Chiropractic Case Study Background: The patient is a 37 year old female complaining of neck, upper and low back pain. She spends long hours at a desk and has been in the same job for two years. Her job requires that most of her day is spent on the telephone and computer. Her pains began three or four months after beginning her job and have gradually gotten worse. She has had some neck and back pain in the past but not of this intensity or duration.

Challenges: In addition to her work environment contributing to her neck and back pain she also does not have a healthy exercise routine and considers herself “a little overweight.” She does not have a regular exercise routine and due to her schedule often eats on the run mostly consisting of processed snacks.

Treatment Options: After an examination and a review of her history Dr. Paul sat with her to discuss treatment options. Dr. Paul’s suggested course of action is a treatment protocol of two visits per week for four weeks followed by an evaluation. Treatment consists of chiropractic adjustment and soft tissue therapy which would involve trigger point therapy and myofascial release therapy. Dr. Paul also instructs the patient in the home use of ice and heat as well as strengthening and stretching exercises to be done at home. The patient agreed to the treatment regimen.
McGee Chiropractic is an integrated practice designing treatments for their clients that include nutrition and exercise. Dr. Paul discussed changes she could make in her diet and exercise to improve her overall health, ways she could modify her work station and work habits in order to make her work day a more enjoyable experience. Some specific work solutions are: using a headset with her phone, adjusting her seat height, muscle relaxing exercises to be done at her desk and standing up while on break.

Results: during the consultation at the end of the treatment period it was determined there was improvement and the next course of action would be to reduce the visits to one visit per week for two more weeks and to continue the exercise and nutrition regimen. At this time it was determined the patient’s condition had improved enough to be discharged. We did discuss early warning signs in case this might reoccur. Four months later the patient made an appointment for treatment. During the visit the patient said she was still feeling better overall but was beginning to experience some pain and wanted to “nip it in the bud.” This time the patient required two visits to relieve her pain. Finally we went over her home exercises to make sure she was still doing them properly as well as the overall changes we had made to her diet and work habits.