Trauma
Brain mapping observations of a post-traumatic
hemiplegic 14-year-old male before and after upper cervical
adjustment. Hospers LA. Today’s Chiropractic (1986)
Pp.46-50.
A 14-year-old boy had been in an automobile accident
and was left hemiplegic from bilateral anterior and right
cerebral hemisphere trauma. He lost the ability to write
and draw and had long periods of drowsiness and enuresis. While
the mother was pushing the boy in a wheelchair she chanced
to meet the wife of a chiropractor who suggested the boy receive
care.
Computerized brain EEG mapping was performed 10 minutes
and 60 minutes after Upper Cervical adjustments. Significant
changes to his brain were recorded implying increased brain
activity in depressed areas. EEG readings were also taken
1 ½ years after the accident and 6 months after chiropractic
and craniosacral care began.
Under chiropractic and craniosacral
care, the boy regained his ability to walk with the help
of a cane. His writing and drawing talents reappeared and his
drowsiness and enuresis began to decrease. He stated as he
improved, “I
feel human again.”
The neuro-pathophysiology of traumatic
hemiparesis and its association with dysfunctional upper cervical
motion units: a case report. Schimp JA, Schimp DJ. Chiropractic
Technique, 1992; 4:104-107.
This is the case of a 7-year-old
boy suffering from traumatic hemiparesis following an auto-pedestrian
injury. After the first adjustment the parents noticed a “quieting” in
the boy’s behavior. On the third day of chiropractic
management, notable improvement was evident in lower limb
function, as observed during stair climbing. After 16 days
of daily adjustments, 90% improvement in upper extremity
function and 70% improvement in lower extremity function
were noted. After 54 days of chiropractic, management all
abnormal signs were abolished.
Post-traumatic myelpathy following
flopping high jump: a pilot case of spinal manipulation.
Woo CC. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics,
1993: 16: 336-341.
An 11-year-old boy became paralyzed after
multiple flopping high jumps where the athlete lands on the
back of his shoulders and head.
He was tetraplegic and unable
to stand, had difficulty in moving fingers, poor bladder and
bowel control and almost complete loss of voluntary trunk motion.
He spent three months in the hospital where he had a thorough
neurological examination, including myelogram, EEG, and skull
and spinal x-rays, with normal findings. He did not respond
to hospital management which included steroid therapy.
Spinal
care of the lower cervical and upper thoracic spine was performed
in a private chiropractic clinic for two weeks. He apparently
recovered…he still suffers from hand
muscle atrophy, hyperreflexia of the triceps, ankle reflex
and bilateral positive Babinski reflex; ankle and patellar
clonus are almost absent.
Dissociation of cerebral glucose metabolism
and level of consciousness during the period of metabolic
depression following human traumatic injury. Bergsneider
M, Hovda DA, Lee SM et al. J Neurotrauma 2000;17(5):389-40.
This
paper indicates that mild head traumas, like those suffered
in motor vehicle collisions and sports injuries, are often
more serious than many doctors realize.
Investigators examined
positron emission tomography (PET) scans of 42 subjects who
suffered mild head trauma during the past month. 84% showed
reduced brain glucose uptake, an indicator of brain damage,
and 61% had Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores in the comatose
range.
Osteopathic manipulative treatment applications for the
emergency department patient. Paul, FA, Buser BR Journal
of the American Osteopathic Association, 1996;96:403-409.
From
the abstract:
The emergency department (ED) setting offers osteopathic
physicians multiple opportunities to provide osteopathic
manipulative treatment (OMT) as either the primary therapy
or as an adjunct to the intervention. In doing so, osteopathic
physicians can decrease or eliminate the morbidity and symptoms
associated with protracted dysfunction. Low back pain, chest
pain, torticollis, asthma and sinusitis are some of the illnesses
in which OMT should be implemented as part of the management
plan….
Mild head injury in preschool children: evidence
that it can be associated with a persisting cognitive defect.
Wrightson P. McGinn V, Gronwell D. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry
1995;59:375-80.
This study tested children who had mild head
injury, defined as an injury which, at the emergency room was
not considered severe enough to require hospital admission
for observation. The children were tested the year of the accident
and at age 6 ½ for cognitive performance, particularly
reading skills.
Seventy-eight children with mild head injury
were compared with a group of eighty-six children with a minor
injury elsewhere.
There were no differences soon after the injury
but at six months and one year the children with the mild head
injury scored less than controls on one test and were also
more likely to have had another mild head injury. At 6 ½ years
of age, they still scored less than controls and they were
more likely to have needed help with reading.
Late outcome of
mild head injury: results from a controlled postal survey.
Bohnen N, Vanzutphen W, Twijnstra A et al. Brain Injury 8(8):
701-708, 1994.
In this study, a postal questionnaire was sent
to a population of (mild head injury) MHI patients 1 to 5 years
post accident and to a control group to measure subjective
and psychological complaints, distresses and discomforts often
mentioned by MHI patients. Interestingly, the distresses and
symptoms of the MHI group were indistinguishable from the non-MHI,
however the MHI group’s symptoms were significantly
more severe.
Comment by Dr. Koren: One hypothesis as to the
mechanism of action is that a pre-existing subluxation patterns
are made much worse as a result of trauma. In other words,
the patients were more “in pattern” or their
subluxations were more severe as a result of their accident.
The
conclusion from the abstract was interesting: “The
results support the hypothesis that MHI may not ever be completely
reversible.”
The neuropathophysiology of traumatic hemiparesis
and its association with dysfunctional upper cervical motion
units: a case report. Schimp, J. Schimp D. Chiropractic Technique
Aug 1992, Vol: 4(3) pp.104-107.
A 7-year-old boy suffering from
traumatic hemiparesis following an auto-pedestrian injury was
found by MRI and CT to have an intact cervical spine and no
evidence of pathology. Child was diagnosed at the hospital
with “torqued brain stem.”
Child was adjusted in
the upper cervical area and within two weeks the child was
assessed as 90% functional for the upper extremity and 70%
functional for the lower extremity. Hemiparesis eventually
completely resolved under chiropractic care.
The authors do
not feel it was a spontaneous recovery since the hemiparesis
persisted for the week before presentation and resolved immediately
after the adjustments.
Post-traumatic myelopathy following high
jump: a pilot case of spinal manipulation. Woo CC. J Manipulative
Physiol Ther, June 1993, Vol.16 (5), pp.336-341.
An 11-year-old
tetraplegic boy did not respond to 3 months of orthodox conservative
hospital management, including steroid therapy. He greatly
recovered after 3 months of chiropractic care with some residual
hand muscle atrophy, and some increased reflexes of the triceps,
ankle reflex and ankle and patellar clonus was absent.
Traumatic
spinal myoclonus. Woo CC. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological
Therapeutics, 1989;12:478-481.
A 24-year-old woman suffered
from myoclonus of the inner thighs and abdomen (seizures involving
rapid phasic contractions of muscles or groups of muscles)
after a diving accident 17 years prior. She had not responded
to medicines. The condition was apparently resolved after a
single chiropractic adjustment relieved a subluxation of the
thoraco-lumbar junction.
EEG and CEEG studies before and after
upper cervical or SOT category II adjustment in children after
head trauma, in epilepsy, and in “hyperactivity.” Hospers
LA, Proceedings of the National Conference on Chiropractic
and Pediatrics (ICA) 1992;84-139.
Five cases were presented.
Conventional EEG studies demonstrate responses of two children
with petite mal (absent) seizure with potential for generating
into grand mal. Upper cervical adjustment reduced negative
brainwave activity and reduced the frequency of seizures over
a four month period.
In two cases of “hyperactivity” and
attention deficit disorder, upper cervical adjustment reduced
non-coherence between right and left hemispheres in one child
and in another, CEEG demonstrated restoration of normal incidence
of the alpha frequency spectrum. Increased attention span and
improvement of social behavior were reported in both cases.
A
child rendered hemiplegic after an auto accident displayed
abnormal brainwave readings. After adjustment, the CEEG demonstrated
more normalized brainwave readings. Child was able to utilize
his left arm and leg contralaterally to the injured side
of the brain without assistance after upper cervical adjustments.
Post-traumatic
evaluation and treatment of the pediatric patient with head
injury: a case report. Araghi HJ. Proceedings of the National
Conference on Chiropractic and Pediatrics, 1992:1-8 and Int’l
Review of Chiropractic 1995; Jan/Feb:29-31.
From the abstract:
A two-year-old boy suffering from vomiting
and loss of energy following impact trauma to the head (head
first fall from a shopping cart) was found by neurological
exam and CT scan to have suffered a concussion with no evidence
of brain or spinal cord pathology. Chiropractic adjustment
of occiput resolved the patient’s symptoms.
Monocular
visual loss after closed head trauma: immediate resolution
associated with spinal manipulation. R. Frank Gorman. Journal
of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. Vol. 18, No.3,
June 1995.
The author, a medical doctor, discusses the relationship
between spinal health and blood supply to the head.
From the
paper (p.310):
I hold the opinion, based on two decades of dedication
to the intricacies of the ‘Cervical Syndrome’ and
from a personal experience of 6,000 spinal manipulations
done under anesthesia, that concentric narrowing of the visual
fields indicates that the child has inferior brain function,
which is a serious detriment in both the child’s internal
and external environment.
13-year-old with headache, depression,
poor appetite, nausea, general muscular weakness, dizziness
and sensitivity to light and noise. Case reports in chiropractic
pediatrics. Esch, S. ACA J of Chiropractic December 1988.
This
is the case of a 13 day-old with a history of respiratory difficulty
since birth (home birth, uncomplicated). Infant had difficulty
nursing due to “stuffiness.”
Upon presentation,
patient was in considerable pain, wearing dark glasses and
ear plugs to compensate for increased sensitivity to sound
and light. One week beforehand he had been injured in a football
game collision. Medical doctors had given the child pain killers.
Patient
was hospitalized in traction for two weeks with no improvement.
Chiropractic
examination included x-ray (Davis series) of the cervical spine
that showed right lateral displacement of atlas with right
rotation of C-2. Following initial adjustment the patient could
ride home without wearing his sunglasses and for the first
time in two weeks expressed an interest in food. He returned
the next day saying he felt, “The best I’ve felt
in six weeks.”
Osteopathic manipulative treatment applications
for the emergency department patient. Paul, FA, Buser BR Journal
of the American Osteopathic Association, 1996;96:403-409.
The
authors wish to make their profession aware of how osteopathic
manipulative therapy can help in the emergency room such
as decreasing the morbidity and symptoms associated with
problems such as low back pain, chest pain, torticollis,
asthma, sinusitis and other conditions.
Copyright 2004 Koren
Publications, Inc. & Tedd Koren,
D.C.