Case study - 15 year old soccer player with disabling sciatica
This is a very fit athlete who started with (back trouble) in the spring of 2025. Coaches and trainers told her to stretch more and kept her active on the team despite having a lumbar MRI that revealed an L5 disc bulge. This is a common occurrence with many medical teams and doctors minimizing a disc bulge as common findings with little significance. This is a serious error on their part and as we are going to see results in a heavy price to be paid by our young patient.
She was seen by our team in October 2025. By this time her low back discomfort had progressed to right side sciatic radiation to the knee. She failed the straight leg test and in fact could not straighten her leg when walking. For the medical and training team to miss this finding is a bit shocking. After a completed spine examination, we found limited head and cervical spine rotation to her left and tight muscle tone to the para spinal musculature. Her cervical X-ray on the left (her starting neutral lateral picture) shows a reversal of her cervical lordosis (neck curve).
The doctors reading this know that a reversal of the normal neck curve is a primary cause of spinal weakness and likely the reason this patient is in this state. The lay persons reading this should take heed when you or your child are having spine pain, to get a qualified spine doctor to care for those needs and not ignore spine pain symptoms. This is true whether it’s you or your child in a sports program.
CARE RENDERED BY OUR TEAM
The patient was adjusted using chiropractic CBP mirror image protocols and L5 non-surgical spinal decompression traction. This type of traction is done via a computer-controlled treatment table for fifteen minutes for ten sessions. This was done to treat the damaged L5 disc. Next and most important we needed to address the elephant in the room, the reversal of her cervical lordosis. Research has shown this to be 18 times more likely to cause spine pain.
This will be done with the Cervigard FHP Collar (the “Cervidard Collar”). This will improve the forward head posture and neck reversal simultaneously (see x-ray on the right above for the lateral cervical X-ray and note the complete correction of her cervical lordosis on).
She will wear her Cervigard Collar for 20 minutes per day for 6 weeks and then be reexamined to evaluate correction. This is similar to putting braces on teeth except usage is much shorter and well tolerated. Check out our cervigard.com web site for greater details about this technology (as of November 16th, the patient has achieved a 50% improvement in her neck curve and the right side sciatic radiation to the knee is no longer present).
In summary, we ask all readers to look for the cause of disease and not just the symptom. The human body knows what it’s doing because it has an innate intelligence that grew you and continues to monitor your body. Unresolved symptoms are its call for help! Look for the cause of symptoms and usually a good start is the spine.
Dr. Ron Dellanno
