Migraine-Type Headache and Functional Gastrointestinal Symptoms of Unconfirmed Aetiology in a Paediatric Patient Managed with Knee Chest Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care: A Case Report.

Authors

Shaan Rai

Published in

Cureus. Volume 18. Issue 10. Pages e117285. Epub Oct 01, 2026.

Abstract

An eight-year-old female child was brought to our upper cervical chiropractic clinic in Singapore by her mother with a several-month history of central abdominal pain, morning headaches with temporal pain, neck pain radiating to the arm with numbness, and episodic vomiting. She had previously been assessed by a general practitioner, who described the headache as a differential of tension-type headache versus possible migraine, not a confirmed diagnosis, and by a gastroenterologist, who arrived at a working diagnosis of gastritis based on symptoms and stool analysis alone, without endoscopic or biopsy confirmation; no advanced imaging was pursued, as the attending physician did not consider it necessary. Examination revealed anterior head carriage, a right head tilt, restricted left lateral flexion and right rotation, a short right leg on prone testing that normalised with cervical rotation, and weakness on manual muscle testing with cervical rotation: findings consistent with, though not diagnostic of, upper cervical joint dysfunction. Radiographs showed loss of normal cervical lordosis without bony or discal abnormality. The patient received knee chest upper cervical chiropractic (KCUC) care, beginning with an instrument-assisted technique and transitioning to gentle manual correction as tolerated, over approximately 16 months before relocating overseas. The family reported improvement in arm symptoms, posture, and abdominal pain, with recurrence of abdominal symptoms coinciding with a period of reduced visit adherence. As no neuroimaging was performed and no validated outcome measure was used, this temporally associated improvement cannot be distinguished from the natural history of an undiagnosed condition. This case is presented as a hypothesis-generating account of a paediatric patient with an unconfirmed migraine-type headache and functional gastrointestinal symptoms managed alongside conventional medical care, and does not establish a causal or therapeutic claim.

PMID:
42967101
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Nov 2026.

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