August 2024

• Mood, Sleep, Digestion, and Emotions Improved in a Child Under Chiropractic
• Chronic Torticollis Resolved with Chiropractic
• Spondylolistheses, Low Back Pain, and Urinary Function Helped by Chiropractic
• Chiropractic Shown to Affect Brain Function in Study

On June 28, 2024, the Asian-Pacific Chiropractic Journal published the results of a case study documenting the dramatic improvement of a young child under chiropractic care, who was previously suffering with mood issues, sleep problems, digestions, social interactions, and a variety of other developmental problems.

This study begins by explaining the importance of the Vagus nerve. The Vagus nerve is the 10th cranial nerve and is the longest. It may well be the most important of the 12 cranial nerves. This nerve is responsible for a large portion of the autonomic nerve system function which controls many internal organs. There has been much recent research concerning artificial stimulation of the Vagus nerve for medical treatment of conditions like depression and epilepsy. This type of treatment is invasive and carries risks.

Recent chiropractic research has shown that non-invasive chiropractic care has a positive effect on Vagus nerve function and has been linked to health benefits such as lower blood pressure. The authors of this study note that proper function, referred to as "tone", of the Vagus nerve is critical for an infant's emotional and social development as well as system functions such as digestion.

In this case, a 19-month-old infant boy was brought to the chiropractor by his mother because her son seemed to be constantly emotional and agitated. Initially, the boy's mother assumed her son was just going through a phase. However, as the problem continued, she also noted that her son never smiled and had issue with moody reactions, sleep problems, poor neck movement and position, difficulties with digestion and feeding, as well as some difficulties with crawling and walking. He also pointed out that her son's head shape was not asymmetrical.

The mother reported that from his very first day, the infant boy would wake up screaming. He would only be calm for a few hours during the day, but then would appear to be in pain as he constantly seemed agitated, with whining and crying.

An examination revealed a number of primitive reflexes that should only be present in the earliest weeks of life. This reinforced the presence of a nervous system issue. Subluxations were determined to be present, and a plan of specific and age-appropriate chiropractic adjustments were started.

Periodic re-assessments were performed several weeks into the boy's care. At that time, it was noted that the boy showed improvement in sleep quality, mood and general behavior, as well as a large improvement in his ability to deal with stress. Additionally, he showed improvement in his posture, coordination, body symmetry, balance, and he had a significant decrease in the amount of time he spent crying.

As care progressed, the boy continued to show improvement in all areas. At one point, his mother commented that she was "thrilled to have her son back." The boy's parents also said that because their son had received chiropractic care, their son seemed to be, "a completely different child."

The Journal of Contemporary Chiropractic published the results of a case study on April 29, 2024, that documented the resolution with chiropractic care of a patient suffering from chronic torticollis. According to the Orthopedic Dictionary, torticollis, which can be either congenital or acquired, is defined as "a stiff neck or wry neck, caused by spasmodic contractions of neck muscle drawing the head to one side with the chin pointing to the other side. Most often involving the sternocleidomastoid muscle unilaterally."

In this case, a 23-year-old woman sought out chiropractic care for the torticollis she had been suffering with since birth. Her history revealed that she was born after 12 hours of labor that stalled and resulted in a caesarian operation. The result of this birth was trauma and a neck that was drawn to one side. As a result, she was then diagnosed with torticollis from birth trauma.

As the girl grew up, she was taken to many doctors for her condition. The standard recommendations she was given were to stretch the affected muscles. The study notes that she was very diligent in following her recommendations and followed all care. However, none of the medical care and recommendations caused any overall changes in her condition.

The study reports that the girl and her mother "spared no efforts" to resolve the girl's birth-related injuries. Over the 20-year period, and before seeking chiropractic, the girl had been taken to over 30 providers who could not help her.

On the girl's first visit to the chiropractor, she received an examination and care was started. The study reports that she "…immediately demonstrated full range of motion to the left, chin over left shoulder." The study author noted, "The patient had immediate relief of her chief complaint after the first intervention. There was no return of limited cervical ROM and no head tilt."

Chiropractic care was continued and helped address the additional symptoms she was experiencing, like headaches, due to the long-term nature of her torticollis. The chiropractic care she received had a profound effect on her life from that point forward. The study notes her life changed by reporting, "Now she is in graduate school with a backpack and a grueling study schedule. She is no longer plagued by headaches or restricted ROM."

The Journal of Clinical Medicine published the results of a study on March 30, 2024, that showed chiropractic helping three patients who had health issues resulting from spondylolistheses. According to the National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, "Spondylolisthesis is a condition that occurs when one vertebral body slips with respect to the adjacent vertebral body causing radicular or mechanical symptoms or pain. It is graded based on the degree of slippage of one vertebral body on the adjacent vertebral body."

This study begins by explaining the impact that spinal pain can have on the overall quality of life and the residual effects the pain can have on organ functions. The authors also report that "Degenerative spondylolisthesis is prevalent in 6–31% of the United States population, with an elevated prevalence from 50 to 90 years of age and where the female to male ratio is 5 to 1."

This study reports on a case series involving three patients who went to a spinal rehabilitation facility for low back pain. All three patients had the following findings on their initial chiropractic visits: All three had significant lower back pain, and suffered from urgency of urination issues. Additionally, all had x-rays that showed an increase in their lower back curvature along with the visible presence of spondylolistheses. Included in this study was a man, age 68, and two women, ages 71 and 69.

All three patients were initially asked to fill out a 36-question health-related quality of life (HRQOL) questionnaire that could be compared to the same form later in their chiropractic care. This HRQOL is then scored from 0 to 100 with 100 being the highest rating of a good quality of life. This rating is divided into a physical component score (PCS) with a normal rating of 46.8, and a mental component score (MCS) with the normal being 52.8 out of 100.

Specific forms of chiropractic care were performed on the patients for between a 12 and 41 week dependent upon their specific spinal findings. The initial scores for the PCS and MCS were compared to those after the chiropractic care program as well as over a year after the care was rendered.

The man had initial scores of 21.8 for his PCS and 42.2 for his MCS score. After care the man's scores increased to 44.1 for his PCS and 62.7 for his MCS. The 71-year-old woman's initial PCS score was 32.6, which increased to 51.7 after care. Her MCS score went initially from 53.8 to 57.5 after care. The other woman, who was 69 years old, had an initial PCS score of 35.0 which raised to 54.8 after chiropractic care, while her MCS score went from 43.5 to 52.7. Over one year after chiropractic care had started, all three patients maintained higher scores in both categories.

In addition to the self-reported benefits in pain and quality of life as shown in their scores, all three patients also had improvements in their spondylolistheses as shown on their x-rays. Additionally, all three reported improvements in their urinary function issues.

The authors of the study commented on the success of chiropractic care in these cases by stating, "This case documents the first recorded long-term successful treatment of three senior patients (two females and one male) aged 68 to 71 years showing improvements in back pain, QOL, and urinary dysfunction following the correction of lumbar lordosis and reduction in lumbar spondylolistheses…" They also added, "This study adds to the growing body of research for healthcare providers and educators who can benefit from a better understanding of the impact of spinal health on human physiology and potential treatment options."

On June 11, 2024, the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience journal published the results of a study that showed chiropractic care had a positive effect on brain function. The brain function was measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG). This study looked at the EEG readings of patients who were under chiropractic care and were experiencing mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

According to the Mayo Clinic website, "Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the stage between the expected decline in memory and thinking that happens with age and the more serious decline of dementia. MCI may include problems with memory, language or judgment. People with MCI may be aware that their memory or mental function has ‘slipped.' Family and close friends also may notice changes. But these changes aren't bad enough to impact daily life or affect usual activities."

The purpose of the study was to see if chiropractic care had an effect on brain function of patients with MCI. The researcher explained this study by saying, "In this study, the aim is to investigate the changes in neural activity using the EEG signal pre- and post-chiropractic or control intervention in participants with MCI." This takes on an even more important purpose as the researchers noted that MCI often progresses to Alzheimer's disease, a much more serious cognitive condition.

In this study 26 participants who had been diagnosed with MCI were randomly divided into two groups of 13 participants. One group would receive chiropractic care, while the other group would not, and were used as a control group. All participants were between the ages of 58 and 68 years old. All participants received an EEG examination at the beginning of the study to establish a baseline for comparison later.

All the participants would receive two EEG examinations on each visit. For the chiropractic group, an EEG would be performed before a chiropractic adjustment, and a second EEG would be performed after the chiropractic adjustment. The control group would also receive two EEG examinations. One would be performed at the beginning of the visit, while the second would be performed after a "Sham adjustment" in which the participant was put through the same positions as an actual adjustment, but without an adjustment being administered.

The results of the study showed that the group that received chiropractic adjustments had positive changes in their EEG studies as tested immediately after the adjustment. The control group showed no change in any of their EEG examinations.

In summing up the results of this study the researchers stated, "Comparison of the results obtained from chiropractic intervention and previous studies shows that chiropractic intervention can have a positive effect on MCI disease and using this method may slow down the progression of mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease."