Rethinking Touch Defensiveness

Several years ago a 10 yr old boy came to my clinic struggling greatly with touch defensiveness. Everything that touched his skin seemed to create a pain response, or an "icky" feeling. He was also quite limited in food taste and texture tolerances.

At the time, I tried all the sensory-based strategies I knew: deep pressure brushing, heavy work proprioception, vestibular-tactile input, pressure clothing, weighted clothing. I exhausted all my tools on my tool belt. I don't even remember why I tried lymphatic massage but I'm sure it was out of desperation to help him find relief.

AND IT DID. He came back one week after a single treatment and said, "Of all the things you did, that was the only thing that made my skin feel better."

What I learned from this young man, I began to apply to every person with sensory wellness challenges to their skin....and got similar results.

Now we have some science of damage or injury to C-fiber sensory cells in the epidermis related to Tactile Defensiveness (based on neurology skin biposy testing). C fibers are the gate-keepers to the autonomic nervous system (fight-flight) within the skin.

If damaged, wouldn't that keep the skin in a state of sympathetic responsiveness? This article is several years old, with more studies following to suggest that Touch Defensiveness is peripheral neuropathy caused by [unknown] inflammatory agents.

We might need to rethink our viewpoints on sensory integration theories and the anatomy of the sensory systems.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Louisa-Silva/publication/304338603_First_Skin_Biopsy_Reports_in_Children_with_Autism_Show_Loss_of_C-Tactile_Fibers/links/57e005d108ae8bb8138a01ef/First-Skin-Biopsy-Reports-in-Children-with-Autism-Show-Loss-of-C-Tactile-Fibers.pdf

#SensoryProcessing #sensoryprocessingdisorder #sensoryintegration #occupationaltherapy #pediatricoccupationaltherapy #pediatricoccupationaltherapist #AutismAwareness #sensoryautism #autismsensory