Long Term Maintenance Chiropractic Continues to Show Spinal Improvement

The Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health published the results of a case study on July 20, 2022, documenting the correction over time of spinal vertebrae in the neck. The study is titled, "Reducing Cervical Retrolisthesis With Long-Term Monthly Chiropractic Maintenance Care: A Case Report." What is unique about this study is it showed that spinal positional correction continued to take place years after the chiropractic care started and entered the maintenance portion of care.

Many patients begin chiropractic care for the alleviation of symptoms, commonly musculoskeletal types of pain. In a number of these cases, patients will discontinue their care when they feel better, and the symptoms are gone. These patients skip maintenance care with the assumption that if the problem returns, they can simply go back to the chiropractor to gain relief again.

In this case study, a 44-year-old woman sought out chiropractic care for help with multiple symptoms. The history showed that the woman was suffering with neck pain, numbness, and tingling that was radiating down her right forearm and hand. She also experienced intermittent shoulder stiffness. These problems had been occurring for the previous 12 months.

The woman had originally seen an orthopedist for her problems and was treated with traction and medications. Having seen no benefit from the medical care, the woman decided to try chiropractic.

A chiropractic examination was performed which included spinal range of motion, some orthopedic exam procedures, grip strength measurements, spinal x-rays and a World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) assessment. The WHOQOL assessment ranges from 0 to 100 with 100 being the best. The WHO website describes this test by stating, "WHO defines Quality of Life as an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns." In this case, the woman rated her quality of life as a 64 out of 100.

Chiropractic care was started at the rate of three visits per week for the first month. After this point, the frequency of care was reduced and continued for three months. At the three month point, the patient reported that her symptoms were totally alleviated, and she had regained full neck mobility. She also reported that she had stopped all pain medications. The woman’s WHOQOL score improved from 64 to 98 indicating a vast improvement in her quality of life.

Subsequently, the woman began chiropractic maintenance care and continued this care schedule for 13 years. Periodically, as well as at the 13-year wellness point, x-rays were taken to monitor the process of the woman’s spine. These x-rays showed that improvement in her spine continued to be visible as maintenance care continued. The latest x-rays showed that spinal changes and improvement continued long after the initial phase of chiropractic care.

"Many insurance programs and governmental programs do not cover maintenance care because they consider it to be not medically necessary and of no benefit to the restoration of health," says Dr. Selina Sigafoose-Jackson, president of the International Chiropractors Association. Dr. Sigafoose-Jackson continued, "This study highlights that chiropractic maintenance care continues to have corrective outcomes in addition to the benefits of maintaining good health."