Chiropractic Assignment

1. Why did the patient present to the clinic in their first visit? Was the complaint a musculo skeletal problem, a visceral problem or other?

The day I went to the clinic was also the patients first visit where she had numerous complaints about pain in her body. These included pain in both her shoulders, her lower back (including the lower thoracic and her upper lumbars), as well as complaining about knee pain in her left knee. The complaints were a musculo skeletal problem as well as postural.

2. What type of pain or symptoms did the patient have?

The patients presented herself with sharp and dull pain, as well as shooting pain in all three areas mentioned above.

Symptoms the patient had included daily work where she felt as though she could no longer physically conduct due to the pain. Examples include: pain in her shoulder increased when turning to the side/ rotating, sleeping on her side, putting extra pressure on her back as well as sitting down on chairs or the ground, turning/ rotating and bending forward/ flexing.

The patient presented her pain intensity on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being no pain to 10 being very painful. She gave the following results:

3- knee

4- shoulder

6- lower thoracic and upper lumbar

3. Were there any other factors in his Medical History that had a bearing on the case?

There was a major factor in her medical history that had a bearing on the case. As she is a childcare worker, she works with children full time she constantly has to look down and bend down constantly as they are mainly toddlers, a lot shorter in height than the patient is herself. She also constantly carries children as well as picking them up, putting pressure on her lower back. She sometimes allows children to ride on her shoulders. This would but direct pressure on her shoulders (where she was complaining of pain).

4. Discuss the examination done by the intern. What significant things did you observe about a chiropractic examination?

The intern had prepared for the patient before he saw her, he had looked at her x - rays that she had taken the day before. He had discovered that she had a posterior rib poking out of her back. He then double checked this by seeing if he could feel it on the patient, which he did. The intern then got a second opinion from Dean Innis (the supervisor). Dr Innis confirmed the interns finding so they posted the x - rays to a professional radiologist to get another opinion as they both suspected that the patient was osteoprotic. The intern performed tests on all ribs which included posterior to anterior glide, inferior to superior glide, flexion, extension, rotation on both left and right sides, and lateral flexion also on both sides. He also performed some prone sitting tests.

Significant things observed about the examination was that the intern did not want to perform any major adjustments until the results of the x - ray came back. He didn't want to put to much pressure on her if she was osteoprotic. So he gave her a different treatment that he would not usually give to the problems she was presenting.

The intern only treated one problem spot that the patient had complained of. Although he did relieve her in one area, there were still two other painful areas that the patient had to leave the clinic without any treatment. Thus, left her in pain until the following week.