The Experience Miracles Podcast

Q&A: What Stimming Is Really Telling You About Your Child’s Nervous System

Mar 21, 2025

Why Kids with Autism Stim: The Neurological Root Cause and Drug-Free Solutions

Episode 88, Experience Miracles Podcast | Host: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, Pediatric Chiropractor & Founder of PX Docs | Published: March 21, 2025 | Duration: ~14 min

Key Takeaways

  • Stimming, repetitive movements like hand flapping, teeth grinding, rocking, and vocal tics, is not a behavioral problem. It is a neurological coping response: 80% of children with autism stim as a way to self-regulate when their nervous system is overwhelmed by sensory input.
  • The root cause of stimming is nervous system dysregulation, specifically an imbalance where the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) system is overactive and the parasympathetic (vagus nerve) system is underactive, a state called dysautonomia.
  • Subluxation, joint dysfunction in the spine, directly reduces proprioceptive input to the brain. Since proprioception sends calming signals through the spinal cord and brainstem, children with subluxation are forced to compensate with external stimming behaviors like hand flapping, toe walking, and teeth grinding.
  • The neurospinal system accounts for 60% of all proprioceptive input into the brain. When this input is disrupted by subluxation in the neck, thoracic spine, or lumbopelvic core, the brain compensates through sensory-rich areas: the jaw, hands, feet, and vocal cords.
  • Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care addresses stimming at the root by reducing subluxation, restoring proprioceptive input, and activating the vagus nerve, allowing the nervous system to self-regulate without relying on compensatory stims.

Why Do Children with Autism Stim? The Neurological Explanation

Stimming is not a behavior to eliminate. It is a signal, the body’s visible response to a nervous system that cannot regulate itself from the inside. Children with autism, sensory processing challenges, and ADHD stim because their autonomic nervous system is stuck in a state of sympathetic dominance: too much fight-or-flight activity, not enough of the calming, regulatory parasympathetic response. When sensory input from the outside world increases, a nervous system that is already overwhelmed on the inside cannot absorb that input without compensating, and stimming is that compensation.

The two-branch structure of the nervous system explains why this happens. The sympathetic branch drives the stress response. The parasympathetic branch, largely controlled by the vagus nerve, governs rest, digestion, sensory regulation, and emotional calm. In children with autism and neurosensory challenges, this balance is disrupted: the fight-or-flight system dominates while vagal tone, the calming, regulating signal, is suppressed. This imbalance is called dysautonomia.

Underlying this imbalance is a third factor: subluxation. Subluxation is spinal joint dysfunction, misalignment combined with reduced movement in key segments of the spine. It creates a cascade of neurological consequences. It locks the nervous system into sympathetic dominance, and it directly reduces proprioception, the brain’s calming, regulating input from joint movement. The neurospinal system is responsible for 60% of all proprioceptive input to the brain. When that input is disrupted, the brain compensates by seeking proprioceptive stimulation from other sources: the hands, the jaw, the feet. That compensation is stimming.

Introduction: What Stimming Is, and What It Isn’t [00:00:00 – 01:20]

Dr. Tony Ebel: If you’re a parent of a child with autism or other neurosensory challenges, you’ve probably noticed them engaging in repetitive movements, hand flapping, rocking, teeth grinding, making certain sounds. These behaviors are known as stimming, and they leave parents wondering: What is this? Is it harmful? Should I try and stop it? What’s the root cause?

This episode explores the real root causes of stimming and gets into the neurological dysfunction that explains why these behaviors happen in the first place, because that’s where the connection to relief comes from.

One Family’s Story: When Traditional Medicine Missed the Root Cause [00:01:21 – 04:12]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Take Amelia, a young girl who came to our office with repetitive nodding movements. Her mom noticed these tics, these stims would appear anytime Amelia felt stressed or anxious. She said, “I’m just trying to get rid of the butterflies in my stomach.”

The traditional medical approach suggested blocked adenoids as the cause. But even after surgery, the stims persisted and worsened. When medication was suggested as the next step, her mom’s gut instinct said there had to be another way.

Through our deep dive consultation and neurological scanning technology, we discovered what the other doctors had missed. Amelia’s nervous system was stuck in a perpetual state of sympathetic overdrive and sensory dysfunction, and her body was creating these movements, these tics and stims, as a way to self-regulate.

“That’s the real science behind stimming. It’s a natural, normal response to an absolutely dysregulated, off-track neurosensory system within your child’s brain and body.”

That’s what stimming is. When the outside world gets busy, noisy, and chaotic, and the nervous system is already subluxated and dysregulated on the inside, 80% of children with autism will regulate and self-soothe through stims. They struggle to regulate their nervous system from the inside, so when sensory demands from the outside increase, they compensate through movement, sound, and repetition.

The Nervous System Explained: Why Dysautonomia Drives Stimming [00:04:13 – 05:37]

Dr. Tony Ebel: From a high-level view, the nervous system has two branches. The sympathetic fight-or-flight response is the “I’m stressed, I’m anxious, I need to get out of here” branch. The other side is called the parasympathetic response, our rest, relax, digest, and sensory-regulate side.

Within that calming, regulating side is a nerve called the vagus nerve, V-A-G-U-S. It’s the calming, relaxing nerve. I always sneak that in because Vegas is totally chill, and the vagus nerve very much is.

Children struggling with autism, sensory challenges, and ADHD, when tics and stims are involved, foundationally have a nervous system out of balance. It’s in a state of dysregulation or dysautonomia: sympathetic fight-or-flight is too much, and the parasympathetic vagal response is too little.

“When the sympathetic fight-or-flight response is too much and the parasympathetic vagal nerve response is too little, the nervous system cannot regulate itself, and stimming becomes the body’s way of doing that job.”

Subluxation and Proprioception: The Physical Mechanism Behind Stimming [00:05:38 – 09:09]

Dr. Tony Ebel: There’s one more concept we need to understand to explain exactly where this nervous system imbalance and dysregulation comes from, and that word is subluxation.

Subluxation is a neurologically focused chiropractic term for joint dysfunction, misalignment combined with fixation or reduced movement in the spine. First, it shifts the nervous system into the sympathetic dominant state we’ve been talking about. But it also has what I call neuro-physical components.

That’s where proprioception comes in. If your child has autism or sensory issues, you’ve probably heard this term in PT or OT. Proprioception is the brain’s perception of movement. When joints move, proprioceptors and mechanoreceptors send a calming, regulating signal through the spinal cord and brainstem, especially through the vagus nerve, and into the brain. Movement is calming.

Think about being stuck at your desk all day. Stuck in traffic. Stuck on a plane. It’s noisy and stressful, and you can’t move. Notice how the longer you stay stuck in one position, your neck, shoulders, and spine tighten up. How’s your mood? How’s your emotional regulation? That’s what reduced proprioception does to the brain.

Children with autism literally have stuck joints and stuck segments within their neurospinal system, specifically in the neck and brainstem area, the shoulders and thoracic spine, and the lumbopelvic core. The neurospinal system is responsible for 60% of all proprioceptive input to the brain. When they’re not getting that calming, regulating proprioceptive signal from their spine, they have to compensate somewhere else.

The hands, feet, jaw, and other sensory-rich areas are proprioceptively dense. So when there is subluxation and nervous system dysregulation in the spine, children compensate with their jaw, vocal tics, teeth grinding, with their hands, touching, hand flapping, and with their feet, toe walking. These compensatory behaviors are what we call stimming.

“Stimming is a sign of subluxation more central within their brain-body connection and nervous system, the body’s attempt to get the proprioceptive input it’s not getting from the spine.”

Three Ways Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care Helps [00:09:10 – 12:36]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Before we’re done, I want to give you three safe, natural, drug-free ways that Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care, the specialized kind we practice in our office and through the PX Docs Network, can really help with dysregulation, sensory overdrive, and stimming.

First: Cleaning up sensory input to the brain and nervous system. Subluxation wreaks havoc on sensory motor input into the brain. It creates too much tension, drives sympathetic dominance, and interferes with vagal nerve function. Clearing that subluxation allows for a cleaner, calmer, more balanced response within the autonomic and central nervous system.

Second: Activating the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the calming, regulating, relaxing side of the brain and nervous system. Our specific adjusting protocols are designed to stimulate and activate it. When we get the vagus nerve functioning again, we calm the brain-body connection, and the child doesn’t need to seek out as much compensatory, self-regulating stimming behavior on their own.

Third: Improving the child’s ability to handle their environment. Parents tell us all the time that once their child starts getting these specific adjustments, they just handle their environment better. They handle transitions better. They handle noises better. Sensory input, touch, change, all of it becomes more manageable. Sleep improves. Gut function improves. Everything calms, relaxes, and regulates so the child has less need to express the neurological storm through stimming, meltdowns, and tantrums.

Does that mean chiropractic care is designed to treat or heal stimming directly? No. Everything with this care is designed to address the root cause: nervous system dysfunction, dysregulation, subluxation, and dysautonomia. When you address the root, the compensatory behaviors don’t need to be as frequent, as severe, or as consuming.

Assessment, Case History, and What to Expect [00:12:37 – 14:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Children who are locked into autism and have significant stimming often have subluxation that’s been layered in there for years. When we sit down knee-to-knee with parents and go through a thorough case history, we find the same pattern consistently. These kids were already locked in neurologically from a high-stress pregnancy, birth interventions like forceps, vacuum, or C-section that caused injury to the neck and the neurosensory system.

They were colicky. They were fussy. Maybe they had torticollis, plagiocephaly, difficulty nursing, reflux, chronic ear infections, chronic gut issues. They don’t sleep. Their digestion is a mess.

Through the case history and then through our INSiGHT Scan neurological assessment technology, we can actually measure, track, and locate subluxation and dysregulation within your child’s sensory system. Between the deep dive consultation and our examination technology, we know exactly what we’re up against with your child’s nervous system, and we build a very specific, customized care plan around that.

If this episode sounds like your child to a T, if you’ve tried everything to calm their sensory system, to address the stims, to make daily life more manageable, take the first step. Learn more and find out if subluxation and nervous system dysregulation are what’s really causing your child’s stimming behaviors.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is stimming and why do kids with autism do it?

Stimming refers to repetitive movements or sounds, hand flapping, teeth grinding, rocking, vocal tics, that children use to self-regulate. According to Dr. Tony Ebel, 80% of children with autism stim because their nervous system is dysregulated: the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) system is overactive and the parasympathetic (calming) system, driven by the vagus nerve, is suppressed. Stimming is the body’s compensatory response to that internal imbalance.

Should I try to stop my child from stimming?

Dr. Tony Ebel advises against trying to eliminate stimming as a behavior in isolation. Stimming is a symptom of nervous system dysregulation, not a behavioral choice. Suppressing the stim without addressing the underlying neurological imbalance, specifically subluxation and dysautonomia, leaves the root cause unresolved. The goal is to calm and regulate the nervous system so the child no longer needs to rely on stims as heavily.

What is subluxation, and how does it cause stimming?

Subluxation is joint dysfunction in the spine, misalignment combined with reduced movement, that disrupts the nervous system in two ways. First, it locks the nervous system into sympathetic dominance (fight-or-flight). Second, it reduces proprioception, the calming, regulating signals that joint movement sends to the brain through the spinal cord and brainstem. The neurospinal system provides 60% of all proprioceptive input to the brain. When that input is lost, children compensate with stimming behaviors using the jaw, hands, and feet.

Can birth trauma cause stimming?

Yes, according to Dr. Tony Ebel. Birth interventions like forceps, vacuum extraction, and C-section can cause physical injury to the neck and upper cervical spine, creating subluxation that disrupts the brainstem and nervous system from day one. Children who later develop significant stimming behaviors often show a history consistent with birth trauma: colic, torticollis, difficulty nursing, reflux, and chronic ear infections. These are all early signs of the same neurological pattern.

How does chiropractic care reduce stimming?

Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care targets stimming at its root in three ways: it clears subluxation to restore clean sensory input to the brain, it activates the vagus nerve to strengthen the parasympathetic (calming) response, and it improves the child’s overall capacity to handle environmental sensory demands. Parents consistently report improvements in transitions, noise tolerance, sleep, digestion, and a reduction in the frequency and severity of stimming behaviors, not because stims were suppressed, but because the nervous system is better regulated.

How do I find a PX Docs chiropractor who specializes in children with autism and stimming?

The PX Docs network includes chiropractors trained specifically in Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care for children with autism, sensory challenges, and neurodevelopmental conditions. You can search for an office near you at the PX Docs Directory.

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