Cervical extension traction as part of a multimodal rehabilitation program relieves whiplash-associated disorders in a patient having failed previous chiropractic treatment: a CBP® case report

Re-establishing the cervical lordosis after whiplash: a Chiropractic Biophysics® spinal corrective care methods pre-auto injury and post-auto injury case report with follow-up

[Purpose] To document the re-establishment of the cervical lordosis following radiographically verified altered sagittal plane alignment both prior to, and following a motor vehicle collision. [Participant and Methods] A 16-year-old male presented for a non-motor collision complaint of low back pain. Initial lateral cervical radiograph demonstrated cervical hypo-lordosis. The patient was treated with a 6-week plan (18 visits) utilizing Chiropractic BioPhysics® (CBP) methods to increase the cervical lordosis. Eight months later the patient presented with new complaints as a result of a motor collision. The cervical lordosis straightened. The patient received another round of similar treatment to improve the lordosis. There was also a 6.5-month follow-up. [Results] The initial round of treatment achieved a 21° improvement in cervical lordosis. The motor vehicle collision caused a loss of 15° of lordosis. The second round of treatment achieved a 12.5° improvement in lordosis that was demonstrated to be maintained at a 6.5-month follow-up. [Conclusions] This case illustrates how a whiplash event occurring during a motor vehicle collision subluxated the cervical spine. It was also shown that CBP methods reliably corrected the lordosis after two separate treatment programs using specialized methods. Beyond trauma, radiographic screening of specific cervical subluxation is recommended following all motor collisions.

Preventing the progression of text neck in a young man: A case report

Text neck describes an overuse injury of the cervical spine resulting from the repetitive stress of prolonged forward head flexion while looking down on a mobile screen. This case report describes a 24-year-old young man who presented with a 12-month history of head and neck pain and paresthesia of the right upper limb. The patient worked as a YouTuber and has been editing and posting videos on the website for three years. One year prior to referral for chiropractic assessment, the patient first visited his family physician for similar complaints. Based on cervical radiographs, the diagnosis of cervical spondylosis was given. Previous management included pain medication and muscle relaxants. Interventions included repeated physical therapy, cervical traction, and acupuncture, with some temporary relief during the subsequent year. However, severe flare-up of the symptoms occurred, which was brought about by working for extended periods on his smartphone, for which the patient sought chiropractic attention. X-ray imaging showed cervical kyphosis with C5 vertebral rotation, hypertonicity of the paraspinal muscles, and paresthesia in the right C6 dermatome distribution, which were consistent with text neck syndrome associated with cervical spondylosis and right C6 radiculopathy. The intervention consisted of improving posture while texting, cervical manipulation, and extension traction therapy. After 9 months of treatment sessions, the symptomatic and functional improvement was reflected by the radiographic changes in the cervical curve correction and the normalized paraspinal muscle tension on surface electromyology. Frequent breaks along with correct posture while using smartphones will be the key entities to prevent the occurrence of text neck syndrome.

Improving the cervical lordosis relieves neck pain and chronic headaches in a pediatric: a Chiropractic Biophysics® (CBP®) case report with a 17-month follow-up

[Purpose] To present the case of a dramatic improvement in the cervical lordosis and relief from chronic headaches and neck pain in a pediatric having a recent neck trauma. [Participant and Methods] A 10 year old male presented with recent neck trauma, neck pain and pre-existing chronic headaches. Cervical range of motion was limited with pain. X-ray analysis showed dramatic loss of cervical lordosis and an acute atlantoaxial rotatory fixation. Chiropractic Biophysics technique methods incorporating spinal manual adjustments, cervical extension traction and corrective exercises were used to restore normal cervical lordosis. Treatments were performed intensively over 6.5-weeks, with a 17-month long-term follow-up. [Results] The pediatric patient responded well to treatment with near complete resolution of cranio-cervical complaints. The cervical lordosis was corrected to age-appropriate magnitude, the coronal symmetry was restored, and both were maintained after nearly 1.5 years. [Conclusion] Chiropractic Biophysics technique which includes the cervical extension traction using the pediatric Denneroll orthotic was effective in restoring lordosis in a pediatric patient with cervical kyphosis and chronic headaches presenting with recent neck pains from a traumatic origin. Routine X-ray of the cervical spine is recommended for patients presenting with craniocervical symptoms as spine alignment is often overlooked as pathognomonic for these conditions.

Restoring cervical lordosis by cervical extension traction methods in the treatment of cervical spine disorders: a systematic review of controlled trials

[Purpose] To systematically review the literature on the use of cervical extension traction methods for increasing cervical lordosis in those with hypolordosis and cervical spine disorders. [Methods] Literature searches for controlled clinical trials were performed in Pubmed, PEDro, Cochrane, and ICL databases. Search terms included iterations related to the cervical spine, neck pain and disorders, and extension traction rehabilitation. [Results] Of 1,001 initially located articles, 9 met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The trials demonstrated increases in radiographically measured lordosis of 12-18°, over 5-15 weeks, after 15-60 treatment sessions. Untreated controls/comparison groups not receiving extension traction showed no increase in cervical lordosis. Several trials demonstrated that both traction and comparison treatment groups experienced immediate pain relief. Traction treatment groups maintained their pain and disability improvements up to 1.5 years later. Comparative groups not receiving lordosis improvement experienced regression of symptoms towards pre-treatment values by 1 years' follow-up. [Conclusion] There are several high-quality controlled clinical trials substantiating that increasing cervical lordosis by extension traction as part of a spinal rehabilitation program reduces pain and disability and improves functional measures, and that these improvements are maintained long-term. Comparative groups who receive multimodal rehabilitation but not extension traction experience temporary relief that regresses after treatment cessation.

Chiropractic case reports: a review and bibliometric analysis

OBJECTIVE

To determine publication trends, gaps, and predictors of citation of chiropractic case reports (CRs).

METHODS

A bibliometric review was conducted by searching PubMed, Index to Chiropractic Literature (ICL), and Google Scholar to identify PubMed-indexed CRs, which were screened according to selection criteria. Case reports were categorized by International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) code, patient age, topic describing case management or adverse effects of care, focus being spinal or non-spinal, journal type, integrative authorship, title metrics, and citation metrics. Binary logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of citations per year and total citations greater than the median values.

RESULTS

The search identified 1176 chiropractic CRs meeting selection criteria. There was an increasing trend of CRs having a case management topic, non-spinal focus, non-chiropractic journal, neuromusculoskeletal-focus, diagnosis of vascular pathology, and a decreasing trend of adverse effect vascular pathology CRs. Independent predictors of greater total citations (or citation rate) included ICD-10 categories of perinatal conditions, infections, "case" in title, case management topic, and physical therapy, integrative, and dental journal type. Predictors of fewer citations included diseases of the blood, neoplasms, other findings not elsewhere classified, a title > 11 words, and multidisciplinary authorship. ICD-10 categories describing non-musculoskeletal diseases and special populations such as pediatrics, pregnancy, and perinatal conditions had few CRs.

CONCLUSION

Chiropractic CRs are diversifying from spine-related topics. Chiropractors are encouraged to publish objective, structured CRs within defined research gaps. Published CRs can inform the design of future research studies with a higher level of clinical relevance and evidence.

The treatment of dizziness by improving cervical lordosis: a Chiropractic BioPhysics® case report

[Purpose] To present the case of the relief of idiopathic dizziness and the reduction of neck pains and headache by the improvement in cervical alignment using Chiropractic BioPhysics^® technique. [Participant and Methods] A 57 year old female presented with 30 years of chronic dizziness, neck pains and headache. Multiple testing ruled out known causes of vertigo. The patient was diagnosed with idiopathic dizziness. The patient scored 56 points on the dizziness handicap inventory. The patient showed a cervical hypolordosis of −13.7° and anterior head translation of 27 mm. The patient underwent a multimodal treatment of spinal manipulation, cervical extension traction, neck exercises as well as initial electrical stimulation. Traction procedures were slowly progressive due to the severity of the dizziness symptoms. [Results] Over a period of 12-months and 115 treatments there was a 20° increase in cervical lordosis. The patient reported significant reduction in neck pains, headache and dizziness frequency and severity. The patient had a 44-point drop on the dizziness handicap inventory; dizziness symptoms were reported to be very rare. A 1.5 year follow-up showed stability of the symptom relief and a negligible score on the dizziness handicap inventory. [Conclusion] Cervical hypolordosis may be an under-diagnosed cause of idiopathic dizziness in some patients.