INSIGHT SCANS

Nervous system based chiropractors secret power - a deep dive into your body's ability to adapt, regulate stress, and balance those flight or fight emotions.

NeuroThermal

The main thing the NeuroThermal Scans help us find is the regional effects of subluxation and dysautonomia.

Subluxation refers to a complex neurological dysfunction within the body, characterized by three main components:
- Misalignment: Altered positioning and alignment within the neurospinal system.
- Fixation & Restriction Motion: Abnormal tension or fixation within these neurospinal segments and regions then leads to reduced range of motion and overall movement.
- Neurological Interference & Imbalance: The combination of this misalignment and restricted movement (proprioception) disrupts and alters neurosensory input into the brain, leading to interference and imbalance within the nervous system.
Dysautonomia simply means the nervous system is not functioning the way it was designed to.
- In a healthy individual, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems work together seamlessly, responding to internal and external stimuli to maintain balance.
- However, when we have dysautonomia, this delicate balance is disrupted, leading to a wide range of symptoms and challenges

Since the core functions of the autonomic nervous system are to coordinate and regulate the function of the digestive system, immune system, hormones, and so forth… this scan helps us really understand what’s going on in our patients who are struggling with things such as colic, reflux, constipation, chronic ear infections, allergies, adrenal dysfunction, and sleep disorders.

The three (3) things we don’t like to see in these scans are:

Green, blue, and red bars - indicates that stuck, tension, and sympathetic dominance component of the subluxation.
Tons of ‘back and forth’ or ‘tug of war’ type tracking - this indicates dysautonomia and tension throughout the neurospinal system.
The DTG bars along the sides of the summary graph (bottom half) are inside the black lines and blue – this indicates the subluxation and condition are becoming more chronic

NeuroSpinal EMG Scans

Neurological and tone challenges are a big deal, as motor function and development determine brain function and development. That means – if the EMG scan detects patterns of stuck tension and imbalance, the brain is almost certainly stuck in sympathetic (fight or flight) tone and also struggling with an imbalance between its core functions of regulating emotions, behavior, learning, and memory.

Here are the 3 scores you’ll see on your sEMG Scan and a quick explanation of what they mean, and then we’ve provided some examples of EMG scans as well:

Total Energy Score – this score tends to go way up in a child who’s wound up and stuck in sympathetic mode, and therefore a high score here is most often seen with our patients struggling with things like anxiety, behavior and sleep issues, and so forth
Pattern Score – this is a significant score to the overall neurological tone, and a low score here indicates a patient who’s likely struggling with emotional dysregulation, focus and concentration challenges, postural exhaustion and a weak core, and so forth
Symmetry Score – this score measures the balance between the right and left sides of the neurospinal system, which is crucial to be then sure that there is balance in overall brain function and coordination

Heart Rate Variability - HRV

These scans are beneficial at getting a broader picture of a patient’s neurological health, telling us whether their autonomic nervous system is healthy, balanced, and fully charged… or stressed out, imbalanced, and worn out.

The key word here is ‘variability’ because that is indeed the number one marker of good neurological health: the ability to be adaptable and resilient. Adaptability is the key to good health, whether talking about gut and immune health or behavioral, emotional, and cognitive health.

Every patient will encounter bacteria, viruses, physical injuries, environmental toxins, and emotional challenges almost daily. So what we know about good health is that it’s not determined by avoiding or trying to hide from these things but by being able to adapt and overcome them.

Many parents of spectrum and sensory kids often list one of their top goals for care to help their children be more ‘flexible’ and less dependent on strict, consistent routines. The HRV Scan is, therefore, a great one to help show why that is not the case for most kids starting out, but then it improves over time as the child gets neurologically-focused adjustments.

The vast majority of HRV scans in our office look like the sample scan below for kids and adults alike. The white dot to the lower left as it indicates two very common findings that are the result of subluxation and dysautonomia:

Shifted left – meaning the patient is stuck predominantly in sympathetic fight-or-flight mode and/or has an exhausted parasympathetic nervous system and vagal tone issues
Shifted low – indicating the patient has lower ‘reserve capacity’ and adaptability, or “low energy”