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We see a large number of patients in our Gadsden, AL office, and Gadsden Family Chiropractic has helped countless people eliminate a range of health challenges. In spite of this, a frequent issue that seems to stop some women and men from pursuing care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Fortunately, according to three separate studies (out of quite a few on the subject), the answer to this concern is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first article(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 men and women. Each person was suffering from spinal pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic adjustments whereas the remaining patients received two fake chiropractic treatment sessions. Information was collected after each real or fake adjustment to see if any unpleasant side effects occurred as a result of the actual chiropractic treatments.

Researchers found that nobody documented any serious adverse adverse reactions at all after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some participants did report that they had a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) post-treatment, but the effects were not serious.

Nationwide Survey Finds that Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe

The next article(2), also released in the prestigious publication, Spine, was performed in an effort to establish the safety of chiropractic care. The study group was much larger -- 20,000 people. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Again, the researchers found no serious negative side effects. The experts determined the risk of total side 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 volunteers did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) or a headache (4%), and this caused the researchers to conclude 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

The third study(3) is unique from the first two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, the authors investigated data reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic treatment sessions.

Out of 5,438 chiropractic visits made for the kids, chiropractors answering the survey documented only three cases where there were adverse effects. When parents were surveyed, 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 has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Gadsden, AL clinic and make an appointment today at (256) 543-3033.

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 work counts. Work injuries can be a serious problem for many folks, and we see many of these types of injuries in our Gadsden, AL office. Gadsden Family Chiropractic understands your situation and is here to help.

The benefits of chiropractic care for work injuries are well-documented. A 2013 survey involving 651 adults who were troubled with either back or neck pain found that the men and women 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 respondents in this paper, two of the primary 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.

Gadsden Family Chiropractic Can Help People Find Comfort From Chronic Pain

If you live in Gadsden, AL and you've been injured at work, we can help. Give our office a call today at (256) 543-3033 for an appointment.

Sources

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

We see a large number of sports injuries in our Gadsden, AL clinic, and Gadsden Family Chiropractic is usually able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital states that more than 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and younger are hurt each year when playing sports. Add that to the nearly 2 million adults injured annually while participating in sports-related activities, according to statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can start to see the necessity of minimizing these sorts of common injuries. One approach 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 commonplace, 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 Shows Chiropractic Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study in particular, all of the participants got medical treatment. In addition, half of them also were given chiropractic treatments at the rate of one session per week for the first 6 weeks, biweekly sessions for the following three months, and one session per month for the remaining 3 months of the study. The other half had no chiropractic intervention at all and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic adjustments.

After twenty-four matches, specialists reported a lessened number of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Furthermore, that very group also missed fewer matches correlated to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to conclude that chiropractic ought to be added to sports training programs to dramatically decrease the number of leg injuries.

Gadsden Family Chiropractic Can Help Patients Find Relief From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Faster

If you or your child are active in sports and you want to ensure greater time is spent on the field versus on the bench, call our Gadsden, AL office at (256) 543-3033 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.

Gadsden Family Chiropractic sees a lot of back pain patients in our busy Gadsden, AL chiropractic office. Many of our patients have some form of spinal disorder that is causing them pain and discomfort. Fortunately, Gadsden Family Chiropractic finds that spinal decompression therapy 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 therapy and merges them all into one.

The goal of this technique is to keep you away from the surgeon's knife, and that is precisely what it's accomplished for a number of people, as it has a documented 85% success rate.

A few of the issues 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 effects of wear, tear, and the force of gravity that compresses the intervertebral discs in your spinal column. The video below shows how it works to relieve pressure on your back and helps lessen pain and disability.

Gadsden Family Chiropractic Can Help Patients Find Comfort From Chronic Back Pain

If you live in Gadsden, AL and you're struggling with back pain, spinal decompression therapy might be the solution. Call Gadsden Family Chiropractic today at (256) 543-3033 for a consultation or appointment.

According to experts, roughly 5 percent of the population will experience painful ailments like frozen shoulder syndrome at some time in their lives. That makes shoulder-related pain a common problem and one that Gadsden Family Chiropractic sees in our Gadsden, AL practice on a regular basis.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Shoulder Pain

Generally, this ailment is more common 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 relieve the pain, so too can chiropractic adjustments.

As an example, one study released in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine looked at 50 people 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 doctors found that almost all of the study participants fared extremely 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 studies like this show just how beneficial chiropractic care can be when it comes to decreasing shoulder pain and increasing quality of life.

We Can Help Clients Find Relief From Shoulder Pain

Let Gadsden Family Chiropractic help you ease your suffering by contacting our Gadsden, AL 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

Gadsden Family Chiropractic works with countless sciatica patients here in our Gadsden, AL office, and quite a few of these men and women were nervous that they might need surgery to treat their pain. The most recent research reveals that a large number of people don't need surgery for this widespread issue, and that chiropractic is more effective at resolving sciatic nerve pain.

A typical surgery for sciatica is microdiscectomy, and in a 2010 study, researchers looked at 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 apparent difference in results was reported one year post-treatment between either group. Furthermore, about 60 percent of the participating patients who could not find relief from any other treatment approach "benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention."

Put another way, chiropractic delivered the same positive benefits as surgery without having to endure the greater levels of surgery-based pain or suffer through extended recovery times often affiliated 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 Gadsden, AL and you're suffering from back pain or sciatica, give Gadsden Family Chiropractic a call today at (256) 543-3033. We'll help identify 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.
  

While many women automatically assume that back pain and pregnancy go hand in hand, they are often pleasantly surprised when they learn that this is not necessarily the case. In fact, chiropractic adjustments can often help alleviate persistant back pain for pregnant women by as much as 85 percent.

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps With Back Pain and Pregnancy

In our busy Gadsden, AL chiropractic office, it isn't uncommon for pregnant women to reach out to Gadsden Family Chiropractic for help relieving their back pain.

A research study published in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies involved 115 women who were pregnant (most of which were in their third trimester) and reported pain in their lower back region, pelvic area, or both. Data was gathered prior to the study, as well as one week, one month, three months, and one year after treatment commenced. At each follow-up, the participants were asked to rate their level of pain based on a 7-point scale to determine whether it was better, worse, or stayed the same. The results?

More than half reported that their pain was better after one week of chiropractic treatment. After one month, that amount jumped up to 70 percent, climbing even more to 85 percent showing improvement at the three month mark. Positive effects were still reported at six months post-treatment, which was generally after delivery, and continued to the final data collection one year after treatment commenced.

There are also many additional advantages of chiropractic care during pregnancy. Not only does it effectively relieve back pain, but it does it in a completely natural and non-invasive way. This means that you don't have to worry about taking any medications or undergoing any type of treatment that could potentially harm your unborn child.

Gadsden Family Chiropractic Can Help People Find Relief From Back Pain During Pregnancy

Additionally, it makes your time spent carrying your baby more pleasant. When you're not sidetracked with pain, you can enjoy the experience even more as you prepare your home and your life for all of the fun and exciting changes that lie ahead.

We're here in Gadsden, AL to help you have a healthy, pain-free pregnancy. Give us a call today at (256) 543-3033 to make an appointment.

Peterson CK, Muhlemann D, & Humphreys BK. Outcomes of pregnant patients with low back pain undergoing chiropractic treatment: a prospective cohort study with short term, medium term and 1 year follow-up. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2014;22(15):doi:10.1186/2045-709X-22-15.

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.

As a result, many patients come to our Gadsden, AL office looking for neck pain care, and Gadsden Family Chiropractic has helped many of them find relief. This is a smart choice, as some research shows that over 90 percent of neck pain patients benefit from chiropractic.

Studies Confirm Chiropractic's Positive Effects

A study published in The Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy included 64 people 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 received chiropractic adjustments of the neck as well as a home exercise program, while the experimental group also received thoracic spine adjustments.

Data was collected before treatment began and one week after the adjustments. The authors 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 individuals who received neck adjustments showed the same level of improvement, showing that thinking about the entire spinal column is a critical part of restoring the body's normal function.

Another study posted in Physical Therapy involved 60 participants between the ages of 18 and 60 who were suffering with neck pain. Each man or woman was randomly allocated to one of two groups--thoracic spine thrust manipulation or non-thrust manipulation--with examinations occurring two and four days after the treatments.

The investigators found that the study patients who received the thrust manipulations (the same manipulations that offered 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 technique offers many benefits.

Help After Failed Neck Surgery

One study also found the same kind of positive outcomes after thoracic adjustments in a woman who had a failed neck surgery. This specific case involved a 46-year-old patient who had recently had neck surgery but still experienced neck pain, headaches, pain in her elbow, and muscle fatigue.

The patient reported decreased pain in her neck and lower headache intensity, immediately 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 reduced as well, with a rating score that represented that it was a "great deal better."

It is scientific 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 suffering with neck problems and would like to find a remedy that has a high success rate, try chiropractic. It may just be the help you're looking for.

We're located in Gadsden, AL and Gadsden Family Chiropractic can help you recover from neck pain. Give us a call today at (256) 543-3033.

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 migraine headaches affect 38 million adults and children in the U.S. (more than asthma and diabetes put together), it's not surprising that Gadsden Family Chiropractic sees a lot of headache sufferers in our Gadsden, AL office. Although some folks choose to relieve migraine pain with medications, chiropractic is a great, all-natural choice that often provides positive results.

Research Shows Chiropractic Care Helps With Migraines

For instance, one study 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 received 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 authors discovered is that chiropractic adjustments reduced the frequency, duration, and disability of the migraine headaches when compared with the control patients who didn't receive chiropractic. Even better, this allowed them to take less medication for the pain, providing them an all-natural answer for a chronic condition.

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

If you have migraine headaches and are looking for help, call Gadsden Family Chiropractic today and request an appointment in our Gadsden, AL 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 frequent issue for patients in our Gadsden, AL chiropractic practice, and Gadsden Family Chiropractic has successfully provided many of these folks relief. This is largely because chiropractic care has been found to help with many forms of knee pain.

For example, some patients feel pain in and around the knee tissues due to osteoarthritis. Research has shown that this condition responds very well to chiropractic--and rather quickly, too. In fact, one article published in The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association found that people with osteoarthritis in their knees felt considerable pain relief and enhanced function after just two weeks of chiropractic care.

If your knee pain is caused by a medial meniscus tear, chiropractic could likely help with that as well. One study reported that integrating chiropractic with soft tissue therapy, 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 issue, and if that's the case, chiropractic can also help improve the outcome. How?

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Knee Injuries

Medical research has found that people with low back pain frequently have less positive outcomes after knee surgery. Thus, dealing with your back pain through chiropractic before having a total knee arthroplasty can help with your post-surgery healing.

No matter what your knee issue, Gadsden Family Chiropractic can likely help. Call our Gadsden, AL clinic 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