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ChatGPT Diagnoses Cause of Child’s Chronic Pain after 17 Doctors Failed

OpenAI and ChatGPT logos are seen in this illustration taken on Feb. 3, 2023. (Reuters Photo)
OpenAI and ChatGPT logos are seen in this illustration taken on Feb. 3, 2023. (Reuters Photo)
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ChatGPT Diagnoses Cause of Child’s Chronic Pain after 17 Doctors Failed

OpenAI and ChatGPT logos are seen in this illustration taken on Feb. 3, 2023. (Reuters Photo)
OpenAI and ChatGPT logos are seen in this illustration taken on Feb. 3, 2023. (Reuters Photo)

ChatGPT helped a mother determine what was causing her son’s debilitating pain that had been ongoing for three years.

Courtney, who chose not to reveal her last name, said her son Alex started experiencing difficult symptoms when he was four years old during the Covid-19 lockdown. The family’s nanny “started telling me, ‘I have to give him Motrin every day, or he has these gigantic meltdowns,’” Courtney said. The painkillers helped to subdue her child’s pain, but other worrisome symptoms started popping up, according to The Independent.

Alex began chewing on objects, which caused his family to wonder if he had a cavity. A dentist examined him and didn’t find anything wrong; Alex was then referred to an orthodontist who found his palate was too small. This can cause trouble sleeping, and Alex’s family thought this might be part of why he hadn’t been feeling well.

The orthodontist treated Alex by placing an expander in his palate, which temporarily put his family at ease. “Everything was better for a little bit,” Courtney said.

But Alex continued to suffer: Courtney soon noticed her son had stopped growing, and that he wasn’t walking the way he should have been. He was also experiencing severe headaches and exhaustion.

Courtney’s family saw a shocking number of experts to try to figure out what was wrong with Alex, including a pediatrician, a neurologist, an ear nose and throat (ENT) specialist, and more. All told, Courtney said they consulted 17 doctors, but they were left frustrated and without answers. None of the recommended treatments solved the problem.

After three years of doctors’ appointments, Courtney turned to ChatGPT for answers. The chatbot, created by a company called OpenAI and released in 2022, was made to dialogue with people in a conversational way.

“I went line by line of everything that was in his MRI notes and plugged it into ChatGPT,” Courtney said.

Trying ChatGPT led Courtney to discover tethered cord syndrome, which is a complication of spina bifida. She made an appointment with a new neurosurgeon who confirmed that Alex did have a tethered spinal cord as a result of spina bifida occulta, a birth defect that causes issues with spinal cord development. This is the mildest form of spina bifida, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which states the condition is often not discovered until later in a child’s life.

Researchers are already looking into the effects of ChatGPT on medicine. A paper published in May in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence stated that the technology does have both benefits and drawbacks for the field: “The potential applications of ChatGPT in the medical field range from identifying potential research topics to assisting professionals in clinical and laboratory diagnosis,” the paper said. However, it continued, “despite its potential applications, the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools in medical writing also poses ethical and legal concerns”.

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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)

For many people of a certain age, high school gym class began with reaching for their toes. Then, over the years, we were told it was better to stretch after exercise.

It turns out, both those things can be true, but the differing advice has created some confusion.

Stretching can help make you more flexible, improve range of motion in your joints — and feel good. David Behm, who researches human kinetics at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada, offers this advice on when to stretch and how to do it safely:

Warm up first

It’s almost always good to stretch, but it’s better if you warm up first, said Behm, author of "The Science and Physiology of Flexibility and Stretching." He recommends a light aerobic activity such as jogging, walking or cycling for five or 10 minutes.

Follow that with some static stretching, the traditional way of reaching and holding a position (think back to that gym class). You can then do activity-specific dynamic stretching, in which you warm up the muscles with repetitive movements like leg lifts.

Behm says one minute is "the magic number" for how long to do static stretching per muscle group without fatigue.

Expand your definition of 'stretching'

Should you always stretch before exercising? If it's traditional stretching, not necessarily.

The better question, Behm says, is, "Should people increase their range of motion? Should people have better flexibility? And that is yes, because it helps prevent injuries. It helps with health. But you don’t have to stretch to achieve that."

Resistance training, for instance, can be an effective form of stretching, he said. Doing a chest press increases range of motion in your deltoids and pecs, whether with barbells, dumbbells or machines, so there is no need to stretch beforehand. Just make sure to start with a small amount of weight to warm up and then add more to train.

"You probably don’t have to do extra stretching unless you’re a gymnast, a figure skater, or even a golfer who needs a great range of motion through that swing," Behm said.

Nor do you need to stretch first if you’re going for a leisurely run. Simply start with a slow jog to warm up and then increase the pace.

Don't do it if it hurts

After exercise, "light stretching is OK, as long as you don't reach a point where you're feeling pain," Behm said. Since your muscles will be warm by that point, overdoing it makes you more likely to injure yourself.

Foam rollers can help with muscle recovery and have been shown to increase range of motion as well as stretching.

Do some static stretching before sports

If you’re playing a sport, Behm said, static stretching beforehand helps reduce muscle and tendon injury.

"If you’re going to do an explosive movement, change of direction, agility, sprint, any of these explosive activities that involve your muscles and tendons," he said, "you’re going to be stronger if you do static stretching."

People can especially get in trouble when they go back to a sport they used to play, whether it's tennis, surfing or any sort of team activity.

Also, stretch both sides equally. Lacking flexibility on one side also can lead to injury.

Sounds simple. Why all the confusion? Different studies over the years have either encouraged or discouraged stretching before exercise. Behm says that partly because some studies didn't reflect real-life conditions, or were designed with elite athletes in mind, not regular people.

"If you’re Usain Bolt, it makes a difference," said Behm. Not so much for the rest of us.