Pérez, Ivonnemarie, BSc
Torres, José, DC
Marrero, Cristopher, DC

Universidad Central del Caribe, Bayamón, Puerto Rico

Introduction

Cervical radiculopathy is when a nerve root’s compression in the spine leads to pain that can radiate beyond the neck and to the upper back, shoulders, or arms. The symptoms can be a weakness, tingling or paresthesia, and loss of sensation or numbness. Another condition is sacroiliac joint (SI) inflammation, resulting in pain. It is a common source of buttock and lower back pain. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of spinal adjustments and therapeutic modalities on a patient with cervical radiculopathy and sacroiliitis.

Methods

A 25-year-old male patient attended the student clinic to start a conservative treatment. At the initial evaluation, the patient presented with cervical pain that radiated to the upper shoulder of both arms, sacrum pain that radiated to the hips and lower back, numbness, muscle spasms, and sensory symptoms for the past months. The patient started a conservative treatment protocol for 6 weeks, including spinal adjustment, infrared, TENS, soft tissue mobilization, percussion, active care recommendations, and therapeutic exercises at home 2 times a day.

Results

Improvement of the patient was measured using the visual analogue scale (VAS), which noted a decrease from 3 to 1 on neck pain and 5 to 0 on low back pain; Neck Oswestry Disability Index score decreased from 12% to 10%, and from 16% to 14 for low back disability score. A reduction of sensory and radicular symptoms was also noted.

Conclusion

There have been reports that cervical radiculopathy is slightly seen more in men than in women. It typically presents in the third and fourth decade, with herniation and disc trauma being the most frequent causes. This case shows that adequate follow-up and treatment may obtain favorable results for future studies since not many studies report how to treat or manage cervical radiculopathy and sacroiliitis in adults.

Keywords

radiculopathy, paresthesia, sacroiliitis, spinal adjustments

IRB Approval Number

2025-11