Knee pain is a common issue for patients in our Shawnee chiropractic practice, and Dr. Isom has successfully provided many of these folks relief. This is largely because chiropractic care has been found to help with many types of knee pain.

For instance, some people feel pain in and around the knee area due to osteoarthritis. Research has proven 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 people with osteoarthritis in their knees felt significant pain relief and improved function after just two weeks of chiropractic care.

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

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

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps With Knee Pain

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

No matter what your knee issue, Dr. Isom can likely help. Call our Shawnee office today and find out what we can do for you!

References

• 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 people with headaches in our Shawnee office, and Dr. Isom has been able to support many of them. Actually, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that 50% of all adults deal with some type of headache disorder, so this really isn’t a surprise. One of the most common sorts of headaches that our patients suffer from is cervicogenic headache which, luckily, chiropractic can often help.

What is a Cervicogenic Headache?

A cervicogenic headache is one that originates from an issue in the cervical spine. It can be attributable to an issue with either the spine itself (primarily, the vertebrae, joints, or discs), or it might be because of a problem in the muscles and tendons of your neck. This dysfunction in your spine leads to compaction or irritation of the spinal nerves, which can bring about headache pain.

How do you know if the headache you are struggling with is a cervicogenic headache? Besides obtaining a diagnosis from a healthcare specialist, a frequent symptom of cervicogenic headaches is tenderness or discomfort in your neck. This is occasionally coupled with pain in the back of your head or between your shoulder blades.

How Chiropractic Helps

Since cervicogenic headaches will not subside until whatever problem is inducing them is remedied, it is important to get treatment rather than just trying to "wait it out." Chiropractic care is an effective approach, and one that offers a great deal of headache pain relief.

In one study reported in Chiropractic & Osteopathy, specialists followed 80 people who had recurring cervicogenic headaches. Half received chiropractic care and the other fifty percent underwent light massage therapy. Each participant was examined 12 and 24 weeks after the treatment and it was found that chiropractic delivered the best results.

In particular, this study uncovered that chiropractic adjustments offered patients better pain relief and lessened the frequency of headaches that occurred. In addition to that, it also reduced the disability that resulted from these painful headaches.

To find out what Dr. Isom 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 a number of patients in our Shawnee office with ankle sprains but Dr. Isom has had a lot of success helping them recover more quickly. Why are ankle sprains so common and how can chiropractic help?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), approximately 25,000 people in the US sprain their ankles daily. 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 occur due to one forceful movement, or it can develop over a period of time, and activities that increase the risk for this type of ankle sprain include running and jumping. You're also at risk if you have past ankle injuries, poor posture or balance, weak muscles, and reduced range of motion.

How Can Chiropractic Treatments and Dr. Isom Help?

A report printed in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics set out to determine chiropractic's role when it comes to ankle sprain recovery. Researchers enrolled 33 people 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.

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

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Ankle Sprains

The study found that the people who had both rehabilitation and chiropractic fared the best at the 4-week mark when it came to pain and joint restriction. Also, no negative effects were reported, showing that chiropractic is safe.

If you're near our office in Shawnee 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!

Sources

• 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 suffer from fibromyalgia, you are not alone, as Dr. Isom sees many people with this particular problem in our Shawnee chiropractic practice. In 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 paper published in mid-2015, 215 women and men 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 plan for three months and the second group receiving the same program plus chiropractic adjustments (specifically, to the upper neck area) for the same length of time.

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

Fibromyalgia can significantly decrease your quality of life, both mentally and physically. If you're dealing with fibromyalgia, we might be able to help.

You don't have to suffer! To see what Dr. Isom can do for your fibromyalgia pain, call our Shawnee 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, quite a few of our Shawnee patients know the pain caused by a herniated disc all too well. On a positive note, Dr. Isom has helped many people with disc pain, and a number of medical studies have confirmed that chiropractic care can help patients recover from this kind of condition.

Research on Herniated Discs and Chiropractic

In one study, researchers 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 individual then received chiropractic adjustments that focused on the area of his or her disc herniation.

Data was gathered after the initial treatment session at set intervals--namely, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year--to establish what type of short-term and long-term effects, if any, chiropractic care offers when it comes to treating this particular condition. Among the information gathered was the person'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 reported that their pain "improved" within the first three months, with 88% still citing improvement one year after their first treatment session.

Even those test subjects 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 Shows that Chiropractic Benefits Chronic Disc Herniation Symptoms

In this study, a 26-year-old man had presented with disc herniation symptoms such as pain in the lower back, left leg, and left groin area, along with left foot drop and muscle weakness. He had suffered with these problems for more than two years after sustaining an athletic 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 experiencing 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 treating the symptoms they cause. So, if you are suffering from back pain caused by a herniated disc and want to find some relief, chiropractic may be an effective solution.

Don't suffer from chronic herniated disc pain. Give our Shawnee office a call today at (913) 735-9565 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.
  

Dr. Isom sees a lot of patients struggling with carpal tunnel syndrome in our busy Shawnee chiropractic office. While some people think that the source of this wrist-related pain is muscular, it's actually a condition that stems from the nerves--and not just the nerves in your hands.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

A recent study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy evaluated 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 discovered that the patients had less cervical mobility when compared to a healthy control group.

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

This study is extremely important, as you cannot effectively address a condition until you fully understand its source. By recognizing that the root of carpal tunnel pain is in the neck, this means that all-natural approaches such as chiropractic can often restore normal function, eliminating the need for risky surgery.

We Can Help Clients Find Comfort From Carpal Tunnel

If you suffer with carpal tunnel pain, call our Shawnee office and ask how Dr. Isom can help you get relief!

Research Studies

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 a number of back pain patients in our Shawnee practice, and Dr. Isom has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical care, as many people use both types of care with great success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with Each Other

In a report published by the academic journal Spine researchers¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who reported both acute pain and restricted function due to back symptoms. Some of the study participants received treatment via standard medical therapy, while the remainder were given chiropractic adjustments together with standard medical care, as researchers wanted to determine which patients fared better.

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

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

Where Chiropractic Care Pulls Ahead

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

According to the experts, the main aspects that patients liked over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't surprising, 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 explaining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic.

Chiropractic Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical therapy, but a great deal of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and well-being. Instead of focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves finding the primary cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

Additionally, while medication is sometimes helpful for treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach such as chiropractic. This means fewer negative responses to prescriptions and more permanent results.

You don't have to endure back pain or other health issues. Give our Shawnee office a call today at (913) 735-9565. We'll do our best to help you get and remain 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.

We work with many car accident cases in in our Shawnee office, and a widespread symptom we see in our patients is shoulder pain. Chiropractic care can be very helpful for shoulder pain symptoms after a crash. Let's see what causes shoulder pain and why chiropractic works.

There are at least two different ways that you can get shoulder pain after a car crash: by direct injury to the shoulder joint or by radiating pain from the neck.

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

More frequently, Dr. Isom finds that shoulder or arm pain does not immediately appear after a crash, but begins a few days or weeks after the injury. This type of shoulder pain actually starts in the neck. Injured soft tissue in your neck can tweak nerves in your neck, causing tingling, numbness, or soreness in your shoulder, elbow, or wrist.

We've worked with many types of shoulder pain in our Shawnee office. This treatment involves chiropractic adjustments to restore your spine's natural flexibility and exercises that strengthen your neck and shoulder.

Dr. Isom has been helping patients in Shawnee since 2015, so we know what you're experiencing. We're here to help you, too. First, we'll do a careful evaluation 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 (913) 735-9565 to make an appointment.

Asthma is a significant worry for many people in Shawnee and for a society as a whole, since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that this condition currently affects almost 19 million adults and 7 million kids in the US. A full-blown asthma attack likely means a hospital visit. Fortunately, Dr. Isom has helped many folks in Shawnee get relief from asthma symptoms.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Asthma

The scientific literature confirms what we see in our office. For example, a paper published in Clinical and Experimental Allergy evaluated 31 adult asthma patients after receiving four weeks of chiropractic treatments. The researchers found that the patients who received chiropractic adjustments had a 34% decrease in asthma symptoms.

The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics printed another asthma-based study, except this one involved kids. In this paper, the 36 patients ranged from 6 to 17 years in age and their asthma was regarded as either mild or moderate in severity.

After 12 weeks of chiropractic care, as a whole, the children reported a higher quality of life and a reduced level of severity. As a bonus, they also reported that they depended less on their bronchodilator and these positive effects were still being demonstrated one year after chiropractic care was finished.

We Can Help People Find Comfort From Asthma

So, whether you're 8 or 80, if you have symptoms of asthma, be sure to contact Dr. Isom in Shawnee and schedule an appointment today. We'll do what we can to help you breathe easier!

Sources

• Asthma. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Bronfort G et al. (2001, July-August). Chronic pediatric asthma and spinal manipulation: a prospective clinical series and randomized clinical pilot study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics;24(6):369-77
• Nielsen N et al. (1995, January). Chronic asthma and chiropractic spinal manipulation: a randomized clinical trial. Clinical and Experimental Allergy;25(1):80-8

Approximately 2.3 million people are injured each year in automobile accidents in the U.S. While most people are able to heal from their injuries fairly easily, many folks are left to deal with chronic pain and disability. We see many of these patients here in our Shawnee office. Thankfully, Dr. Isom is here to help you recover from your auto injury.

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps Prevent Chronic Pain After an Auto Accident

The science confirms what we see in our office: A British study was conducted on 28 individuals diagnosed with chronic whiplash syndrome. Each participant received chiropractic care and 93 percent of them experienced improvements 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 note that research has also found that delaying treatment after a car crash can adversely affect healing time, so getting in to see Dr. Isom as soon as possible is key to having a speedier recovery.

We Can Help Clients Find Relief From Pain After a Car Accident

Dr. Isom has worked with many auto injury sufferers, and we're here to help you, too. Call our Shawnee 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.