Return of disabled worker to the workforce

To see if chiropractic manipulative therapy and/or a targeted stabilization training program can help a patient for whom several other treatment methods had failed.

The 52-year-old male patient had been unable to stand for prolonged periods and was progressively getting worse for a year under various treatment protocols prior to seeking chiropractic care. His pain had progressed from foot pain to bilateral sciatica, and he was also experiencing thoracic pain and cervicalgia with headaches. He had identifiable muscle weakness, loss of range of motion and paresthesia. He had been unemployed for over a year.

The patient underwent an 8-week period of comprehensive chiropractic manipulative therapy followed by an 8-week period of targeted low back stability training designed to address identified muscular weakness with no chiropractic therapy. At the end of each 8-week period, the patient reported significant improvement. At the end of treatment, the patient returned to the workforce.

The use of chiropractic manipulative therapy and a targeted stabilization program appear to be 2 effective treatment protocols for sciatica and paresthesia. The outcome of this study suggests that combining the 2 protocols may result in quicker, more effective recovery. Further investigation as to the effectiveness of a combined treatment program is suggested. It was also noted that chiropractic manipulative therapy was effective treatment for cervicogenic headaches.