Benjamin’s Story

When we first started chiropractic care for our family, I didn’t know the link between chiropractic and the nervous system. I pretty much viewed it as a skeletal-structural field of care for pain relief. I am glad that we stumbled across the neurological aspect of chiropractic, though, because of the tremendous difference it has made in the life of our child.

When my husband started seeing Dr. Spear, he brought with him our three-year-old son, Benjamin. Dr. Spear knew that Benjamin had a difficult birth and asked if he could examine him. We agreed, and we learned that his upper neck vertebrae were out of place. The adjustments Dr. Spear did were very gentle, but frequent. I wasn’t expecting any results from the adjustments, I was just glad to have the last vestiges of Benjamin’s difficult birth erased. In fact I didn’t even think to observe my son to see if there were any changes. It turns out there were big changes. I just didn’t notice it until much later.

Benjamin has had night terrors almost every night for at least two years. He would sit up in bed screaming, trembling, grinding his teeth and clawing, all with a wild expression on his face. He was asleep for much of this but towards the end of each episode he would wake up terrified by himself. Needless to say, sleep was something the whole family dreaded. I knew night terrors are a neurological disorder, but there isn’t a recommended treatment for them and children tend to outgrow them.

I didn’t notice exactly when his night terrors started becoming less frequent and finally stopped, but it was after Benjamin started chiropractic care. For about four solid months he didn’t have any night terrors. We learned to enjoy sleep. Benjamin had always fought sleep. Now he would actually say “I’m sleepy” and look forward to bedtime. I wondered if he had “outgrown” the sleep terrors. At some point, Benjamin’s adjustments were holding well and he stopped receiving regular care.

And then one night the screaming, trembling and clawing returned. For three consecutive nights they occurred. Then we went to Dr. Spear for a scheduled appointment. Benjamin’s upper neck vertebrae were way out of place and he had an adjustment. That night and the following nights there were no sleep terrors and I finally made the connection between his misaligned neck vertebrae and his sleep terrors.

Benjamin’s adjustments are holding well now, and there have been virtually no sleep terrors (one night during a high fever he had terrors, but also with hallucinations).

I highly recommend Dr. Spear as a chiropractor, especially with children. He is gentle, patient, and encouraging. I found that he explained things very well and answered all my questions thoroughly.

M.E.