ADHD and Anxiety: The Nervous System and Your Child's Health
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Dr. Sophia Duarte spent her childhood cycling through hospitals, prescriptions, and side effects that no one ever connected to her nervous system. Today, she's the founder of Radiant Chiropractic in Charleston, South Carolina, where she helps parents rethink what labels like ADHD and anxiety are telling them about a child's body.
In this episode, she walks through the turning point that got her off medication entirely, and what she now looks for in the kids and pregnant moms who walk through her door.
What does an Unregulated Nervous System Look Like in childhood?
Growing up, Dr. Sophia Duarte cycled through gut problems, eczema, back pain, and anxiety that no one ever connected to her nervous system. Instead, each symptom was treated on its own, one prescription at a time.
She was hospitalized four times in a single month as a kid, and each medication seemed to create the next problem: a pain pill caused nausea, so she was prescribed something for the nausea, which caused reflux. She was eventually diagnosed with a small intestine bacterial overgrowth issue and went three weeks eating nothing but a shake to treat it, a stretch that happened to fall over Thanksgiving. It helped some, but the eczema and anxiety stuck around. For most of her childhood, she assumed this was just what it meant to grow up.
"I just went through my childhood thinking this was normal, thinking that all kids grew up and had problems. It was just part of my story."
It wasn't until years later, reflecting on her own birth (a long labor involving forceps and vacuum extraction, with no nervous system check afterward), that she started wondering whether the two were connected.
What Is a Subluxation, and Why Does It Matter for a Child's Nervous System?
A subluxation, in Dr. Duarte's terms, is a misalignment in the spine that puts pressure on a nerve and interrupts communication between the brain and the rest of the body. Because symptoms are often the last thing to show up, by the time something's noticeably wrong, the interference may have been building for a long time.
She compares it to a dimmer switch: the light gets turned down so gradually that you don't notice at first, until one day it's just dark in the room. In her office, she uses an instrument called a nervoscope, run down the spine to detect inflammation at the nerve root where a subluxation is present. Her broader point is that symptoms themselves aren't the enemy. A fever or a bout of vomiting can be the body doing exactly what it's supposed to do. A subluxation, on the other hand, is what gets in the way of that process working correctly.
"Your body is trying to signal to you that something is wrong."
What Does an ADHD or Anxiety Label Mean for a Child's Nervous System?
Instead of starting with the label, Dr. Duarte asks how a child is sleeping, digesting, regulating, and recovering, and tracks that on a 0–10 function scale in her office instead of tracking symptoms.
She's upfront that labels like ADHD, anxiety, or sensory processing issues aren't inherently bad; they can help a family communicate and access support. But she wants parents to know they haven't failed their kids by not having all the answers yet. This comes from her own experience: after years on anxiety medication, maxing out her dose left her, in her words, "numb to life." Coming off it under chiropractic care, she describes gaining more capacity to respond to stress rather than react to it. She uses the image of a bucket and a faucet, where the goal isn't emptying the bucket over and over, but turning off what's filling it in the first place and making the bucket itself bigger.
"When someone comes in with ADHD, with whatever they may have been labeled, I see them as a young child coming in with a spine and a nervous system that was designed to function."
Why Does Chiropractic Care Matter During Pregnancy and Birth?
Because, as Dr. Duarte puts it, the baby feels what the mom feels. Regular adjustments during pregnancy help a mother's body adapt to stress, and techniques like Webster focus specifically on pelvic alignment ahead of birth.
She points to a recent patient, anxious about giving birth for the first time, who reported feeling calmer after being seen twice a week leading up to her due date. Dr. Duarte connects this to the nerves running to the reproductive organs: when a subluxation is present, it can affect communication between the brain and those systems, too. She also emphasizes she isn't working alone: she collaborates with midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, and physical and occupational therapists, with chiropractic care as one part of a broader support team.
"Baby feels what mom feels."
Quick Answers
Can chiropractic care help with ADHD or anxiety in kids? Chiropractic doesn't diagnose or treat ADHD or anxiety directly. It focuses on regulating the nervous system, which affects sleep, digestion, and stress response. Dr. Duarte looks at how a child is functioning rather than tracking a diagnosis.
What is a subluxation? A misalignment in the spine that puts pressure on a nerve, interfering with communication between the brain and the rest of the body.
How is a subluxation detected? Dr. Duarte uses an instrument called a nervoscope, run down the spine to detect inflammation at the nerve root associated with a subluxation.
Is chiropractic care used during pregnancy? Yes. Dr. Duarte and many chiropractors use techniques like Webster, which focuses on pelvic alignment ahead of birth. She recommends finding a Webster-certified provider.
How long does it take to notice a difference from chiropractic care? It varies by person and isn't usually instant. Dr. Duarte describes it as a process built on consistency rather than a one-time fix.
This episode is for educational purposes and isn't a substitute for individualized medical advice.
About Dr. Sophia Duarte
Dr. Sophia Duarte is the founder of Radiant Chiropractic in Charleston, South Carolina, a family practice focused on pregnancy and pediatric care.
Website: radiantchiropractic.com
If this episode gave you a new lens on what your child's body might be telling you, share it with a friend, tag me on Instagram, or leave a review. That's how we build stronger, healthier communities together, one practitioner, one story, one family at a time.
