Reduction of thoraco-lumbar junctional kyphosis, posterior sagittal balance, and increase of lumbar lordosis and sacral inclination by Chiropractic BioPhysics® methods in an adolescent with back pain: a case report.
Christopher M Gubbels, Joshua T Werner, Paul A Oakley and 1 others
PMID 31645816WHAT IT FOUND
A 16-year-old with chronic back pain received 24 chiropractic treatments over 8 weeks.
Her pain dropped from 7/10 to 1/10, and spine X-rays showed corrected alignment. Because she received multiple therapies at once, the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.
Key findings
01Back pain decreased from an average of 7/10 to 1/10 after 24 treatments over 8 weeks.
02Spinal alignment parameters improved, including reduced posterior sagittal balance and increased lumbar lordosis.
03The patient received mirror image exercises, traction, spinal manipulation, and drop-table adjustments simultaneously.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study reports on a single patient, so it describes what happened to one person, not a pattern of treatment response. There was no long-term follow-up to see if the pain relief or structural changes persisted. The patient received multiple concurrent interventions (exercises, traction, manipulation, drop-table adjustments), so it is impossible to determine which component, if any, caused the improvement. The outcomes were measured by the treating clinicians using specific software, and there was no control group or blinding.
Declared interests
The authors are associated with Chiropractic BioPhysics and PostureCo, the company that makes the software used for measurement. The Denneroll orthotic used in the home program is also a commercial product.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Chiropractic BioPhysics methods are proven to correct adolescent spinal deformity or eliminate back pain. This is a single case report with no control group, and the patient received a bundle of different treatments simultaneously, so the effect of any specific technique cannot be isolated.