Posts by Dr. Mark Holland

In our North St. Louis, MO office, we see a lot of patients who are struggling with back pain, and a few of these patients 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 surgery. The science confirms the success we see in our practice. One study published in the medical journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first move in dealing with your back issues may literally keep you off of the operating table.

In this scientific study, medical experts from Dartmouth analyzed data from 1,885 workers from the state of Washington who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractic doctor for their low back issues. They then used three years' worth of follow-up medical information to ascertain whether the individuals ended up having back surgery in an effort to treat the problem.

What the authors determined was that 42.7% of the patients who first saw a surgeon for their back pain ended up with surgery in that 3-year time span, 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 findings. Visiting a chiropractor significantly reduces your odds of getting back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this report "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.

Let's also take into consideration this important detail: this study was conducted by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and published in the world's most distinguished medical journal on spinal injuries.

The Problems with Surgery

Any surgical procedure has risks, but a serious downside linked to spine surgery is that there is a very high failure rate. 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 choice for treating back pain. Chiropractic care works to restore your spine to its normal function--without high-risk surgery or drugs--and many scientific studies have demonstrated the usefulness 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.
  

We work with many car accident cases in in our North St. Louis, MO office, and a widespread symptom we see in our patients is shoulder pain. Let's look at the root cause of shoulder pain after a car accident and see how chiropractic care can help.

There are at least two different ways that you can get shoulder pain after an accident: by direct injury to the shoulder joint or by referred pain from the neck.

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

More frequently, Dr. Holland finds that shoulder or arm pain does not immediately appear after a crash, but begins a few days or weeks after the trauma. This type of shoulder discomfort actually starts in the neck. Injured muscles or ligaments in your spine can squeeze nerves in your neck, causing numbness, tingling, or soreness in your shoulder, elbow, or wrist.

We've treated many types of shoulder problems in our North St. Louis, MO office. This treatment involves chiropractic adjustments to restore your spine's natural flexibility and exercises that strengthen your neck and shoulder.

Dr. Holland is here in North St. Louis, MO to help you recover from shoulder pain. We've been helping patients since 2000 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. Ready to make an appointment? Give us a call at (314) 588-9100 and we'll get you back on the road to health.

We tend to a large number of people in our North St. Louis, MO clinic, and Dr. Holland has helped countless people eliminate a range of health issues. However, one worry that seems to prevent some men and women from pursuing care is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Luckily, according to three separate studies (out of quite a few on the subject), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 men and women between the ages of 20 and 85. Each person reported suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the people received real chiropractic adjustments while the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic treatments. Data was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to discover whether or not any undesirable reactions occurred as a result of the genuine chiropractic adjustments.

Researchers found that nobody documented any significant negative side effects whatsoever after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some people did report that they had a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (37%) post-treatment, but the results were not of a serious nature.

National Survey Reports that Chiropractic is Safe

The second article(2), also published in the important publication, Spine, was conducted in an attempt to establish 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 cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Once again, the investigators found no serious negative side effects. The authors determined the risk of total negative effects to be about six out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the previous study, some people did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) or a headache (4%), and this caused the researchers to determine that "the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low."

Chiropractic Is Safe for Your Children

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

Out of 5,438 chiropractic appointments made for the young ones, chiropractors answering the survey documented 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. Furthermore, both chiropractors and parents reported "a high rate of improvement with respect to the children's presenting complaints."

Based on these three studies (and many more!), chiropractic care has been found to be safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic care can do for you, call our North St. Louis, MO clinic 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 sustain your family, take care of your home, and pay all of your bills on time, every day at your job counts. Work injuries can be a serious 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 for work injuries are well-established. A 2013 survey involving over 600 adults who were suffering 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 care?

According to the participants in this study, two of the major factors 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 fact is, chiropractic patients actually spend less on care than medical patients, plus they are less likely to use drugs for their symptoms.

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 see a good deal of sports injuries in our North St. Louis, MO clinic, and Dr. Holland is generally able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital states that over 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and younger are injured each year while playing sports. Add that to the almost 2 million adults hurt every year while engaged in sports-related activities, according to statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can begin to see the importance of preventing these sorts of common injuries. One way to possible achieve that goal, as stated in a study released in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to engage in regular chiropractic treatments.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg traumas are commonplace, frequently sidelining the players and impacting their team's odds of winning. One specific study was administered using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see whether chiropractic could reduce these injuries and help keep them in the game.

For this study specifically, every one of the volunteers was given medical treatment. Furthermore, half of them also received chiropractic sessions at the rate of one session per week for the first six weeks, biweekly treatments for the following three months, and one session per month for the last 3 months of the study. The remaining half were given no chiropractic intervention at all and acted as the control group to determine the benefits of chiropractic adjustments.

Following twenty-four matches, specialists noted a reduced 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 come to the conclusion that chiropractic should be added to sports training programs to dramatically lessen the number of leg injuries.

If you or your child plays sports and you want to ensure greater time is dedicated on the field as opposed to on the bench, 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, roughly 2-5 percent of the population will suffer from painful problems like frozen shoulder syndrome at some point 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.

Usually, this issue 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 received chiropractic care. The length of care ranged from 11 days to 51 days, with 28 days being the average.

The researchers found that almost all of the study participants fared very well with chiropractic care. The study 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 of the original 50 reported an improvement of 50 percent or less, so studies like this show just how effective chiropractic can be when it comes to decreasing shoulder pain and increasing quality of life.

Let Dr. Holland help you relieve your pain 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

Dr. Holland works with many sciatica patients here in our North St. Louis, MO office, and many of these men and women were afraid that they might need surgery to alleviate their pain. The most recent research shows that many people don't need surgery for this widespread issue, and that chiropractic is more successful at resolving sciatic nerve pain.

A popular surgery for sciatica is microdiscectomy, and in a 2010 study, researchers examined 80 individuals with sciatica who were referred for this procedure.

Forty patients were then randomly placed in one of two groups. The first group was to receive surgical microdiscectomy and the second group was given chiropractic care.

Both groups improved; however, no apparent difference in outcome was recorded one year post-treatment between either group. In addition, roughly 60 percent of the participating patients who could not find assistance from any other treatment method "benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention."

Simply put, chiropractic offered the same positive advantages as surgery without needing to go through the increased levels of surgery-based pain or suffer through drawn-out recovery times often associated with that type of treatment choice. Additionally, you also don't run the risks associated with surgical microdiscectomy, such as nerve root damage, bowel or bladder incontinence, bleeding, or infection.

Surgery ought to be the last option for sciatica pain. If you live in North St. Louis, MO and you're suffering from back pain or sciatica, give Dr. Holland a call today at (314) 588-9100. We'll help pinpoint the origin of your pain and work hard to get you relief.

References

• McMorland, G et al. Manipulation or microdiskectomy for sciatica? A prospective randomized clinical study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2010;33(8):576-584.
• Solberg TK, Nygaard OP, Sjaavik K, Hofoss D, Ingebrigtsen T. The risk of "getting worse" after lumbar microdiscectomy. European Spine Journal 2005;14(1):49-54.
  

According to The American Academy of Pain Medicine, more people in the US suffer with chronic pain than diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer combined. In addition, neck pain is the third most documented type of pain, beat out only by back pain and headache.

As a result, a lot of patients come to our North St. Louis, MO office looking for neck pain treatment, and Dr. Holland has helped many of them find relief. This is a smart decision, as some research shows that over 90 percent of neck pain patients improve with chiropractic.

Studies Confirm Chiropractic Effective for Neck Pain

A study published in The Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy included 64 individuals who were suffering with neck pain. Around half were placed in an experimental group and the other half were designated to a comparison group. Both were given chiropractic adjustments of the neck as well as a home exercise program, whereas the experimental group also received thoracic spine adjustments.

Information was gathered before treatment began and one week post-treatment. Researchers found that 94 percent of the experimental group claimed "significantly greater improvements" in regard to pain and disability in their neck symptoms. Just 35% of the patients who received neck adjustments showed the same level of improvement, illustrating that thinking about the entire spine is an important part of restoring the body's normal function.

One more study posted in Physical Therapy involved 60 adults who reported suffering with neck pain. Each individual was randomly assigned to one of two groups--thoracic spine thrust manipulation or non-thrust manipulation--with follow-up exams occurring two and four days after the treatments.

Researchers discovered that the study patients who received the thrust manipulations (the same adjustments that provided such positive results in the first study) "experienced greater reductions in disability" than the patients who received the non-thrust manipulations. Their pain was lower as well, which shows that this type of approach offers many benefits.

Chiropractic Even Offers Benefits After Failed Neck Surgery

Another study even found the same kind of positive results after thoracic adjustments in a woman who had a failed neck surgery. This particular case involved a 46-year-old woman who had recently had neck surgery but still endured neck pain, headaches, pain in her elbow, and muscle fatigue.

The woman reported reduced pain in her neck and lower headache intensity, immediately after the first chiropractic adjustments. After six weeks of care, which involved chiropractic, exercise, and patient education, the patient still placed her pain at a zero on a scale of 1 to 10. Her neck disability improved as well, with a rating score that represented that it was a "great deal better."

It is studies like these that substantiate the advantages of chiropractic adjustments, even if you've already attempted medical procedures that didn't provide relief. So, if you are suffering with neck problems and would like to find a solution that has a high success rate, try chiropractic. It may just be the help you're looking for.

Our office is in North St. Louis, MO and Dr. Holland can help you recover from neck pain. Give us a call today at (314) 588-9100.

References

• AAPM facts and figures on pain. The American Academy of Pain Medicine.
• Masaracchio M, Cleland JA, Hellman M, Hagins M. Short-term combined effects of thoracic spine thrust manipulation and cervical spine nonthrust manipulation in individuals with mechanical neck pain: a randomized clinical trial. Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy 2013;43(3):118-127.
• Cleland JA, Glynn P, Whitman JM, Eberhart SL, MacDonald C, Childs JD. Short-term effects of thrust versus nonthrust mobilization/manipulation directed at the thoracic spine in patients with neck pain: a randomized clinical trial. Physical Therapy 2007;87(4):431-440.
• Salvatori R, Rowe RH, Osborne R, Beneciuk JM. Use of thoracic spine thrust manipulation for neck pain and headache in a patient following multiple-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: a case report. The Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy 2014;44(6):440-449.
  

With the Migraine Research Foundation reporting that migraines affect 38 million adults and children in the U.S. (more than asthma and diabetes put together), it's not surprising that Dr. Holland treats a lot of migraine sufferers in our North St. Louis, MO office. While some people choose to relieve migraine pain with medications, chiropractic care is a great, all-natural approach that usually provides positive results.

For instance, one report published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics involved 127 participants ranging in age from 10 to 70-years-old who struggled with frequent (at least monthly) migraines. Each subject received up to 16 chiropractic sessions. The patients noted that their headache frequency, duration, and disability two months before the treatments began, during the duration of the sessions (which was two months), and two months post-treatment.

What the authors discovered is that chiropractic reduced the frequency, duration, and disability of the migraine headaches when compared with the control subjects who didn't receive chiropractic. Furthermore, this enabled them to take less medication for the pain, providing them an all-natural solution for a chronic problem.

Another report found that a combination of chiropractic and neck massage reduced migraine pain almost 68%.

If you have migraine pain and are looking for help, call Dr. Holland today and request an appointment in our North St. Louis, MO chiropractic office. We'll do what we can to help you become pain-free!

Research Papers

Migraine Fact Sheet. Migraine Research Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.migraineresearchfoundation.org/fact-sheet.html on November 2, 2015
Noudeh Y et al. (2012). Reduction of current migraine headache pain following neck massage and spinal manipulation. International Journal of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork;5(1):5-13
Tuchin P et al. (2000, February). A randomized controlled trial of chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy for migraine. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics;23(2):91-5

Knee pain is a frequent issue for people in our North St. Louis, MO chiropractic practice, and Dr. Holland has successfully provided many of these men and women relief. This is largely because chiropractic care has been found to help with many kinds of knee pain.

For instance, some patients feel pain in and around the knee tissues due to osteoarthritis. Research has demonstrated that this ailment responds very well to chiropractic--and rather quickly, too. In fact, one study published in The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association found that men and women with osteoarthritis in their knees felt significant pain relief and enhanced function after just two weeks of chiropractic care.

If your knee pain is due to a medial meniscus sprain, chiropractic could likely help with that as well. One article reported that combining chiropractic with soft tissue treatment, rest, ice, and compression on the affected knee helped lower the intensity of the pain.

Of course, sometimes a knee replacement surgery is necessary in order to rectify the problem, and if that's the case, chiropractic care can also help improve the outcome. How?

Research has found that patients with low back pain often have less positive outcomes after knee surgery. Thus, dealing with your back pain through chiropractic before having a total knee arthroplasty can assist with your post-surgery recovery.

No matter what your knee issue, Dr. Holland can likely help. Call our North St. Louis, MO office today and find out what we can do for you!

Resources

• Pollard H et al. (2008, December). The effect of a manual therapy knee protocol on osteoarthritic knee pain: a randomised controlled trial. The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association;52(4):229-42
  Boyle J et al. (2014, March). Influence of low back pain on total knee arthroplasty outcome. Knee;21(2):410-4
• Jarosz B & Ames R. (2010, December). Chiropractic management of a medial meniscus tear in a patient with tibiofemoral degeneration: a case report. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine;9(4):200-8