Abstract
Background: Intrinsic atopic dermatitis is a chronic cutaneous inflammatory disease with pruritus and eczematous lesions of skin. A long-lasting cycle of itch-scratch roots results in substantial morbidities and discomfort. Treatment of patients with moderate to severe dermatitis is a challenge.
Objectives: A) To characterize the relationship between spinal biomechanical alterations, the severity of intrinsic atopic dermatitis, and the blood levels of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and B) to determine whether chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy can be an effective complementary treatment.
Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, 33 patients with severity index (EASI) score less than 7 were compared with 40 patients with EASI score greater than 7. The severity level of spine biomechanical alterations (spinal biomechanical alterations) was quantified using full spine radiographic descriptions. The expression of CGRP was determined in blood using ELISA tests. All patients were prescribed the same anti-inflammatory topical cream. Of the 73 patients, 51 choose to be also treated by chiropractic and the 22 others were used as control. Data were analyzed before and after the treatment.
Results: A strong correlation was found between overall spinal biomechanical modifications, altered skin status and CGRP levels. The EASI scores were correlated with the different segments of the spine. Although the EASI score of the patients in the control group decreased after 2 weeks of using the anti-inflammatory cream, 3 months later the dermatitis symptoms flared up again and the EASI scores returned to baseline values. In contrast, both the EASI scores and the CGRP levels of treated patients by chiropractic remained low after 3 months.
Conclusions: This study shows that the severity of intrinsic dermatitis is related to that of spinal biomechanical alterations, and that CGRP levels may serve as a valuable pathological marker. Chiropractic proved to be a valuable complementary therapeutic tool.