Recent Posts

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

Research Supports 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 reduced cervical mobility when compared to a healthy control group.

Furthermore, they also discovered that the degree of the women's reported carpal tunnel pain was connected to the lateral flexion of the cervical spine. In short, the less flexibility in the neck area, the greater the level of pain.

This research is extremely important, as you can't successfully treat a problem until you fully understand its cause. By understanding 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 operations.

We Can Help People Find Comfort From Carpal Tunnel

If you have carpal tunnel pain, call our Gresham, OR location and ask how Dr. Ramsey 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.

Chiropractic Better Than Drugs for Back Pain

In our Gresham, OR practice, Dr. Ramsey has helped countless patients recover from back problems. If you are dealing with back pain, you've most likely been tempted to take some medications to relieve the discomfort. You should know that research shows that chiropractic care is often a better alternative than drugs when it comes to relieving this specific type of problem.

In a 2013 study published in the journal Spine experts included 101 individuals who had suffered back pain for more than 48 hours. Each person was then designated to one of three groups. The first group, which consisted of 37 people, received chiropractic care and a placebo of the non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac. The second group of 38 participants received sham chiropractic treatments and the actual drug. The third group of 25 individuals served as the control as those individuals engaged in sham chiropractic care and also received the placebo, thus having no real treatment whatsoever.

All of the subjects who received some type of actual treatment, whether through chiropractic or the NSAID, fared better than the control group who had no actual care. However, when the two active groups were compared to one another, the people who received chiropractic care had improvements that were "significantly better" than those who took the medications.

Chiropractic: Natural Healing

Because chiropractic care is non-invasive and doesn't use drugs, it helps enhance healing without undesirable side effects. For instance, NSAIDs can result in ulcers, hypertension, and other serious health concerns. Plus, the benefits of chiropractic last longer as it's purpose designed to resolve the source of the spinal interference, not just treat the symptoms.

If you're ready to get help for your back pain naturally, then chiropractic care is for you. Schedule an appointment in our Gresham, OR office with Dr. Ramsey today at (503) 667-6744. We'll help ease your back problems in a healthy way!

References

von Heymann WJ, Schloemer P, Timm J, Muehlbauer B. Spinal high-velocity low amplitude manipulation in acute nonspecific low back pain: a double-blind randomized controlled trial in comparison with diclofenac and placebo. Spine 2013;38(7):540-548.

Many people suffer with headache pain, and tension headaches are a frequent problem in our busy lives. Postural problems and stress are common causes of tension headaches, and ones that Dr. Ramsey and the staff here in our Gresham, OR chiropractic office have a lot of experience in treating.

Research Supports Chiropractic Eases Tension Headaches

The scientific literature verifies our results: A 2016 study from Spain managed a group of 76 patients with chronic tension headaches. The participants were divided into four treatment groups: 19 patients were treated with suboccipital inhibition (the therapist presses on the tight tissues at the top of the spine); 19 with chiropractic adjustments; 19 with both adjustments and suboccipital inhibition; and 19 received no treatment.

The researchers reported that the spinal adjustments were effective at relieving pain, and that the best results were found when adjustments were coupled with the suboccipital inhibition.

When we get stressed, the nerves and tissues in the neck can be disrupted, resulting in pain. Chiropractic works by getting rid of these stresses and restoring the normal nerve function to the tissues.

We're Here to Help Clients Find Help From Tension Headaches

If you live in Gresham, OR and are dealing with any kind of headache, we're here to help you get relief. Call Dr. Ramsey today at (503) 667-6744 for an appointment or more information.

Citation

Espi-Lopez GV, Rodriguez-Blanco C, Oliva-Pascual-Vaca A, et al. Do manual therapy techniques have a positive effect on quality of life in people with tension-type headache? A randomized controlled trial. European Journal of Physical Rehabilitation Medicine 2016; February 29.

Chiropractic is centered on the approach of aiding your body to heal naturally through spinal adjustments and lifestyle changes that stimulate overall health. For Dr. Ramsey, this means working to restore your body's normal performance to avoid the need for medications or surgical treatments. We find that many of our Gresham, OR patients are pleased to find a natural approach for their health conditions.

One benefit of chiropractic care is that it helps people reduce or eliminate the use of drug treatments. Medications are commonly supplied to people who have back soreness. This is such a serious crisis that the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) issued a report stating that opioid (painkiller) risks overshadow the benefits when administered for back pain.

Some of the most popular narcotics, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, include hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (OxyContin and Percocet), morphine, and codeine. Data offered by the AAN mention the fact that roughly half of the people taking these types of substances for a period of three months are still taking them five years down the road. This can further complicate the problem of back pain and recovery, especially if an narcotic dependency arises.

Contrast that to chiropractic care which features natural healing and the advantages are obvious. While a drug might be useful at temporarily relieving the symptoms of a health condition, it's not a long-term solution to the problem. A drug won't fix your damaged back; it will only mask the pain.

Dr. Ramsey will first examine you to get to the origin of your back problems and then work with you to eliminate the problem -- without any risky drugs.

If you're ready for relief, naturally, give our Gresham, OR office a call at (503) 667-6744 to make an appointment with Dr. Ramsey.

References

• Risk of opioids outweigh benefits for headache, low back pain, other conditions. American Academy of Neurology;September 29, 2014.
• What are opioids? National Institute on Drug Abuse. Retrieved from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/prescription-drugs/opioids/what-are-opioids

In our Gresham, OR practice, it isn't uncommon for us to see patients troubled with sciatica, and Dr. Ramsey has helped many of them recover with chiropractic. What makes chiropractic care so useful to those who suffer with this condition? For starters, it reduces their time of recovery and a Norwegian medical study confirms it.

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps With Sciatica Pain

In the report, which took place in a Norwegian hospital's orthopedic department, the authors looked at 44 patients who reported sudden low back pain that was identified as acute sciatic nerve pain. The participants were all treated by a chiropractor, with the mean follow-up being two years after treatment.

The authors found that all but two patients went back to their jobs after receiving chiropractic treatment, which is a 95% success rate. What's more, the average length of time that the patients 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 170,450 days of work were lost in 2013 due to employees dealing with back or spine-related issues, that is about 112,500 work days that could potentially be recovered each and every year solely by receiving chiropractic care. Not only would that increase work productivity, but it would also reduce costs to businesses and workers from lost work.

We Can Help People Find Relief From Sciatica

If you live in Gresham, OR and you suffer with sciatic pain, Dr. Ramsey is here to help. Give us a call at (503) 667-6744 and we'll work with you to find the root cause of your sciatic pain and get you back on the road to health.

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 people around the world. If you suffer from this type of issue, you're not alone. The good news is that chiropractic care is an excellent way to not only treat these common problems, but also help prevent future episodes.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps With Neck Pain and Headaches

For many years, people with neck and headache pain in Gresham, OR have been helped by the chiropractic adjustments of Dr. Ramsey. Our experience is supported 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 review looked at 15 studies from 1990 to 2015 and found that conservative treatment comprised of chiropractic adjustments, exercises, and stretches was recommended before turning to drugs or more invasive treatments.

Previous 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 troubled with neck pain or headaches, Dr. Ramsey and our staff are here to help you feel better. Give our Gresham, OR office a call today at (503) 667-6744 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. Ramsey sees a lot of patients in our Gresham, OR office who are suffering with frequent, reoccurring headaches. Fortunately, chiropractic can usually help, potentially reducing these types of headaches by 50 percent, and research confirms it.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Cervicogenic Headaches

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 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 divided 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 double 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.

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

We Can Help Patients Find Relief From Head Pain

Dr. Ramsey has helped many patients who were suffering from headaches in our Gresham, OR office. Call us today at (503) 667-6744 for more information or for an appointment.

Reference

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.

In our Gresham, OR practice, we see plenty of people who are struggling with back pain, and some of these patients have been advised they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Ramsey has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of surgical treatment. The scientific literature agrees with the results we see in our office. One research study published in the academic journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first move in dealing with your back problems may actually keep you off of the operating table.

In this scientific study, medical professionals from Dartmouth analyzed statistics from about 1,900 workers from Washington state who first saw either an orthopedic surgeon or a chiropractic doctor for their back pain issues. They then used three years' worth of follow-up medical records to ascertain whether the patients ended up having back surgery in an attempt to correct the problem.

What the authors found was that 42.7% of the individuals who first saw a surgeon for their back issues ended up with surgery in that 3-year time span, 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 remarkable outcomes. Consulting with a chiropractor considerably decreases your odds of getting back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this scientific study "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.

Let's also keep in mind this important point: this study was carried out by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most influential medical publication on spinal injury.

Surgery: The Last Resort

Any surgery has risks, but a serious problem linked to spinal surgery is that there's a very high failure rate. In an important analysis 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. Ramsey believes that surgery should be the absolute last choice for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without risky surgery or drugs--and many scientific studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Gresham, OR and you need care for your back pain, give our office a call today at (503) 667-6744 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.
  

We tend to a large number of patients in our Gresham, OR office, and Dr. Ramsey has helped many people manage a range of health challenges. However, the primary worry that seems to prevent some women and men from seeking care is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Fortunately, according to three separate studies (out of quite a few on the subject), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 women and men. Each participant reported suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic adjustments whereas the remaining patients were given two fake chiropractic treatments. Information was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to discover if any unfavorable side effects were caused by the actual chiropractic treatments.

Researchers found that none of the patients reported any serious negative side effects in any way after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some individuals did report that they had a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) after treatment, but the effects were not of a serious nature.

National Survey Reports that Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe

A second study(2), also released in the important journal, Spine, was done in an attempt to establish the safety of chiropractic care. The test group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Again, the investigators found no serious adverse side effects. The authors determined the risk of total side effects to be about 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the first study, some volunteers did report non-serious, milder, unwanted effects such as dizziness (16 out of every 1,000 treatment consultations and 15 out of every 1,000 treatment sessions) or a headache (4 out of every 100), and this prompted the authors to determine that "the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low."

Chiropractic Care Is Safe for Children

This third study(3) is unique from the first two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this case, the researchers analyzed results reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic adjustments.

Out of 5,438 chiropractic appointments made for the children, chiropractors answering the survey documented only three cases where there were adverse effects. When parents were questioned, they indicated only two adverse side effects out of 1,735 visits. Furthermore, both chiropractors and parents reported "a high rate of improvement with respect to the children's presenting complaints."

Based on these three studies (and many more!), chiropractic has been judged safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic can do for you, call our Gresham, OR clinic and schedule an appointment today at (503) 667-6744.

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.

According to experts, about 2-5 percent of the population will experience painful conditions like frozen shoulder syndrome at some time in their lives. That makes shoulder pain a common occurrence and one that Dr. Ramsey sees in our Gresham, OR practice on a regular basis.

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps With Shoulder Pain

By and large, this condition is more prevalent for people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, and it tends to affect women more often than men. While ice, heat, and gentle stretches can often times help relieve the pain, so too can chiropractic.

As an example, a study released in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine looked at 50 people with frozen shoulder who were given chiropractic care. The duration 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 demonstrate just how effective chiropractic can be when it comes to decreasing shoulder pain and increasing quality of life.

We Can Help Clients Find Comfort From Shoulder Pain

Let Dr. Ramsey help you relieve your suffering by contacting our Gresham, OR 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