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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

We see a lot of men and women with headaches in our Gadsden, AL office, and Gadsden Family Chiropractic has been able to support many of them. Actually, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one half of all adults struggle with some sort of headache problems, so this really isn’t surprising. One of the most common varieties of headaches that our patients deal with is cervicogenic headache which, happily, chiropractic can commonly help.

Cervicogenic Headaches Explained

A cervicogenic headache is one that starts from issues in the cervical spine. It might be generated by an issue with either the spine itself (in particular, the vertebrae, joints, or discs), or it might be because of a problem in the muscles and tendons of your neck. This problem in your spine leads to compaction or aggravation of the spinal nerves, which can generate headache pain.

How can you distinguish if the headache you are being affected by is a cervicogenic headache? Other than receiving a diagnosis from a healthcare professional, a common symptom of cervicogenic headaches is tenderness or pain in your neck. This is sometimes accompanied by pain in the back of your head or between your shoulder blades.

Chiropractic to the Rescue

Because cervicogenic headaches will not subside until whatever problem is initiating them is remedied, it is essential to get treatment instead of just trying to "wait it out." Chiropractic care is an excellent solution, and one that can provide a considerable amount of relief.

In one study circulated in Chiropractic & Osteopathy, experts looked at 80 people who had recurrent cervicogenic headaches. Half of them received chiropractic care and the other half underwent light massage therapy. Each participant was assessed 12 and 24 weeks after the treatment and it was discovered that chiropractic offered the best effects.

In particular, this study found that chiropractic adjustments offered patients better pain relief and decreased the frequency of headaches that occurred. What's more, it also lessened the disability that resulted from these painful headaches.

To find out what Gadsden Family Chiropractic can do for you and your headache pain, 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/

If you are struggling with fibromyalgia, you are not alone, as Gadsden Family Chiropractic sees many people with this particular problem in our Gadsden, AL chiropractic clinic. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that roughly two percent of all adults in the US have fibromyalgia. Thankfully, chiropractic is one treatment option that can provide positive results.

Research Shows Chiropractic Eases Fibromyalgia

In a medical study published 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 divided 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 care in conjunction with the multi-disciplinary treatment approach reported greater results in all areas (pain, sleep, depression, and anxiety) at three months post-treatment when compared to the study participants who received multi-modal treatment without chiropractic care. Additionally, those positive results were long-lasting as the patients reported continued improvement one full year later.

Fibromyalgia can greatly decrease 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 Gadsden Family Chiropractic can do for your fibromyalgia pain, call our Gadsden, AL chiropractic office today.

Research

• 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, a large number of our Gadsden, AL patients know the pain caused by a herniated disc all too well. Fortunately, Gadsden Family Chiropractic has helped many people with disc pain, and a number of research studies have confirmed that chiropractic can help people recover from this kind of condition.

Research on Herniated Discs and Chiropractic

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

Data was collected after the initial treatment session at set intervals--namely, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year--to ascertain what type of short-term and long-term effects, if any, chiropractic care offers when it comes to treating this particular problem. Among the information collected was the individual's self-reported changes in both lumbar and leg pain.

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

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

Case Study Results

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 problems for more than two years after sustaining a sports injury, and his disc herniation was confirmed via MRI.

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

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

Don't suffer from chronic herniated disc pain. Give our Gadsden, AL office a call today at (256) 543-3033 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.
  

Gadsden Family Chiropractic sees a lot of patients struggling with carpal tunnel syndrome in our busy Gadsden, AL chiropractic practice. While some people think that the origin of this wrist-related pain is muscular, it's really a condition that arises from the nerves--and not just the nerves in your hands.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Recent research printed in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy assessed 71 women between the ages of 35 and 59 who were diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. Upon investigating the subjects' neck range of motion, the researchers found that the patients had reduced cervical mobility when compared to a healthy control group.

Furthermore, it was also found that the degree of the women's reported carpal tunnel pain was related to the lateral flexion of the cervical spine. In other words, the less mobility in the neck area, the higher the level of pain.

This study is extremely important, as you cannot successfully treat a problem until you fully understand its cause. By recognizing that the root of carpal tunnel pain is in the neck, this means that natural approaches like chiropractic can often restore normal function, reducing the need for risky operations.

If you have carpal tunnel pain, call our Gadsden, AL office and ask how Gadsden Family Chiropractic can help you get relief!

Resources

De-la-Llave-Rincon A et al. (2011, May). Women with carpal tunnel syndrome show restricted cervical range of motion. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy;41(5):305-10.
Simon H. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. University of Maryland Medical Center. Updated May 6, 2012. Retrieved from https://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/articles/carpal-tunnel-syndrome on November 2, 2015.

We see quite a few patients with back pain in our Gadsden, AL practice, and Gadsden Family Chiropractic has been able to help many of them get relief with chiropractic. However, dealing with back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great outcomes.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with One Another

In a report published by the medical journal Spine researchers¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who were suffering from both acute soreness and limited function due to back pain. Some of the test subjects engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder received chiropractic adjustments in addition to standard medical care, as researchers wanted to determine which patients fared better.

The authors found that the patients who got standard medical care combined with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17 percent of the medical treatment only group who reported the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at two and four weeks.

Therefore, incorporating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering advantages when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medicine can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some unique strengths over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful

Although it may seem as if each method plays a 50/50 role, there is one significant benefit that chiropractic has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece of research from UCLA² that was printed in the American Journal of Public Health found that, on average, chiropractic patients are generally more satisfied with their recovery than those undergoing medical treatment.

According to the experts, the main factors that patients preferred over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors tend to spend much more time advising their patients as to how they can better their health on their own, as well as outlining more carefully what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Without a doubt, the methods associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical treatment, but a great deal of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves finding the primary cause of your pain, which often means greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

Furthermore, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment like chiropractic. This means fewer negative side effects from prescriptions and longer-lasting recovery.

You don't have to endure back pain or other health issues. Give our Gadsden, AL clinic a call today at (256) 543-3033. We'll do our best to help you get and continue to be free from back pain.

References

1. Goertz CM, Long CR, Hondras MA, Petri R, Delgado R, Lawrence DJ, Owens EF, Meeker WC. Adding chiropractic manipulative therapy to standard medical care for patients with acute low back pain: results of a pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness study. Spine 2013;38(8):627-634.
2. Hertzman-Miller RP1, Morgenstern H, Hurwitz EL, Yu F, Adams AH, Harber P, Kominski GF. Comparing the satisfaction of low back pain patients randomized to receive medical or chiropractic care: results from the UCLA low-back pain study. American Journal of Public Health 2002;92(10):1628-1633.

Each year, there are millions of car crashes in the world, and a substantial number of men and women get hurt in a car wreck. While most collisions are "minor," chronic spine pain are still frequent health problems. The good news is that chiropractic is a great way to treat these kinds of injuries.

We've helped many auto injury patients in our Gadsden, AL office, and Gadsden Family Chiropractic has been treating people with these types of problems since 2003. During a collision, your body is subjected to violent forces that it simply wasn't built to handle. These forces put stress and strain on your neck, shoulder, and back, and can cause damage to the ligaments that hold your neck and back together. A crash can trigger a wide range of pain symptoms.

A ligament sprain in the neck can trigger pain, swelling, and radicular pain in the arm and hand. Chiropractic care works well for these types of problems, because chiropractic concentrates on restoring the healthy function and mobility of the injured areas.

Gadsden Family Chiropractic Can Help Clients Recover From an Auto Injury

Gadsden Family Chiropractic, your Gadsden, AL chiropractor, can assist by reducing irritation in the damaged area and can help minimize the formation of scar tissue that can cause chronic pain and disability.

You don't have to suffer from auto injury pain. Discover more about how we can help you recover or call Gadsden Family Chiropractic today at (256) 543-3033.

Jaw pain is a fairly typical problem experienced by many people after a car crash, and it can be tough for some physicians to diagnose the source of the problem. Complicating the matter, many times you won't experience TMJ pain until many weeks or months after a crash.

Gadsden Family Chiropractic has treated many individuals with jaw pain after an injury, and the scientific research explains what causes these types of symptoms. During a crash, the tissues in your neck are oftentimes stretched or torn, causing ligament, muscle, or nerve injury. This can clearly cause pain in the neck and back, but since your central nervous system is one functioning unit, inflammation of the nerves can cause problems in other parts of your body.

For example, with radicular pain, irritation of a nerve can cause prickling or pins and needles in the arm and hand. Similarly, it can affect parts of your body above the injury, like your head and jaw. Headaches after a wreck are very common because of neck injury, and the TMJ works the same way. Gadsden Family Chiropractic sees this very frequently in our Gadsden, AL office.

Research Shows Chiropractic Lessens TMJ Pain After an Auto Accident

Research indicates that the source of many jaw or TMJ symptoms originates in the neck and that treatment of the underlying neck problem can resolve the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The key to dealing with these symptoms is simple: Gadsden Family Chiropractic will work to return your spinal column back to health, decreasing the inflammation, treating the injured tissues, and eliminating the irritation to the nerves in your spine.

Gadsden Family Chiropractic has found that jaw and headache issues often resolve once we return your spine to its healthy condition.

If you live in Gadsden, AL and you've been injured in a crash, Gadsden Family Chiropractic can help. We've been treating auto injury patients since 2003, and we can most likely help you, too. Give our office a call today at (256) 543-3033 for an appointment or consultation.

Ciancaglini R, Testa M, Radaelli G. Association of neck pain with symptoms of temporomandibular dysfunction in the general adult population. Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 1999;31:17-22.

Brantingham JW, Cassa TK, Bonnefin D, Pribicevic M, Robb A, et al. Manipulative and multimodal therapy for upper extremity and temporomandibular disorders: a system review. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2013;36(3):143-201.

The latest numbers show that there are over 500,000 spinal surgeries annually in the US. Although in some cases it's necessary to have back surgery, the fact is that if you can avoid this type of invasive procedure, you're often better off.

Gadsden Family Chiropractic is here to make sure that patients in Gadsden, AL have a healthy, non-surgical option for back pain. We've helped many patients recover from back pain without the need for surgery.

There are countless reasons to avoid unnecessary medical treatments: Surgeries often result in a longer recuperation time and additional complications, neither of which is a desirable scenario. Fortunately, as one medical study has found, chiropractic may actually keep you out of the operating room altogether.

Research Supports Chiropractic Treatment Helps Avoid Back Surgery

In this paper, 1,885 workers with back injuries were evaluated over a three year period. When the workers first sought care with a surgeon, over 42 percent ended up having back surgery. For those who saw only a chiropractor, only 1.5 percent had surgery!

These findings suggest that chiropractic care can help you recover from back pain without surgery.

If you live in the Gadsden, AL area, Gadsden Family Chiropractic can probably help you with your back pain. Give our office a call today at (256) 543-3033 for more information or an appointment.

Keeney BJ, Fulton-Kehoe D, Turner JA, et al. 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.

Approximately 2.3 million people are injured every year in car accidents in the U.S. While some people are able to heal from their injuries relatively easily, many are left to deal with chronic pain and disability. We see many of these patients here in our Gadsden, AL office. Thankfully, Gadsden Family Chiropractic is here to help you heal from your auto injury.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps Prevent Chronic Pain After an Auto Accident

The science confirms what we see in our office: A British study was carried out on 28 individuals diagnosed with chronic whiplash pain. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments and 93 percent of them experienced pain relief following their adjustments, even though 43 percent of whiplash sufferers overall usually never find relief. This confirms that chiropractic care is a great way to avoid chronic pain after a crash.

It's important to remember that research has also found that delaying care after a car crash can adversely affect recovery time, so getting in to see Gadsden Family Chiropractic at the earliest opportunity is key to having a speedier recovery.

We Can Help Patients Find Comfort From Pain After a Car Collision

Gadsden Family Chiropractic has worked with many auto injury sufferers, and we're here to help you, too. Call our Gadsden, AL office today for more information or an appointment.

Sources

• Association for Safe International Road Travel. Retrieved from http://asirt.org/initiatives/informing-road-users/road-safety-facts/road-crash-statistics
• Dies S & Strapp J. (1992, September). Chiropractic treatment of patients in motor vehicle accidents: a statistical analysis. The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, 36(3), 139-145.
• Woodward M et al. (1996, November). Chiropractic treatment of chronic 'whiplash' injuries. Injury, 27(9), 643-645.