Guest: Ewelina Dalka, Mom, lifestyle blogger, and community advocate for families navigating rare childhood conditions
Key Takeaways
- Maya was born with BPES (Blepharophimosis Ptosis Epicanthus Inversus Syndrome), a rare genetic condition affecting her eyelids and potentially her ovaries. At four months, a proactive pediatrician also identified low muscle tone, creating what Ewelina calls “our own Perfect Storm.”
- Physical therapy and Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care worked in tandem, PT staff noticed a measurable difference in Maya’s strength and readiness every single time she arrived right after a chiropractic adjustment.
- Maya not only caught up on her developmental milestones, sitting, crawling, walking, running, she exceeded the original timeline and graduated from physical therapy earlier than her care team thought possible.
- Co-regulation matters: Ewelina got adjusted herself before bringing Maya in, stabilizing her own nervous system so it could support, rather than drag down, her daughter’s healing.
- At age two, Maya underwent corrective eye surgery. Daily chiropractic adjustments in the two weeks before and after surgery contributed to a recovery so strong that her surgical team asked what the family was doing differently. Maya was jumping and playing the day after the procedure.
Can Nervous System Care Help a Child with Low Muscle Tone and a Rare Genetic Condition?
Low muscle tone (hypotonia) affects a child’s ability to sit, crawl, walk, and build the postural strength needed for typical development. When a child is also navigating a rare genetic condition like BPES (Blepharophimosis Ptosis Epicanthus Inversus Syndrome), the developmental challenges compound quickly. Conventional medicine typically addresses these through specialty monitoring, physical therapy, and watchful waiting for surgical windows, but the nervous system’s role in coordinating motor function often goes unaddressed.
According to Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, the nervous system is the foundation that makes every other therapy more effective. When a child’s Autonomic Nervous System is stuck in a dysregulated state, whether from genetic stress, birth challenges, or compounding stressors, the muscles can’t receive and respond to signals the way a regulated nervous system allows. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care targets that underlying dysregulation directly. The result, as Maya’s story shows, is that physical therapy gains that might take years can arrive months ahead of schedule when the nervous system is supported at the same time.
For parents navigating a rare diagnosis with no roadmap, the practical takeaway is this: don’t wait for one specialist to have all the answers. Build a collaborative care team early, treat the nervous system as the foundation, and give your child the widest neurological runway possible from the start.
Maya’s Birth and the BPES Diagnosis [00:05:00 – 00:10:00]
Ewelina Dalka: Being at the hospital with Maya when she was born, we noticed right away. She’s my second daughter, so I felt like I knew what to look for. She woke up and she wasn’t opening her eyes at all, you couldn’t even see anything. No eyelids, no anything. Trusting my mom gut, I thought, “Something isn’t right.” But everyone at the hospital kept saying, “She’ll open her eyes in a day or two. Give it another day.”
We went home and she still wasn’t opening her eyes. When we finally got to our pediatrician, they said, “I don’t know what this is, but this isn’t normal. Let’s get you somewhere that can tell you what it is.” That honesty meant everything, because her condition is rare and not everybody knows about it.
We went to a pediatric ophthalmologist. They had to force her eyes open to do the testing. The doctor told me Maya could see, she wasn’t blind, and that was the relief I needed to keep moving forward.
Dr. Tony Ebel: Mom gut and dad gut always know first. It just kicks you off on the hunt to find out what the heck it is.
Ewelina Dalka: Exactly. You just get this feeling. And so the specialist told us Maya has BPES, blepharophimosis ptosis epicanthus inversus syndrome. It’s a rare genetic condition; a brand-new strand, meaning she didn’t inherit it from anyone. It affects the eyelids, and for females it can affect the ovaries later. There’s still a lot that’s unknown. After her diagnosis, we were seeing an ophthalmologist and a surgeon once a month each, going down to UIC to monitor her vision as she grew. Surgery wasn’t needed until she was two.
“Mom gut and dad gut tells us something is wrong, but it doesn’t always complete the sentence and say, ‘Here’s what it is.'”, Ewelina Dalka
Low Muscle Tone Discovery and the Path to Early Intervention [00:10:00 – 00:13:00]
Dr. Tony Ebel: In the middle of managing BPES, you were also going to your regular pediatrician, Well-Rooted, and they picked something else up.
Ewelina Dalka: They diagnosed her with low muscle tone at about four months. They described her as a little “floppy.” I kept wondering, is this related to her condition? Is it because she’s not fully seeing everything around her to engage with?
Dr. Tony Ebel: A standard pediatrician would not have picked up on that low tone at four months. That happened because Well-Rooted practices differently. Early intervention is everything, the earlier you start, the better the neurological runway you have forward.
The sequence is usually this: mom gut and dad gut know first. Then pediatricians often tell parents not to worry. But Ewelina’s pediatricians were different. They identified the low tone and sent the family toward the right resources.
Dream Riders physical therapy evaluated Maya and confirmed the diagnosis. They recommended Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care at PWC Chiropractic almost immediately, before much PT had even started.
Ewelina Dalka: I remember them saying, “Are you going to PWC yet?” And I thought, “Everyone keeps talking about this place. I need to go.”
Starting Chiropractic Care, And Why Mom Got Adjusted First [00:13:00 – 00:16:00]
Ewelina Dalka: Before I brought Maya in, I started with myself. I walked into the office and thought, “Let me see what this is about. Let me get on the table. Let me go through it.” So I got adjusted first.
Dr. Tony Ebel: That was actually the right move neurologically, and you didn’t even know it at the time. Co-regulation is a huge factor in how kids heal. Most of our patients start with their child first, but a mom or dad’s nervous system is often so exhausted that it can actually drag down the child’s healing. By getting started yourself first, you already had that confidence and calm when Maya was going through her care.
That’s the cheat code most parents miss: your regulated nervous system creates the environment your child’s nervous system needs to heal in.
When Maya started getting adjusted, PWC’s team treated her as a normal child, not as her condition. That distinction matters more than parents realize.
Milestone Domination: What Changed After Chiropractic [00:16:00 – 00:18:00]
Ewelina Dalka: We started scheduling Maya’s chiropractic adjustments right before her PT sessions. And even just seeing her at PT afterward, it made a world of difference with her meeting her milestones.
She wasn’t sitting up on time. She wasn’t walking on time. And then with the combination of chiropractic and PT, she was just crushing all of them. The PT staff noticed too. Every time we came in, they asked, “Did you just come from the chiropractor?”, and I hadn’t even told them. They could see it in her strength and her readiness.
“She not only met her milestones, she kind of dominated her milestones.”, Ewelina Dalka
Dr. Tony Ebel: When a child gets adjusted before PT, three things happen neurologically. One: they’re in a better ready state, more receptive, more connected. Two: they’re more synced in their neuromuscular tone, which is exactly what movement-based therapies need to work with. Three: they have better endurance because they’re more rested and regulated. Maya moved from crawling to walking to running, ahead of every timeline we were originally working toward.
Ewelina Dalka: The day they said, “She’s going to graduate from PT”, I just cried from happiness. We didn’t think we were going to get there. None of us thought we were going to get there at the very beginning. We thought it was going to take a couple of years.
The Healing Power of Community [00:18:00 – 00:21:00]
Dr. Tony Ebel: When you were at PWC, at Dream Riders, at Well-Rooted, you had this community around you. How much of that do you think played a role in how quickly and how completely Maya healed?
Ewelina Dalka: It’s almost everything. Sometimes you just want to go somewhere and feel normal. Feel heard as a mom. The other families at PWC became my closest friends. Hearing their stories made me feel like I wasn’t alone. Like we’re all going through something, and it’s okay, and we’re all here to lift each other up.
The first person I remember really connecting with was Crystal and her son Caden. Just seeing her energy and her love for life, no matter what she was going through, that taught me so much about finding the good every single day. I’ll never forget that.
Dr. Tony Ebel: No one puts a sign on a chair that says you have to talk to that person about low motor tone. Families just find each other. Every single shift. And that support network becomes a real part of the healing ecosystem, not just emotionally, but neurologically. Human connection regulates the nervous system. It’s not a soft benefit. It’s a physiological one.
Using Social Media to Reach Families Who Can’t Find Answers [00:21:00 – 00:27:00]
Ewelina Dalka: When I first started searching everything about BPES on Google and Instagram, I couldn’t find anyone sharing their story. So I started posting Maya’s journey and made a blog about it. To this day, families from all across the world reach out, people with a son or daughter with this condition, asking what to do. That’s where I get to be the person I needed when Maya was first diagnosed. I get to tell them: it’s going to be okay.
Dr. Tony Ebel: There are three layers here, and I want every parent listening to understand them. Number one: see the internet for its potential for impact, not just the noise. Number two: once you start sharing your story, it becomes a pull for another family into a healing journey. Number three: it heals you.
Serving others actually moves the needle on your own HRV. That’s not a metaphor, researchers have measured it. Consistent, meaningful service to others is one of the most reliable ways to regulate your own nervous system. Ewelina lives this daily.
“People will be really surprised at how many other families they can help by just sharing a little part of their story.”, Ewelina Dalka
Advice for Families at the Beginning of Their Journey [00:27:00 – 00:32:00]
Ewelina Dalka: When families reach out to me, the first thing I tell them is: slow down, and it’s okay. They’re usually already overwhelmed, trying to manage multiple appointments. And then I always say, no matter what you’re going through: consider nervous system care as the foundation. I refer them to PX Docs every time.
Dr. Tony Ebel: Why is the nervous system so foundational? You can have the best PT team, the best functional medicine support, doing everything right, but if the nervous system isn’t regulated, none of it works at full capacity. The nervous system is the system that runs all the other systems.
Ewelina Dalka: You can have all the supplements, all the PT, all the therapy, but if your nervous system isn’t where it’s supposed to be, none of it works as well as it should.
Maya had her eye surgery at age two. In the two weeks before and after the surgery, I made sure she was getting adjusted every single day. Her healing was so strong that the surgical team asked what we were doing differently. She was jumping and playing the next day after surgery.
Both of my girls, Maya, who will be three in June, and Addie, who just turned four, have been under chiropractic care since they were little. It’s the one thing I recommend to every single family, no matter what you’re going through.
“If your nervous system isn’t where it’s supposed to be, all of it doesn’t work as good as it should be.”, Ewelina Dalka
Frequently Asked Questions
Can chiropractic care help a baby with low muscle tone?
Yes, according to Dr. Tony Ebel. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care targets the Autonomic Nervous System, which governs muscle tone, coordination, and a child’s readiness state. When a baby’s nervous system is dysregulated, muscles can’t receive and respond to signals efficiently. Chiropractic care helps restore that signaling, in Maya’s case, PT staff noticed visible differences in her strength and readiness on every visit that followed a chiropractic adjustment.
What is BPES (Blepharophimosis Ptosis Epicanthus Inversus Syndrome)?
BPES is a rare genetic condition primarily affecting the eyelids, causing them to remain partially or fully closed, and in females, potentially affecting the ovaries later in life. It can occur as a brand-new genetic mutation with no family history required, as it did with Maya. Diagnosis typically happens in the neonatal period when parents or physicians notice the infant’s eyes don’t open normally. Surgical correction is common but is often delayed until the child is older, depending on the effect on vision.
How does chiropractic care support surgical recovery in children?
Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care helps the nervous system reach and hold a regulated, “rest and digest” state, the state the body heals fastest in. When the body is out of a chronic stress response, tissue repair and recovery are more efficient. In Maya’s case, daily chiropractic adjustments in the two weeks before and after her eye surgery at age two contributed to a recovery so strong that her surgical team asked what the family was doing differently. She was jumping and active the day after the procedure.
What is co-regulation, and why does it matter for my child’s healing?
Co-regulation is the neurological concept that a parent’s nervous system state directly influences a child’s. When a parent is running on chronic stress and exhaustion, their dysregulated state can inadvertently slow a child’s healing progress. In this episode, Ewelina got adjusted herself before bringing Maya in. That choice stabilized her own nervous system first and helped create the calm, regulated environment Maya’s care depended on. Dr. Tony Ebel calls this “the cheat code most parents miss.”
How do I find a neurologically-focused chiropractor for my child?
The PX Docs directory lists trained Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care providers across the country. Search by location at the link below.
At what age should I start chiropractic care for my child?
According to Dr. Tony Ebel, the earlier the better, the younger the child, the more neurological runway there is for healing and development. In Maya’s case, starting care before her first birthday, in coordination with physical therapy, was a key reason she progressed so quickly. Dr. Tony’s intake process starts with the child’s age specifically because it determines how much is possible.
Resources & Related Content
- The Perfect Storm Framework, Dr. Tony Ebel’s model for understanding compounding neurological stress in children
- Birth Trauma and the Developing Nervous System, PX Docs
- Find a PX Docs Office Near You, PX Docs Directory
- Next Episode: Q&A: What’s Really Triggering Teen Anxiety & Depression?