Resolution Of Night Terrors And Headaches With Chiropractic Care – A Case Study

The April 26, 2011, issue of the scientific periodical, the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health, published a case study documenting the case of an adolescent girl with headaches and night terrors who was helped with chiropractic care.

The study notes that several previous studies on the subject of headaches and children showed that a high number of children who suffered from headaches also suffered from sleep disorders such as sleep walking, nightmares, and leg movement.

In this study, a 10-year-old girl was brought to a chiropractor suffering with daily headaches that began when she was two and a half years old. She was also suffering from sleep disorders including sleep walking.

The young girl’s medical doctors tried to find the cause of headaches by ordering blood work and an encephalograph (EEG) to rule out seizures. The encephalograph and blood results were normal. Since reading seemed to trigger the headaches, the medical determination was that she was reading too much.

Her sleeping problems began when she was 7-years-old. According to her mother, every night her daughter would wake up several times screaming and would sit up in bed or be found walking or running through the house.

Chiropractic care was initiated for correction of subluxations that were shown to be present upon examination. Postural evaluations performed before and after each visit showed immediate improvement in the girl’s posture after care was initiated. Thermography and Surface EMG studies were performed on a regular basis, and verified nerve system function improvement as care continued.

On the girl’s first reassessment, she reported that the headaches were greatly reduced in frequency and severity. She also reported that she was sleeping better. The study notes that after a month of care, there was a significant reduction in headache symptoms, and complete resolution of the girl’s sleep disorders and night terrors.

In their conclusion, the study authors, Danita Thomas Heagy D.C., and Candice Warren, B.S., wrote, “Resolution of headaches and sleep disturbances presented in this case study suggest that chiropractic adjustments may be beneficial in adolescents who suffer from similar symptoms. Reduction of vertebral subluxations, in this case, were effective in the reduction of headaches, sleep disturbances, and musculoskeletal abnormalities.”