Objective: The objective of this report is to describe the chiropractic management of patients with spinal pain complicated by diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis.
Methods: Four patients with neck and / or back pain were examined and radiographs revealed DISH. The patients were diagnosed with vertebral subluxation, complicated by DISH at the cervical spine. All patients were treated with chiropractic manipulation using Diversified and / or Gonstead technique. Group Pre VAS scores were compared to group Post VAS scores using the paired t test. A statistically significant difference was considered to be present if the two-tailed p-value was < an alpha of 0.05.
Results: Follow-up VAS scores (mean = 0.875, standard deviation +/- 1.8) were significantly less (statistically speaking) compared to the initial VAS scores (mean = 8.5, standard deviation +/- 1.1) (p = 0.0051).
Conclusion: There is ample literature on the benefits of chiropractic care for neck and back pain but there is little literature on chiropractic care for patients with DISH. Chiropractic is likely beneficial for patients with DISH and further investigation is warranted.
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