October 2022

• Scoliosis Corrected with Chiropractic: A Case Study
• Improved Brain Development in Children Undergoing Chiropractic Care
• Lower Opioid Usage with Chiropractic Among People with Back or Neck Pain
• Bell’s Palsy Helped by Chiropractic

On September 19, 2022, the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health Chiropractic published the results of a case study showing that chiropractic care had helped correct scoliosis in a child. Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine when viewed from either the back or the front.

There are normal curvatures to the spine when viewed from the side. The neck should have a curve forward, the mid back should curve backward, and the lower back should curve inward. When viewed from the back or front, the spin should appear straight.

There are approximately 3 million new cases of scoliosis diagnosed in children each year which represents about 3-5% of the pediatric population. Scoliosis is much more common in girls and is most commonly found in adolescents between the ages of 10 and 12 years of age. When the cause is not known to be from a disease or injury, it is referred to as idiopathic scoliosis.

Scoliosis is measured on x-rays in degrees. A 10-degree curvature is considered medically significant, but only a small percentage of these are ever treated. When the curvature is over 40-degrees, the typical medical treatment can include surgery to insert metal rods into the child’s back to hold the spine in a straighter position.

In this case, a 5-year-old girl was brought to the chiropractor because she was suffering with headaches and having trouble sleeping. A chiropractic examination with spinal x-rays was performed and it was discovered that the girl had a scoliosis that measured 13-degrees. Subluxations were also present in the child’s spine. Specific chiropractic adjustments were then started.

After 28 days, a reassessment was performed to see the progress to that point. The study shows that the girl's sleep had improved by 30% and she had experienced a reduction in headache frequency and intensity. A follow-up set of spinal x-rays showed that the girls scoliosis had reduced from a 13 degree curvature down to 0 degrees, in essence a total correction.

In their conclusion the authors of the study wrote, "Objective, quantifiable measures of scoliosis were improved in a relatively brief amount of time with conservative utilization of the (specific) chiropractic analysis to address vertebral subluxation. No other modalities or treatments were necessary to produce improvement in thoracolumbar scoliosis measurements."

The Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health Chiropractic published a study on October 3, 2022, with the title, "Improved Brain Development in 37 Children Undergoing Chiropractic Care for Correction of Vertebral Subluxation: A Retrospective Analysis of Health Outcomes."

The authors of the study begin by explaining that much of the function of the brain depends upon the input that the brain receives from the environment. If there is interference from subluxation that alters the incoming messages to the brain, (known as afferent input), there then will be an abnormal response coming from the brain. Abnormal responses can be interpreted as brain developmental issues in children.

The authors explain, "We know that subluxation can alter input, increasing afferent input to the nervous system, lowering adaptive thresholds, and creating hypersensitivity to "normal" stimuli. Altering input thus alters output; it is logical to think that this change in output can be measured via the functionality of the nervous system and, in this study, developmental skills and how the body interacts with the external environment."

This study looked at and measured many functional and developments skills in children who were shown to be deficient in developmental areas and were categorized as Neuro-Deflective Disorder. The evaluation of the variety of issues was done using both objective findings and parental evaluations on the child’s day-to-day activity and developmental skills.

On all the children in this study, subluxations were located and addressed through specific chiropractic adjusting procedures. The children were then regularly given a reevaluation to determine progress of subluxation correction and developmental changes.

Learning outcomes, which included things such as completing homework, the ability to concentrate on tasks and goals, handwriting, reading comprehension, organization and planning, spelling, understanding concepts, vocabulary and expression, attention or focus, and participation in extracurricular activities was regularly measures. The results showed that in the group there was an average improvement in this area of 64.8%.

A 74.12% improvement was recorded in intra and interpersonal skills outcomes. These included feelings about school, relationships with peers, self-esteem, anxiety, rigidity, family relationships, loss of temper, emotional outbursts, and ability to self-regulate emotions.

The study documented a 62.60% improvement in sensory outcomes which include food choices, sensitivity to pain, and overall sensory sensitivity.

General health outcomes were also monitored and recorded and showed a 47.92% as a result of chiropractic care. These included quality of sleep, amount of sleep, eating habits, digestive health overall, frequency of bowel movements, and energy levels.

With an overall documentation of improvement in all areas, the study authors summed up their results in the conclusion where they wrote, "Chiropractic adjustments, which focus on the reduction of vertebral subluxation, appeared to be beneficial for children with Neuro-Deflective Disorders. When measuring and assessing quality of life for these patients and families there was a positive correlation between chiropractic care and improvement in measured areas."

The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics released the results of a study on October 1, 2022, showing that people under chiropractic care utilize and are prescribed less opioids for their pain. The title of the study is, "Association Between Chiropractic Utilization and Opioid Prescriptions Among People with Back or Neck Pain."

The study begins by pointing out that a third of the population in the United States has experienced back pain in the past three months. In 2016, a study reviewing insurance claims showed that one in five of all new lower back pain cases seeking medical care were prescribed opioids within 30 days of their initial complaint.

The study also reported that in 2017, clinical practice guidelines recommended that "opioids should be considered only in patients for whom other therapies have failed because they are associated with substantial harms." Even with these guidelines, in 2020 there were 16,416 overdose deaths involving prescription opioids.

In this study, researchers at Life Chiropractic College West reviewed data from multiple studies to see if there was a change in the frequency of usage if opioid drugs in patients who were under chiropractic care and medical care, as opposed to those who were only under medical care.

The studies included 4686 people who had experienced lower back or neck pain. Of these people, the data showed that 21% were prescribed and utilized an opioid prescription.

The data was further examined to see the rate of opioid usage for those who received chiropractic care. The researchers then compared the rate of opioid usage verses the total group. The data showed that people with back or neck pain who sought chiropractic care had a 54% less probability of purchasing or receiving an opioid prescription for their condition than those that did not utilize chiropractic.

One of the studies that the researchers used for gathering data for this study showed that those who utilized chiropractic care had a significant decrease in overall health expenses verses those who used opioids. That study showed that "Medicare patients who initiated long-term management of chronic low back pain with opioids had twice the Medicare charges in a 4-year study period compared to those who initiated chronic low back pain management with spinal manipulation therapy, typically provided by Doctors of Chiropractic."

In their conclusion, the authors of this study stated the obvious by saying, "Patients with back or neck pain who saw a chiropractor had approximately half the odds of reporting an opioid prescription compared to those who did not see a chiropractor."

Considering the expense both financially, as well as human suffering and death, chiropractic should be considered first before opioids are prescribed or administered when it comes to low back and neck pain.

A case study published on September 19, 2022, documented the resolution of Bell’s Palsy with chiropractic care. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke defines this condition by saying, "Bell's palsy, also known as idiopathic facial palsy, is a form of temporary facial paralysis or weakness on one side of the face."

Bell’s Palsy usually only affects one side of the face. It results from dysfunction of the 7th cranial nerve, known as the facial nerve. Problems with this nerve can create issues with facial expressions, blinking, eye tearing, and taste from the tongue. This condition is most common among people between the ages of 15 and 45 years and affects approximately 40,000 Americans each year.

In this case, a 52-year-old woman went to the chiropractor because she had been suffering with neck pain and a variety of other symptoms for the previous 3 years. She said the pain was constant and rated it as 4 out of 10, with 10 being the worst. The problems started after she had been cleaning her teeth with a toothpick. Over the next few days, she experienced numbness and pain over the left side of her face and started to experience ringing in her ears. Her face pain continued to get worse and was aggravated by talking.

Her problem created issues with her being able to drink causing her to spill liquid when attempting to do so. She found it difficult to make facial expressions and had difficulty with raising her left eyelid and eyebrow, as well as fully closing the left eye. For the first year of her condition, the woman went to a Chinese medicine practitioner who used herbal medicine and acupuncture. These reportedly gave her 60% relief. However, over the following two years before starting chiropractic, she did not see any further improvement.

The woman was finally referred to a chiropractor by a friend. After an examination, chiropractic care was started at the rate of three visits per week. The results after only the first week of chiropractic were that the woman reported a decrease in her pain down to 2 out of 10. She also reported that she could now talk without an increase in jaw pain.

After one month of chiropractic care, the woman had improved 98%, with her only residual being mild left eyelid drooping when making certain facial expressions. The woman’s face pain, neck pain, and other symptoms were completely gone, and her facial movements were normal.

In the study conclusion the authors wrote, "Patients with Bell’s palsy may also develop symptoms of trigeminal neuropathy. The current case as well as those previously published suggest that these patients may respond to chiropractic..."