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In our Springfield, MA office, it's common for us to see people struggling with sciatica, and Dr. Michael Delson has helped many of these people heal with chiropractic. What makes chiropractic care so beneficial to those who suffer with sciatica? For starters, it shortens their recovery time and a Norwegian medical study confirms it.

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

The researchers found that all but two patients returned to their jobs after receiving chiropractic care, which is a 95% success rate. Furthermore, the average amount of time that the individuals spent off work "was reduced by two thirds as compared with that associated with conventional medical treatment."

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

If you live in Springfield, MA and you suffer with sciatica pain, Dr. Michael Delson is here to help. Give us a call at (413) 788-4464 and we'll work with you to find the root cause of your sciatic pain and get you back on the road to recovery.

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

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

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps With Neck Pain and Headaches

For many years, patients with neck and headache pain in Springfield, MA have been helped by the chiropractic care of Dr. Michael Delson. Our experience is backed up by a recent review done in Canada that found that non-surgical, non-drug treatments are the best choice for neck and headache pain.

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

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

We Can Help Patients Find Comfort From Neck Pain and Headaches

If you're struggling with neck pain or headaches, Dr. Michael Delson and our staff are here to help you feel better. Give our Springfield, MA office a call today at (413) 788-4464 for an appointment today.

Reference

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

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

Dr. Michael Delson sees a lot of people in our Springfield, MA office who are struggling with frequent, reoccurring headaches. Thankfully, chiropractic adjustments can usually help, potentially reducing these types of headaches by 50%, and research confirms it.

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

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

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

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

Dr. Michael Delson has helped many people who were suffering from headache pain in our Springfield, MA office. Call us today at (413) 788-4464 for more information or for an appointment.

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

Dr. Michael Delson sees many people weekly in our busy Springfield, MA chiropractic office who are looking for relief from the pain and agony they feel due to herniated discs. Our experience isn't unique; the medical research verifies that chiropractic is a successful way to treat herniated disc pain.

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

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

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

Each person was seen four or five times per week for the first two weeks, then three times weekly, and then as needed for the remainder of the study. Depending on the extent of the disc herniation, therapy ranged anywhere from six weeks to six months, with MRIs being performed at a variety of stages to identify what effect, if any, the chiropractic care was having in regard to the disc herniation.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Back Pain and Herniated Disc

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

If you have a herniated disc and suffer from chronic back pain and are near Dr. Michael Delson in Springfield, MA, contact our office today to see what chiropractic can do for you!

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

In our Springfield, MA practice, we see a large number of people who are dealing with back pain, and a few of these people have been informed they might need surgery to recover. Thankfully, Dr. Michael Delson has helped many people get pain relief without the need for any type of surgical treatment. The scientific literature confirms the results we see in our office. One medical study published in the medical journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first step in overcoming with your back pain may actually keep you off of the operating table.

In this report, medical researchers from Dartmouth analyzed data from about 1,900 workers from the state of Washington who first saw either an orthopedic surgeon or a chiropractor for their back pain issues. They then examined three years' worth of follow-up medical information to ascertain whether the patients wound up having back surgery in an attempt to treat the problem.

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

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

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

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

The Risks of Surgery

Any surgery has risks, but a serious problem associated with spine surgery is that there is a very high rate of failure. In an important review 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. Michael Delson 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 research studies have established the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Springfield, MA and you need care for your back pain, give our office a call today at (413) 788-4464 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.
  

Back Pain is a common condition after a car accident, and it's something that Dr. Michael Delson sees often in our Springfield, MA office. Your chiropractor can be very helpful for back pain symptoms after a crash. Let's see what causes back pain and why chiropractic works.

During a rear-end auto collision, your car and car seat are quickly accelerated forward against your body. Since car seats don't perfectly align with the curvature of your spinal column, the car seat can put uneven pressure on your lower back. This can cause some of your spinal vertebrae to move in one direction while an adjacent vertebrae might move in another direction. This differential movement can sprain or strain the tissues that hold your spine together. This kind of injury can cause chronic back pain if not treated right away. Fortunately, chiropractic is one of the most effective ways to treat back pain.

Dr. Michael Delson is here in Springfield, MA to help you recover from back pain. We've been helping patients since 1996 and we can probably help you, too. First, we'll do a careful examination to determine the root cause of your pain, and then decide how to restore your body's natural functioning. Give our office a call today at (413) 788-4464 to make an appointment.

Since trauma to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is often rather painful, we do our best to help our Springfield, MA patients find relief as quickly and effectively as possible. In fact, Dr. Michael Delson will tell you that the medical research shows just how much chiropractic can help ease discomfort in the TMJ.

For example, one study published in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice involved 15 people with temporomandibular disorders who were managed with neck adjustments, middle-back adjustments, and trigger point therapy via dry needling. Individuals were assessed prior to these methods and at 15 days and two months post-treatment. The clinicians reported positive results such as reduced pain, greater jaw movement, and lower disability at both follow-ups.

Another group of researchers conducted a review of almost 800 studies involving manual and manipulative therapy for disorders such as TMJ and found similar results. They concluded that there is a "fair...level of evidence" that chiropractic care can help ease discomfort associated with jaw pain and other upper extremity disorders.

This is great news since the origins of TMJ are largely unknown. While trauma to the jaw or neck can cause pain symptoms, there are other factors to consider as well, such as bruxism, osteoarthritis, and clenching of the jaw due to tension.

No matter what is making your jaw hurt, call Dr. Michael Delson today and schedule an appointment to come into our Springfield, MA location. We'll do our best to help you smile pain-free!

Studies

• Gonzalez-Iglesias J et al. (2013, November). Mobilization with movement, thoracic spine manipulation, and dry needling for the management of temporomandibular disorder: a prospective case series. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice;29(8):586-95
• Brantingham J et al. (2013, March-April). Manipulative and multimodal therapy for upper extremity and temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics;36(3):143-201
• Oral Care. WebMD. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/temporomandibular-disorders-tmd on November 2, 2015

We come across a lot of sports injuries in our Springfield, MA office, and Dr. Michael Delson is generally able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital states that more than 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and below are injured each year while playing sports. Add that to the almost 2 million adults injured annually 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 necessity of preventing these sorts of common injuries. One approach to potentially realize that goal, as stated in a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to receive routine chiropractic treatments.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg injuries are common, often sidelining the players and affecting their team's chance at securing a win. One particular study was conducted using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see how well chiropractic could cut down on these injuries and help keep them playing.

For this study particularly, every one of the volunteers was given medical treatment. Additionally, half of them also were given chiropractic treatments at the rate of one treatment per week for the first six weeks, biweekly sessions for the following three months, and one treatment each month for the last three months of the study. The other group had no chiropractic intervention whatsoever and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic.

After 24 matches, scientists noticed a reduced number of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had received chiropractic care. Additionally, that same group also missed fewer matches related to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to conclude that chiropractic ought to be made an addition to sports training programs to dramatically reduce the amount of leg injuries.

If you or your child are active in sports and you would like to make sure more time is dedicated on the field as opposed to on the sidelines, call our Springfield, MA office at (413) 788-4464 and make 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 experience painful ailments like frozen shoulder syndrome at some point in their lives. That makes shoulder-related pain a common problem and one that Dr. Michael Delson sees in our Springfield, MA office on a regular basis.

By and large, 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 stretching can sometimes help alleviate the pain, so too can chiropractic care.

For example, a study published 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 authors found that nearly all of the patients fared very well with chiropractic care. Here are the results:

• 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 demonstrate just how beneficial chiropractic care can be when it comes to decreasing shoulder pain and improving quality of life.

Let Dr. Michael Delson help you ease your pain by contacting our Springfield, MA 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. Michael Delson works with countless sciatica patients here in our Springfield, MA office, and many of these patients were afraid that they might require surgery to alleviate their pain. The latest research reveals that a large number of people don't require surgery for this common problem, and that chiropractic is more effective at resolving sciatic nerve pain.

A typical surgery for sciatica is microdiscectomy, and in a 2010 study, researchers examined 80 women and men with sciatica who were referred for this operation.

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

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

Simply put, chiropractic provided the same positive benefits as surgery without needing to endure the greater amounts of surgery-based pain or suffer through extended recovery times often affiliated with that specific treatment choice. Plus, you also don't run the risks linked to 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 Springfield, MA and you're being affected by back pain or sciatica, give Dr. Michael Delson a call today at (413) 788-4464. 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.