Posts by Dr. Mark Holland

Dr. Holland sees many back pain patients in our busy Downtown St. Louis, MO chiropractic office. Many of our patients have some kind of spinal condition that is causing them pain and discomfort. Fortunately, Dr. Holland finds that spinal decompression treatment is a great way to help these folks.

What is Spinal Decompression and How Can it Help Me?

Non-surgical spinal decompression is a treatment technique that takes all of the positive benefits that one normally gets from chiropractic adjustments, traction, physiotherapy, exercise therapy, and myofascial release and combines them all into one.

The objective of this technique is to keep you out of the operating room, and that is precisely what it's accomplished for a number of men and women, as it has a documented 85% success rate.

Some of the symptoms spinal decompression helps with include generalized back pain, sciatica, herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, compression fractures, and joint pain.

Spinal decompression works by reversing the influences of wear, tear, and the force of gravity that compresses the intervertebral discs in your neck and back. The video below shows how it works to decrease stress on your back and helps decrease pain and disability.

Dr. Holland Can Help People Find Relief From Chronic Back Pain

If you live in Downtown St. Louis, MO and you're suffering with back issues, spinal decompression therapy might be the fix. Call Dr. Holland today at (314) 588-9100 for a consultation or appointment.

According to experts, roughly 2-5 percent of the population will suffer from painful conditions 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 Downtown St. Louis, MO practice on a regular basis.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps With Shoulder Pain

Generally, this ailment is more prevalent for people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, and it tends to affect women more frequently than men. While ice, heat, and gentle stretches can often times help alleviate the discomfort, so too can chiropractic adjustments.

For instance, one study published in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine looked at 50 people with frozen shoulder who were given chiropractic care. The duration of care varied from 11 days to 51 days, with 28 days being the average.

The doctors found that nearly all of the study participants 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 participant reported an improvement of 50 percent or less, so reports like this show just how effective chiropractic can be when it comes to decreasing shoulder pain and increasing quality of life.

We Can Help Clients Find Relief From Shoulder Pain

Let Dr. Holland help you ease your pain by contacting our Downtown 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 Downtown St. Louis, MO office, and many of these men and women were concerned that they might require surgery to relieve their pain. The latest research indicates that many people don't need surgery for this prevalent problem, and that chiropractic is more beneficial at solving sciatic nerve pain.

A typical surgery for sciatica is microdiscectomy, and in a 2010 study, specialists examined 80 women and men 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 got better; however, no noticeable difference in outcome was reported one year post-treatment between the surgery group and the chiropractic group. Furthermore, about 60% of the participating patients who could not find pain relief from any other treatment method "benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention."

Put another way, chiropractic offered the same positive benefits as surgery without needing to undergo the greater amounts of surgery-based pain or suffer through lengthy recovery times often associated with that specific treatment method. Plus, you also don't run the risks affiliated with surgical microdiscectomy, including nerve root damage, bowel or bladder incontinence, bleeding, or infection.

Surgery ought to be the last resort for sciatica pain. If you live in Downtown St. Louis, MO and you're being affected by back pain or sciatica, give Dr. Holland a call today at (314) 588-9100. We'll help pinpoint the start 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 Americans suffer with chronic pain than diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer combined. Furthermore, neck pain is the third most documented type of pain, beat out only by back pain and headaches.

Of course, many people come to our Downtown St. Louis, MO office looking for neck pain treatment, and Dr. Holland has helped many of them find relief. This is a smart choice, as some studies have shown that over 90% of neck pain patients benefit from chiropractic care.

Studies Confirm Chiropractic Effective for Neck Pain

A report published in The Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy involved 64 individuals who were suffering with neck problems. Roughly half were placed in an experimental group and the other half were designated to a comparison group. Both received chiropractic adjustments of the neck as well as a home exercise plan, whereas the experimental group also received adjustments of the thoracic spine.

Information was collected before treatment began and one week post-treatment. Researchers found that 94 percent of the experimental group reported "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, showing that evaluating the entire spine is an important part of restoring the body's normal function.

Yet another study posted in Physical Therapy involved 60 adults who were suffering with neck pain. Each man or woman 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 adjustments.

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

Help After Failed Neck Surgery

One study found the same sort of positive results after thoracic adjustments in a woman who had a failed neck surgical treatment. 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 patient reported decreased pain in her neck and lower headache intensity, right after the first chiropractic treatment session. After six weeks of care, which involved chiropractic, exercise, and patient education, the patient still rated 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 demonstrate the effectiveness of chiropractic techniques, even if you've already attempted medical procedures that didn't provide relief. So, if you are dealing with neck pain and would like to find a remedy that has a high success rate, try chiropractic. It may just be the relief you're looking for.

We're located in Downtown 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 diabetes and asthma put together), it's no surprise that Dr. Holland sees a lot of headache patients in our Downtown St. Louis, MO office. Eventhough some folks choose to relieve migraine pain with drugs, chiropractic care is a fantastic, all-natural approach that often provides positive results.

Research Shows Chiropractic Care Helps With Migraines

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

What the investigators discovered is that spinal manipulation therapy reduced the frequency, duration, and disability of the migraine headaches when compared with the control patients who didn't receive chiropractic. Even better, this enabled them to take less medication for the pain, offering them an all-natural solution for a chronic condition.

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

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

Studies

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 common problem for people in our Downtown St. Louis, MO chiropractic practice, and Dr. Holland has happily provided many of these people relief. This is largely because chiropractic care has been found to help with many forms of knee pain.

For example, some people 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 article published in The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association found that individuals with osteoarthritis in their knees felt significant pain relief and improved function after just two weeks of chiropractic care.

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

Clearly, sometimes a knee replacement surgery is required in order to fix the problem, and if that's the case, your chiropractor can also help improve the outcome. How?

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Knee Problems

Research has shown that people with low back pain often have less positive results after knee surgery. So, dealing with your back pain through chiropractic prior to having a total knee arthroplasty can help with your post-surgery healing.

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

Studies

• 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

We see a considerable number of folks with headaches in our Downtown St. Louis, MO office, and Dr. Holland has been able to assist many of them. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that half of all adults struggle with some manner of headache problem, so this certainly isn’t unexpected. One of the most prevalent varieties of headaches which our patients are afflicted by is cervicogenic headache which, luckily for us, chiropractic can commonly help.

Cervicogenic Headaches Defined

A cervicogenic headache is one that originates from issues in the cervical spine. It might be as a result of a problem with either the spine itself (specifically, the vertebrae, joints, or discs), or it can be a result of a problem in the muscles and tendons of your neck. This dysfunction in your spine brings about constriction or irritation of the spinal nerves, which can result in headache pain.

How can you recognize if the headache you are enduring is a cervicogenic headache? Aside from getting a diagnosis from a healthcare expert, a frequent symptom of cervicogenic headaches is tenderness or discomfort in your neck. This is occasionally accompanied by pain in the back of your head or between your shoulder blades.

Chiropractic to the Rescue

Because cervicogenic headaches will not go away until whatever problem is generating them is remedied, it is essential to get treatment rather than just trying to "wait it out." Chiropractic care is an effective solution, and one that offers a considerable amount of pain relief.

In one study printed in Chiropractic & Osteopathy, researchers evaluated 80 people who had repeated cervicogenic headaches. Half of them received chiropractic care and the other fifty percent engaged in light massage therapy. Each participant was evaluated 12 and 24 weeks after the procedures and it was found that chiropractic provided the optimum results.

In particular, this study noted that chiropractic adjustments provided patients more significant pain relief and reduced the number of headaches that occurred. Furthermore, it also lessened the disability that resulted from these painful headaches.

To find out what Dr. Holland can do for you and your headaches, call us today. We'll do our best to get you the pain relief you deserve!

References

• Haas M, Schneider M, Vavrek D. Illustrating risk difference and number needed to treat from a randomized controlled trial of spinal manipulation for cervicogenic headache. Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2010 18(9).
• World Health Organization. (2012, October). Headache disorders. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs277/en/

We see quite a few patients in our Downtown St. Louis, MO office with ankle sprains but Dr. Holland has had a lot of success helping them recover more quickly. Why are ankle sprains so common and how can chiropractic care help?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), approximately 25,000 men and women in the US sprain their ankles every day. In fact, these injuries make up almost half of all sports injuries, causing people to spend time away from the activities they enjoy most.

Like any injury, there are many causes of ankle sprains. The most common is inversion, or when the ankle rolls inward. This injury can take place due to one forceful movement, or it can develop over time, and exercises that increase the risk for this type of ankle sprain include running and jumping. You're also at risk if you have pre-existing ankle injuries, poor posture or balance, weak muscles, and reduced range of motion.

How Can Chiropractic Treatments and Dr. Holland Help?

A paper published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics set out to identify chiropractic's role when it comes to ankle sprain recovery. Researchers enrolled 33 individuals between the ages of 18 and 45 who had a history of ankle inversion sprains, who were experiencing tenderness and/or pain, and had not re-injured the area in the previous six weeks.

18 of the participants were assigned to participate in rehabilitation and the other 15 subjects received chiropractic adjustments in addition to rehabilitation. Each individual had five full weeks of treatment, with the rehabilitation group receiving therapy seven days a week and the rehab plus chiropractic group receiving therapy six out of the seven days.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps With Ankle Sprains

The authors found that the individuals who had both rehabilitation and chiropractic fared the best at the 4-week mark when it came to pain and joint restriction. In addition, no bad effects were reported, showing that this treatment option is safe.

If you're near our office in Downtown St. Louis, MO and you're struggling with an ankle injury, give us a call. We'll do what we can to keep you up and moving... literally!

Studies

• American College of Sports Medicine. (n.d.). Ankle sprains and the athlete. Retrieved from https://www.acsm.org/docs/current-comments/anklesprainstemp.pdf
• Lubbe, D et al. (2015, January). Manipulative therapy and rehabilitation for recurrent ankle sprain with functional instability: a short-term, assessor-blind, parallel-group randomized trial. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 38(1), 22-34, doi:10.1016/j.jmpt.2014.10.001

If you are afflicted by fibromyalgia, you are not alone, as Dr. Holland sees many patients with this particular condition in our Downtown St. Louis, MO chiropractic clinic. As a matter of fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that roughly two percent of all adults in the US have fibromyalgia. Thankfully, chiropractic is one treatment option that can provide positive results.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps Fibromyalgia

In a study released in mid-2015, 215 adults with fibromyalgia were evaluated based on factors ranging from pain to quality of sleep to the levels of depression symptoms or anxiety they felt. Then they were split into two groups with one group receiving a multi-modal therapy program for three months and the second group receiving the same program with the addition of chiropractic adjustments (specifically, to the upper neck tissues) for the same length of time.

The subjects who received chiropractic adjustments in addition to the multi-disciplinary treatment program reported greater benefits in all areas (pain, sleep, depression, and anxiety) at three months post-treatment when compared to the study participants who received multi-modal therapy without chiropractic. Additionally, those positive benefits were lasting as the individuals reported continued improvement one full year later.

Fibromyalgia can significantly reduce your quality of life, both psychologically and physically. If you're suffering from fibromyalgia, we might be able to help.

You don't have to suffer! To find out what Dr. Holland can do for your fibromyalgia pain, call our Downtown St. Louis, MO chiropractic office today.

Sources

• Fibromyalgia. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/fibromyalgia.htm on November 2, 2015.
• Moustafa I & Diab A. (2015, July). The addition of upper cervical manipulative therapy in the treatment of patients with fibromyalgia: a randomized controlled trial. Rheumatology International;35(7):1163-74.

Regrettably, many of our Downtown St. Louis, MO patients know the pain associated with a herniated disc all too well. Fortunately, Dr. Holland has helped many people with disc pain, and a number of medical studies have verified that chiropractic care can help patients recover from this kind of condition.

Research on Herniated Discs and Chiropractic

In one study, a group of doctors from Switzerland selected 148 patients who were suffering with pain in their low back and legs due to a herniated disc (which was confirmed through magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI). Each person then received chiropractic adjustments that focused on the area of his or her disc problem.

Data was obtained after the first treatment session at set intervals--namely, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year--to find out what kind of short-term and long-term effects, if any, chiropractic offers when it comes to resolving this particular problem. Among the information obtained was the individual's self-reported changes in both back and leg pain.

The authors found that, as a whole, the patients reported "significant improvement" for both types of pain every time the results were collected. In fact, over 90% of the patients claimed that their pain "improved" within the first three months, with 88% still citing improvement one year after their first treatment session.

Even those people who were defined as "chronic" still reported an improvement in pain at a rate of 89% one year beyond when treatment first began. This is the same positive effect that was found in the following case study.

Disc Herniation and Chiropractic: A Case Study

In this report, a 26-year-old man had presented with disc herniation symptoms such as pain in the low back, left leg, and left groin area, along with left foot drop and muscle weakness. He had endured these symptoms for more than two years after sustaining a sports injury, and his herniated disc was confirmed via MRI.

After receiving chiropractic care, "The patient responded favorably and his multi-symptom complex resolved within 90 days of treatment." In addition, the patient was still enjoying relief one year after the chiropractic intervention.

Studies like these show how helpful chiropractic can be when it comes to alleviating herniated disc pain and relieving the symptoms they cause. So, if you are suffering from back ache caused by a herniated disc and wish to find some relief, chiropractic might be an effective solution.

Don't suffer from chronic herniated disc pain. Give our Downtown St. Louis, MO office a call today at (314) 588-9100 for a consultation or appointment.

References

• Leemann S, Peterson CK, Schmid C, Anklin B, Humphreys BK. Outcomes of acute and chronic patients with magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed symptomatic lumbar disc herniations receiving high-velocity, low-amplitude, spinal manipulative therapy: a prospective observational cohort study with one-year follow-up. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2014;37(3):155-163.
• Polkinghorn BS, Colloca CJ. Treatment of symptomatic lumbar disc herniation using activator methods chiropractic technique. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 1998;21(3):187-196.