Posts by Dr. Mark Holland

In our North St. Louis, MO practice, it's common for us to see patients troubled with sciatica pain, and Dr. Holland has helped many of them heal with chiropractic. What makes chiropractic so useful to those who suffer with sciatica? For starters, it shortens their time of recovery and a Norwegian research study confirms it.

In the study, which took place in a Norwegian hospital's orthopedic department, the authors looked at 44 patients who had abrupt low back pain that was diagnosed as acute sciatica. The individuals were all treated by a chiropractor, with the average follow-up being two years after treatment.

The authors discovered that all but two patients went back to work after receiving chiropractic care, which is a 95% success rate. What's more, the average length of time that the individuals spent off work "was reduced by two thirds as compared with that associated with conventional medical treatment."

Given the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that over 170,000 workdays were missed in 2013 due to employees dealing with back or spine-related issues, that is about 112,500 work days that could potentially be recovered each and every year solely by receiving chiropractic care. Not only could that increase productivity, but it would also reduce costs to businesses and employees from lost work.

If you live in North St. Louis, MO and you suffer from sciatica, Dr. Holland is here to help. Give us a call at (314) 588-9100 and we'll work with you to find the source of your sciatica and get you back on the road to recovery.

Orlin JR, Didriksen A. Results of chiropractic treatment of lumbopelvic fixation in 44 patients admitted to an orthopedic department. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2007;30(2):135-139.

Headache and neck pain are common problems that affect millions of people around the world. If you are dealing with this type of problem, you're not alone. The good news is that chiropractic is the best way to not only treat these common issues, but also help prevent future episodes.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Neck Pain and Headaches

For many years, patients with neck and headache pain in North St. Louis, MO have been helped by the chiropractic adjustments of Dr. Holland. Our experience is backed up by a recent review done in Canada that found that non-invasive, non-drug treatments are the best choice for neck and headache pain.

The report looked at 15 studies from 1990 to 2015 and found that conservative treatment comprised of chiropractic adjustments, exercises, and stretches was advisable before resorting to drugs or more invasive treatments.

Previous studies have shown that chiropractic is effective and safe for neck pain and many other health conditions.

We Can Help People Find Relief From Neck Pain and Headaches

If you're suffering from neck pain or headaches, Dr. Holland and our staff are here to help you feel better. Give our North St. Louis, MO office a call today at (314) 588-9100 for an appointment today.

Reference

Varatharajan S, Ferguson B, Chrobak K, et al. Are non-invasive interventions effective for the management of headaches associated with neck pain? An update of the Bone and Joint Decade Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration. European Spine Journal 2016; February 6:1-29.

There are many different kinds of headache, but one of the most common types is known as "cervicogenic headache," or headaches that start in your neck.

Dr. Holland sees a lot of patients in our North St. Louis, MO office who are struggling with recurring headaches. Luckily, chiropractic can usually help, potentially reducing these types of headaches by 50%, and research confirms it.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Cervicogenic Headaches

A study was conducted involving 80 participants who reported experiencing at least five cervicogenic headaches during the prior three months. The objective was to see how effective chiropractic was for this type of head pain, as well as to ascertain the number of treatment sessions required to achieve a positive effect.

The subjects were split into four separate groups, so that each group was similar in age, gender, number of cervicogenic headaches, and their intensity. Of the four groups, two engaged in chiropractic treatments and two received light massage. Furthermore, one group assigned to each treatment received eight sessions and the other patients received twice that amount.

Each patient was assessed based on head pain, neck pain, and disability prior to the study and 12 and 24 weeks after treatment was complete. The authors found that those who received chiropractic as opposed to massage reported fewer headaches at the conclusion of the study. Furthermore, improvements were maintained when checked six months after treatment ended.

Furthermore, patients who were taking medications for their headaches were able to lower their intake after completing the study. Those who received chiropractic had lower drug usage 24 weeks post-study.

We Can Help Patients Find Relief From Head Pain

Dr. Holland has helped many people who were suffering from headache pain in our North St. Louis, MO office. Call us today at (314) 588-9100 for more information or for an appointment.

Reference

Haas M, Spegman A, Peterson D, Aickin M, Vavrek D. Dose response and efficacy of spinal manipulation for chronic cervicogenic headache: a pilot randomized controlled trial. The Spine Journal 2010; 10: 117-128.

Dr. Holland sees many patients weekly in our busy North St. Louis, MO chiropractic office who are looking for relief from the pain and agony they feel due to herniated discs. Our experience isn't unique; the scientific literature confirms that chiropractic is a successful way to treat herniated disc problems.

Don't Suffer! Dr. Holland and Chiropractic Care Helps With Disc Herniation

One particular research study involved 27 people, 8 male and 19 female, who had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirming a disc herniation in either their neck or lower back. The subjects documented that they were experiencing pain, reduced range of motion, and sensory issues bad enough to keep them off work.

During the course of the research study, the subjects were managed using one of two common chiropractic techniques: traction for herniated discs in the cervical area or flexion distraction for the patients who had herniation issues in the lumbar area.

Each man or woman was treated four or five times per week for the first two weeks, then three times each week, and then as needed for the rest of the study. Based on the severity of the disc herniation, treatment ranged anywhere from six weeks to six months, with MRIs being performed at various stages to identify what impact, if any, the chiropractic care was having in regard to the disc herniation.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps With Back Pain and Herniated Disc

The researchers discovered that 80 percent of the patients obtained a "good clinical outcome," meaning reduced pain and a reduction in other symptoms, such as numbness. Furthermore, 77 percent of these individuals also showed MRI evidence that their disc herniation was either reduced or resolved completely. This resulted in 78 percent of the study subjects being able to return to their place of employment and led the researchers to conclude that chiropractic care is both "safe and helpful" for disc herniations.

If you have a herniated disc and suffer from chronic back pain and are near Dr. Holland in North St. Louis, MO, contact our office today to see what chiropractic can do for you!

Reference
BenEliyahu, DJ. Magnetic resonance imaging and clinical follow-up: study of 27 patients receiving chiropractic care for cervical and lumbar disc herniations. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 1996;19(9):597-606.

In our North St. Louis, MO practice, we see many patients who are struggling with back pain, and some of these folks have been informed they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Holland has helped many people get pain relief without the need for any type of operation. The scientific research confirms the results we see in our office. One study published in the academic journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first move in dealing with your back pain may literally keep you off of the operating table.

In this research study, medical experts from Dartmouth analyzed data from 1,885 workers from the state of Washington who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractor for their low back issues. They then looked at three years' worth of follow-up medical data to ascertain whether the subjects ended up having back surgery in an effort to correct the issue.

What the researchers determined was that about 43% of the patients who first saw a surgeon for their back pain ended up in surgery in that 3-year time frame, whereas only 1.5 percent of those who first saw a chiropractor had the same fate. The authors wrote:

"Even after controlling for injury severity and other measures, workers with an initial visit for the injury to a surgeon had almost nine times the odds of receiving lumbar spine surgery compared to those seeing primary care providers, whereas workers whose first visit was to a chiropractor had significantly lower odds of surgery."

These are impressive outcomes. Seeing a chiropractor considerably decreases your odds of having back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this study "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.

Let's also take into account this important point: this study was performed by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most prestigious medical journal on spinal injury.

The Risks of Surgery

Any surgery has risks, but a major downside linked to spine surgery is that there is a very high rate of failure. In an important analysis in the European Spine Journal, researchers wrote:

"Failed back surgery is a problem that has become sufficiently widespread to even warrant its own special conferences, with recent reviews reporting failure rates ranging from 5 to 50%."

The experts in this same study concluded:

"It is extremely difficult to identify unequivocal predictor factors that can be used to accurately predict the outcome of surgery."

As a chiropractor, Dr. Holland believes that surgery should be the absolute last resort for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without high-risk surgery or drugs--and many scientific studies have confirmed the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in North St. Louis, MO and you need relief for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (314) 588-9100 for a consultation or an appointment. We'll help get you back on the road to a pain-free life!

Studies

• Keeney BJ, Fulton-Kehoe D, Turner JA, Wickizer TM, Chan KC, Franklin GM. Early predictors of lumbar spine surgery after occupational back injury: results from a prospective study of workers in Washington State. Spine 2013;38(11):953-964.
• Mannion AF, Elfering A. Predictors of surgical outcome and their assessment. European Spine Journal 2006;15(Suppl 1):S93-S108.
  

Shoulder Pain is a common symptom after an auto injury, and it's something that Dr. Holland sees often in our North St. Louis, MO office. What causes shoulder pain after an auto injury? How can a chiropractor help?

There are at least two different ways that you can develop shoulder problems after a car crash: by direct injury to the shoulder joint or by radiating pain from the neck.

Direct damage can be caused by hitting your shoulder on a hard object in the car during the crash, or can occur if you have a tight grip on the steering wheel during a rear end collision. With this type of injury, you'll usually be aware of the pain soon after the crash.

More commonly, Dr. Holland finds that shoulder or arm pain doesn't immediately appear after a collision, but starts a few days or weeks after the accident. This type of shoulder pain actually starts in the neck. Injured muscles or ligaments in your spine can pinch nerves in your neck, causing numbness, tingling, or pain in your shoulder, elbow, or wrist.

We've worked with both types of shoulder pain in our North St. Louis, MO office. This care involves chiropractic adjustments to restore your spine's natural flexibility and exercises that strengthen your neck and shoulder.

Let us help you recover from shoulder pain. Dr. Holland has helped many people with the same problem, and we can probably help you, too. Dr. Holland will first determine what's causing your pain and then work to restore your body to its natural functioning. Call us today at (314) 588-9100 if you have questions or would like to make an appointment.

We tend to a large number of patients in our North St. Louis, MO clinic, and Dr. Holland has helped countless people eliminate a wide array of health challenges. Even so, the primary issue that seems to stop many people from seeking treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Fortunately, according to three different studies (out of countless on the issue), the answer to this concern is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first study(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 adults between the ages of 20 and 85. Each participant was affected by spine-related pain, and half of the individuals received real chiropractic adjustments whereas the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to discover whether or not any unfavorable negative effects occurred as a result of the real chiropractic treatments.

Researchers reported that none of the patients reported any serious negative side effects at all after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some participants did state that they had a headache (9% of patients) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) post-treatment, but the results were not serious.

Nationwide Survey Reports that Chiropractic is Safe

A second study(2), also published in the influential publication, Spine, was done in an attempt to determine the safety of chiropractic. The study group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Again, the investigators found no serious adverse side effects. The authors calculated the risk of total negative effects to be approximately six out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the previous study, some participants did report non-serious, milder, unwanted effects such as dizziness (16 out of every 1,000 treatment consultations and 15 out of every 1,000 treatment sessions) or a headache (4%), and this caused the authors to conclude that "the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low."

Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe for Your Children

This third research paper(3) is unique from the first two pieces of research, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, the researchers analyzed results reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic adjustments.

Out of 5,438 chiropractic appointments made for the children, chiropractors answering the survey reported only three cases where there were negative side effects. When parents were questioned, they indicated only two adverse side effects out of 1,735 visits. Additionally, both chiropractors and parents reported "a high rate of improvement with respect to the children's presenting complaints."

Based on studies like these, chiropractic care has been judged safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic care can do for you, call our North St. Louis, MO office and schedule an appointment today at (314) 588-9100.

References

1. Walker BF, Hebert JJ, Stomski NJ, Clarke BR, Bowden RS, Losco B, French SD. Outcomes of usual chiropractic. The OUCH randomized controlled trial of adverse events. Spine 2013;38(20):1723-9.
2. Thiel HW1, Bolton JE, Docherty S, Portlock JC. Safety of chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine: a prospective national survey. Spine 2007;32(21):2375-8.
3. Alcantara J, Ohm J, Kunz D. The safety and effectiveness of pediatric chiropractic: a survey of chiropractors and parents in a practice-based research network. Explore NY 2009;5(5): 290-5.

When you're trying to support your family, take care of your household, and pay all of your bills on time, every day at your job counts. Work injuries can be a huge problem for many folks, and we see many of these types of injuries in our North St. Louis, MO office. Dr. Holland understands your situation and is here to help.

The benefits of chiropractic care for work injuries are well-documented. A 2013 survey involving over 600 adults who were troubled with either back or neck pain found that the people who didn't see a chiropractor missed work at twice the rate of those who were seeing a chiropractor.

So, why don't more people use Chiropractic?

According to the participants in this report, two of the major reasons were that they thought they needed a medical referral for chiropractic care (which is typically no longer true) and they overestimated the costs associated with chiropractic treatment sessions by almost 70 percent.

The truth is, chiropractic patients actually spend less on care than medical patients, plus they are less likely to use drugs for their symptoms.

Dr. Holland Can Help Clients Find Relief From Chronic Pain

If you live in North St. Louis, MO and you've been injured at work, we can help. Give our office a call today at (314) 588-9100 for an appointment.

References

"Thousands of Minnesotans with Back and Neck Pain Don't Seek Treatment." (2013, June 12). ChiroCare.

We encounter a lot of sports injuries in our North St. Louis, MO office, and Dr. Holland is generally able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital reports that over 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and younger are hurt each year while playing sports. Add that to the close to 2 million adults hurt each year while participating in sports-related activities, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can begin to see the importance of preventing these types of common injuries. One way to potentially realize that goal, as reported by a study released in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to engage in routine chiropractic care.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg injuries are common, frequently sidelining the players and affecting their team's likelihood of winning. One specific study was administered using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see if chiropractic could cut down on these injuries and help keep them in the game.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study in particular, all of the volunteers got medical treatment. In addition, half of them also engaged in chiropractic treatments at the rate of one session per week for the first six weeks, biweekly sessions for the next three months, and one session each month for the final three months of the study. The other participants were given no chiropractic intervention whatsoever and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic.

Following twenty-four matches, specialists noticed a lessened number of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had received chiropractic care. Additionally, that very group also missed fewer matches correlated to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to conclude that chiropractic should be added to sports training programs to effectively reduce the number of leg injuries.

Dr. Holland Can Help People Find Relief From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Faster

If you or your child plays sports and you want to ensure greater time is dedicated on the field as opposed to on the sidelines, call our North St. Louis, MO office at (314) 588-9100 and schedule an appointment today. We will do our best to keep you in the game!

References

• Hoskins, W, & Pollard, H. (2010, April 8). The effect of a sports chiropractic manual therapy intervention on the prevention of back pain, hamstring and lower limb injuries in semi-elite Australian Rules footballers: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 11(64), doi:10.1186/1471-2474-11-64
• Misra, A. (2014, March 17). Common sports injuries: Incidence and average charges. Department of Health & Human Services.
• Stanford Children’s Hospital. (n.d.). Sports injury statistics.

According to research, approximately 5 percent of the population will suffer from painful ailments like frozen shoulder syndrome at some time in their lives. That makes shoulder pain a common occurrence and one that Dr. Holland sees in our North St. Louis, MO office on a regular basis.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps With Shoulder Pain

Usually, this condition is more prevalent for people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, and it tends to affect women more often than men. While ice, heat, and gentle stretching can often times help relieve the pain, so too can chiropractic care.

For example, a study released in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine looked at 50 patients with frozen shoulder who were given chiropractic care. The length of care ranged from 11 days to 51 days, with 28 days being the average.

The authors found that nearly all of the patients fared very well with chiropractic care. The authors found:

8 of the subjects reported 50-75 percent improvement
25 indicated improvement ranging from 75- 90 percent
1 participant had complete resolution of their frozen shoulder pain

Only one patient reported an improvement of 50 percent or less, so studies like this show just how effective chiropractic care can be when it comes to decreasing shoulder pain and improving quality of life.

We Can Help Clients Find Relief From Shoulder Pain

Let Dr. Holland help you relieve your suffering by contacting our North St. Louis, MO office and scheduling your appointment today.

Resources

Murphy F et al. (2012, December). Chiropractic management of frozen shoulder syndrome using a novel technique: a retrospective case series of 50 patients. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine;11(4):267-272