A case study involving a 6-year-old girl suffering with a medical diagnosis of "transient motor tic disorder" for the previous six months was helped with chiropractic and documented in the June 29, 2009 issue of the scientific periodical, the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal and Family Health.
In this case the young girl suffered with constant repetitive eye blinking and rolling of the eyes in multiple directions every 3 to 5 seconds. She also exhibited bilateral shoulder shrugging and arching back of the head and neck with an open mouth. The history as reported by the child's mother was that she had suffered two separate accidents just prior to the onset of her problems. One trauma was a fall off her bicycle and the other was when the girl fell out of her bed. Neither of these accidents were deemed serious by the mother as there were no apparent physical injuries at that time.
A chiropractic examination was performed and a determination of the presence of subluxations was made. A course of specific chiropractic adjustments was initiated to address these findings. After the first adjustment, on the subsequent visit, the young girl and her mother reported that the patients eye tic movements were 5 minutes apart as opposed to every 3 to 5 seconds on the initial visit.
By the 3rd visit, the young girl's tic symptoms were significantly diminished. Her parents reported that their daughter's eye blinking and eye rolling would occur only twice over a one hour period. The young girl continued to receive adjustments weekly for the next four weeks at which time a re-evaluation was performed. By this time the case study documents that the girl's symptoms associated with a diagnosis of "transient motor tic" disorder had completely resolved.
The girl showed only one re-occurrence of symptoms several months later after she fell again and hit her head. These symptoms were quickly resolved after another chiropractic adjustment. In their conclusion, the authors summed up this case by stating, "This case report provides evidence-based support that children with motor tic disorders may benefit from chiropractic care vis--vis the detection and removal of spinal subluxation."
