Cervical Dystonia Helped with Chiropractic – A Case Study

The Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research published a case study on October 1, 2020, that documented a patient under chiropractic care receiving significant relief from neck pain and torticollis.

Cervical dystonia is also sometimes known as spasmodic torticollis. The Mayo Clinic describes this condition on their website by saying "... a painful condition in which your neck muscles contract involuntarily, causing your head to twist or turn to one side. Cervical dystonia can also cause your head to uncontrollably tilt forward or backward."

Cervical dystonia is rare, occurring at any age and affects more women than men. Typical medical treatment involves physiotherapy and muscle relaxant drugs. In some cases, intramuscular injection of botulinum neurotoxin is used to try to correct the problem.

In this case, a 14-year-old girl was brought to the chiropractor. The girl was suffering from a head tilt to her right and neck pain on both sides of her neck. She also reported a feeling of tremor and neck pulling from time to time. Because of her condition, the young girl was withdrawn, socially anxious and unhappy about how she looked.

For the past year, the girl was unsuccessfully being treated medically for her painful situation. She had received three botulinum toxin injections at 3-month intervals, along with physiotherapy and acupuncture. She was currently being medically treated with muscle relaxers which were not giving the girl any relief. A chiropractic examination noted the head tilt and the spasm of neck muscles. The girl had a limited range of motion in her neck, which produced pain on certain movements. X-rays of the girl's neck showed asymmetry of the position of the vertebrae at the top of her neck.

Regular chiropractic care was started daily for the first week. During that initial time, the girl reported significant relief of her pain. After the first week, care was rendered three time per week for the following three months.

The results of the care documented a significant reduction of the girl's pain, elimination of spasm of her neck muscles, and an improvement in the position of her head. She also reported not having any more headaches. After nine months of care, the study reports that the girl was symptom free. This caused a positive change in her mood and she regained her self-confidence.