Kid’s Korner ™

The Process

We are available to evaluate your child for muscle tension and the related dysfunction they may be experiencing. If found to have true neuromuscular tension, you will be offered one or more therapy series for your child, designed to reduce or alleviate this tension. The initial evaluation is one hour in length and includes a postural evaluation, health/birth history, and a trial of corrective therapy using this medically integrated approach. Additional sessions are thirty minutes in length.

Correction of the muscular tension often reduces/resolves the problem they are experiencing. At times there is more to the issue than we are able to correct muscularly. If further referral or follow up is needed to other resources, we will assist you. We work with many health care professionals locally as well as nationally. Note, this therapy is not intended as a replacement for the care of your physician or health care practitioner.

This process involves a team approach on the part of the therapist, parents/caregivers and referring health care providers.

An Overview

Kids’ Korner™ is a place where the structure function aspect of an infant’s/child’s musculoskeletal system is evaluated and problems are addressed therapeutically. It is literally a “ refitting of the pieces of the body’s structure and function”.

Many in-utero (prenatal) and delivery circumstances can produce excessive tension in the muscles of a child’s head, neck, back and limbs. This increased tension translates into muscle congestion that pulls the structure out of an ideal functional position. This can require extra physical energy, muscle adaptation and creative positioning assistance to accomplish otherwise normal function.

Some examples of dysfunctions/difficulties:

  • Breast Feeding/Nursing Problems
  • Fussiness, Irritability and Restlessness
  • Colic-like behaviors
  • Unusual Crawling, Walking and Movement Patterns
  • Developmental Delays
  • Bruxism (grinding and other jaw related issues)

Predisposing Factors

Muscle tension and the related dysfunction and have the potential to affect the healthy development of your child

Muscle tension and the related dysfunction and have the potential to affect the healthy development of your child

Common factors that we find are frequently associated with these dysfunctions/difficulties include, but are not limited to:

  • Complicated or high stress pregnancy
  • Prolonged or complicated labor
  • Precipitous (too fast) labor
  • Early engagement of fetal position prior to labor onset
  • Cesarean section
  • Pitocin or hormonal labor stimulation
  • Epidural administration
  • Head traction or external extraction with delivery
  • Low amniotic fluid levels/space constraints

Assessment/Referral

The insidious nature of these dysfunctions and difficulties is that they are rarely prominent or visible at birth, but appear within hours or days post delivery. Rarely, it appears as late as the school age years. The most notable clues seen are; breast feeding/nursing difficulties which are often noted and referrals are made by lactation consultants and mid-wives in the early postnatal period. Proper assessment of the muscle tension that can produce these dysfunctions is essential. With proper evaluation to correct this increased tension, “restoration of functional design” can be accomplished.

A Therapeutic Approach

Functional BowenTM Therapy is an interpretive use of Thomas A. Bowen’s, cross fiber neuromuscular technique. Thomas A. Bowen, an Australian Osteopath, whose documented successes over the life of his practice, brought hope and improved health through applying the body’s innate healing resources.

This integrated technique used on infants and children has the potential to increase the body’s immune system response through reducing muscle tension and associated nerve entrapment. Promoting nervous system relaxation and improved nerve pathways improves communication which supports normal structural function. This allows the body to regulate its own homeostatic processes more efficiently, as it was designed. As a result, health and wellness is promoted, as well as restoration of normal function.

Download the Kids’ Korner brochure as a PDF