For this review we have two similar studies published a few years apart. Both of these studies are case studies of a single patient suffering with Tourette’s syndrome. Tourette’s is a neurologic disease in which the primary symptom is involuntary movements, typically of the head and face and short vocal sounds both of which are called “tics”. These tics can happen hundreds or even thousands of times per day. The typical medical approach is to prescribe anti-psychotic drugs to decrease the frequency of the tics which has varying effectiveness and potentially serious side effects, especially when taken for long periods of time. These two studies looked at how Chiropractic care can help possibly alleviate some of the symptoms these patients suffer with.

The first study was of a 14 year old boy who had up to 1,000 violent motor tics per day. These involuntary motions of whipping his head backwards and forwards were also causing migraine headaches, and severe fatigue. He was taking 6 Ibuprofen per day and was prescribed Abilify, an anti-psychotic typically used for Bipolar and Schizophrenia, and Orap another anti-psychotic used for Tourette’s patients. The drug treatment had not improved his condition so his mother brought him to the Chiropractor to see if they could help. The Chiropractor did an exam consisting of range of motion tests and X-ray analysis and found a number of subluxations, or misalignments, in his spine. He was put on a corrective care plan to improve the function of his spine and nervous system. After 30 visits the patient was re-examined and his range of motion and Subluxations of his spine had all improved. The improvements in his spinal function and structure lead to huge improvements in his symptoms. His motor tics which had been up to 1,000 times per day were now only occurring 30-35 times per day. He no longer had migraine headaches and no need to take any Ibuprofen (this change happened in his first week of care!). His medical doctor also reduced his Abilify prescription from 10mg per day to 2.5mg and reduced his Orap prescription from 1mg to 0.5mg.

The second patient studied was a 45 year old man who had suffered with Tourette’s much longer than the previous case report. This patient had been on anti-psychotic medications like Orap for nearly 10 years so now he was developing other symptoms like uncontrolled repetitive movements of his face and mouth. This patient also visited a Chiropractor who did a detailed structural analysis of his spine and posture finding large shifts in the structure of his spine and numerous areas that were subluxated. He began an intensive treatment plan with the Chiropractor for 12 weeks. At the 12 week follow up he had improvements in his spinal structure and subluxations but they were still present so his frequency was decreased and he was followed for a total of one year. At the one year evaluation his spinal structure had improved greatly and many of the symptoms he came in with had diminished in frequency. Within the first two months of care his tremors had lessened, he had much more energy, and his speech was improved with much less stuttering.

While specific causes of Tourette ’s syndrome have not been discovered these two cases highlight the unique benefit Chiropractic care can have on your health. The basic premise of Chiropractic is to remove subluxations so the spine can function properly which allows the nervous system to function properly.  Since your nervous system interacts with all of the other systems of your body allowing it to function at its fullest potential allows you to function at your fullest potential. It’s as simple as that!

J Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health- May 6, 2013
J Vertebral Subluxation Res.- August 19, 2010

By Dr Scott Szela