Symptoms and Diagnosis

1. General symptoms

69 y.o. male has been having pain in his right shoulder and weakness of his right hand.

2. Previous diagnoses

Initially the shoulder pain was attributed to:

• Rotator Cuff injury;
• Tendinopathy of the Rotator Cuff.

For checking this hypothesis the patient underwent MRI test, the images of which were interpreted as showing:

• Shoulder arthritis;
• Subacromial bursitis.

The patient had had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and, therefore, the grip of his hand was slightly limited and weaker.

3. Observations at admission to Enlightened Living Medicine

Dr. Willix turned his attention to something he thought might have been overlooked: a neck MRI showed deformations of the upper spine:

• Broad based bulging at C5 and C6;
• Disc herniation at C5 and C6;
• End plate osteophytes at C5 and C6;
• Flattening of ventral thecal sac;
• Foraminal stenosis at C8 and T1.

On physical examination of the neck the patient did not have any pain unless he would extend his movement beyond some limits. So, he had limited range of motion of his head and neck. He also had anterior subluxation of C8 and T1.

Dr. Willix observed also:

• Limited range of motion of his right shoulder with a lot of pain over his biceps tendon at the insertion;
• pain over the supraspinatus tendon on the right side;
• unable to oppose his thumb to any of his fingers;
• muscle atrophy of the thenar eminence of the right thumb.

The latter were believed to be related to the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which had been in place for more than 5 years.

4. Dr. Willix' diagnosis

Dr. Willix hypothesised that most of patient's trouble could actually be caused by the bulging cervical discs.

The success of his treatment proved his diagnose correct.

Treatment

1. Treatment Protocol

• 5Hz for 2 minutes over the right and left cervical spine;
• 50Hz for 2 minutes over the right and left cervical spine;
• 5Hz, 50Hz and 1000Hz for 2 minutes at each point of right subcostal region;

The treatments took more than 40 minutes each.

After the 4^th treatment Dr Willix added treatment over the Carpal Tunnel: right subclavian axillary region, both the flexor and extensor surface of the tendons on his right wrist at the joint level at the wrist level.

A chiropractor performed gentle non-manipulative traction of the cervical area.

2. Treatment Program

Dr. Willix wanted to do many treatments in a row, however the patient could not travel regularly, so the treatments were done on the following dates:

1. July, 23^rd, 2015;
2. July, 31^st, 2015;
3. August, 3^rd, 2015;
4. August, 3^rd, 2015;
5. August, 8^th, 2015;
6. August, 12^th, 2015;
7. August, 26^th, 2015.

Results

Patient reported marked pain reduction after his first treatment. He stopped taking his daily pain-relief medication (two Advil twice a day) and he would take only his night pain-relief medication (Vicodin).

After the fourth treatment more flexibility returned to patient's right wrist. His right hand was stronger again. Most importantly, he could now oppose all four fingers to his thumb. Even the muscular prominence of his thenar eminense became more visible.

After the fifth treatment the patient was pain free, minimal tingling in his right small finger, no pain in his shoulder, greater range of motion in his neck, improved grip strength, thumb opposition normal, normal motor function of his right hand, more improvement of presence of thenar eminence.

As a result of chiropractic treatment the patient had lost the anterior sub-luxation. His cervical curve was returning to normal.

After the seventh treatment the patient was completely pain free and completely off painkillers. The only residual was that his right hand was still not 100% in the gym.

At January 2016 follow-up the patient reported that he was back in the gym, back to normal life and he didn't have any symptoms.

Conclusion

"All of the symptomatology, even his Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, was probably related to bulging cervical discs and weakness until he finally herniated his cervical disc. Then he developed neurological symptoms: the tingling, the numbness and the loss of motor function and that scared him and they were ready to do surgery on him if he did not get improvement" (Dr. Robert Willix, Jr., MD)

Case provided by: Dr. Robert Willix, Jr., MD
Country: USA