Recent Posts

According to research, approximately 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 occurrence and one that Dr. Messerschmidt sees in our Juneau, AK office on a regular basis.

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps With Shoulder Pain

By and large, this condition 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 sometimes help alleviate the discomfort, so too can chiropractic care.

For example, one study published 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 nearly all of the study participants fared extremely 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 of the original 50 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 increasing quality of life.

We Can Help People Find Relief From Shoulder Pain

Let Dr. Messerschmidt help you ease your suffering by contacting our Juneau, AK 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. Messerschmidt works with many sciatica patients here in our Juneau, AK office, and quite a few of these patients were concerned that they might need surgery to eliminate their pain. The latest research reveals that a large number of people don't need surgery for this common issue, and that chiropractic is more beneficial at resolving sciatic nerve pain.

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

Forty patients were then randomly sorted into one of two groups. The first group was to receive surgical microdiscectomy and the second group received chiropractic care.

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

Simply put, chiropractic offered the same positive advantages as surgery without having to undergo the increased amounts of surgery-based pain or suffer through lengthy recovery times often affiliated with that specific treatment choice. Additionally, you also don't run the risks linked to surgical microdiscectomy, including nerve root damage, bowel or bladder incontinence, bleeding, or infection.

Surgery ought to be the last option for sciatica pain. If you live in Juneau, AK and you're being affected by back pain or sciatica, give Dr. Messerschmidt a call today at (907) 789-1344. We'll help determine the source 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 pregnancy and back pain go hand in hand, they are often surprised when they learn that this is not necessarily the case. In fact, chiropractic adjustments can often help reduce persistant back pain for pregnant women by as much as 85%.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Back Pain and Pregnancy

In our busy Juneau, AK chiropractic office, it isn't uncommon for pregnant women to reach out to Dr. Messerschmidt for help relieving their back pain.

One piece of research 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 benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy. Not only does it efficiently 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 drugs or undergoing any type of treatment that could potentially harm your unborn child.

Dr. Messerschmidt Can Help Clients Find Relief From Back Pain During Pregnancy

Additionally, it makes your time spent carrying your baby more pleasant. When you're not distracted 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.

You don't have to suffer from back pain during pregnancy. We're here in Juneau, AK to help with natural chiropractic care. Give us a call today at (907) 789-1344 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. What's more, neck pain is the third most documented type of pain, beat out only by lower back pain and headache.

As a result, a lot of people come to our Juneau, AK office looking for neck pain treatment, and Dr. Messerschmidt has helped many of them find relief. This is a smart choice, as some research shows that over 90% of neck pain patients improve with chiropractic.

Studies Confirm Chiropractic's Positive Effects

A report published in The Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy involved 64 men and women who were suffering with neck pain. Roughly half were placed in an experimental group and the other half were assigned to a comparison group. Both were given chiropractic adjustments of the neck as well as a home exercise plan, while the experimental group also received thoracic spine adjustments.

Data was collected before treatment began and one week post-treatment. Researchers 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, illustrating that evaluating 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 dealing with neck pain. Each person was randomly assigned to one of two groups--thoracic spine thrust manipulation or non-thrust manipulation--with examinations occurring two and four days after the treatments.

Researchers found that the study participants who received the thrust manipulations (the same adjustments that offered such positive results in the first study) "experienced greater reductions in disability" than the group that 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

Another study even found the same type of positive results after thoracic adjustments in a woman who had a failed neck surgical treatment. This particular case involved a 46-year-old woman 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 adjustments. 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 improved as well, with a rating score that represented that it was a "great deal better."

It is scientific studies like these that substantiate the advantages of chiropractic techniques, even if you've already attempted neck surgery 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 relief you're looking for.

Our office is in Juneau, AK and Dr. Messerschmidt can help you recover from neck pain. Give us a call today at (907) 789-1344.

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.
  

Massage has been used for thousands of years as a natural pain relief approach. We use massage therapy in our Juneau, AK office, as it works great in conjunction with the chiropractic care that Dr. Messerschmidt provides. Massage treatment does much more than just feel great. It also offers many benefits as well. Some are physical and others are psychological, and here are medically documented benefits:

• Pain reduction (back, neck, shoulder, legs, arm, and headache pain)
• Increased range of motion and mobility
• Improved blood flow
• Improved immune system function
• Enhanced sports performance
• Reduced depression or anxiety
• Increased levels of energy
• Lower levels of fatigue
• Improved sleep
• Easier labor and delivery for expecting mothers
• Fewer stretch marks
• Reduced scar tissue

We Can Help Clients Find Relief From Neck Pain and Headaches with Massage Therapy

Benefits such as these have been discovered to be especially helpful for individuals who suffer with chronic conditions such as arthritis and asthma. Therapeutic massage has also proven advantageous for burn injury patients, people with higher than healthy blood pressure, and women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome. Even preterm infants have shown benefits with massage therapy as they have better levels of weight gain.

To learn more about the massage therapy services we offer in Juneau, AK, give our office a call today at (907) 789-1344.

Knee pain is a frequent problem for people in our Juneau, AK chiropractic practice, and Dr. Messerschmidt has happily provided many of these men and women relief. This is largely because chiropractic care has been found to help with many forms of knee pain.

For example, some patients experience pain in and around the knee tissues due to degenerative arthritis. Research has demonstrated that this ailment responds very well to chiropractic--and rather quickly, too. In fact, one study published in The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association found that men and women with osteoarthritis in their knees felt considerable pain relief and improved function after just two weeks of chiropractic care.

If your knee pain is as a result of a medial meniscus tear, chiropractic could likely help with that as well. One study found 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 correct the issue, and if that's the case, chiropractic can also help improve the outcome. How?

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Knee Pain

Medical research has shown that patients 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 healing.

No matter what your knee issue, Dr. Messerschmidt can likely help. Call our Juneau, AK practice 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

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

Dr. Messerschmidt sees a lot of people in our Juneau, AK 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.

Research Supports 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 goal was to discover how effective chiropractic was for this type of head pain, as well as to determine the number of treatment sessions required to achieve a positive effect.

The individuals 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 group received double that amount.

Each patient 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, individuals who were taking medications for their headaches were able to lower their intake after completing the study. Those who received chiropractic adjustments had lower medication usage 24 weeks post-study.

We Can Help People Find Relief From Head Pain

Dr. Messerschmidt has helped many people who were suffering from headaches in our Juneau, AK office. Call us today at (907) 789-1344 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.

We see a large number of folks with headaches in our Juneau, AK office, and Dr. Messerschmidt has been able to aid many of them. Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 50% of all adults have difficulty with some kind of headache problem, so this certainly isn’t shocking. One of the most typical varieties of headaches that our patients suffer from is cervicogenic headache which, luckily, chiropractic can generally help.

Cervicogenic Headaches Explained

A cervicogenic headache is one that comes from problems in the cervical spine. It might be thanks to a problem with either the spine itself (in particular, the vertebrae, joints, or discs), or it could be brought on by a problem in the muscles and tendons of your neck. This problem in your spine creates constriction or aggravation of the spinal nerves, which can generate headache pain.

How do you identify if the headache you are suffering from is a cervicogenic headache? Aside from receiving a diagnosis from a healthcare specialist, a frequent symptom of cervicogenic headaches is tenderness or discomfort in your neck. This is sometimes combined with pain in the back of your head or between your shoulder blades.

How Chiropractic Helps

Considering cervicogenic headaches will not subside until whatever problem is inducing them is remedied, it is essential to get treatment instead of just trying to "wait it out." Chiropractic care is an effective solution, and one that can provide a great deal of relief.

In one study circulated in Chiropractic & Osteopathy, researchers followed 80 people who had recurrent cervicogenic headaches. Fifty percent received chiropractic care and the other 50% engaged in light massage therapy. Each participant was examined 12 and 24 weeks after the treatment and it was discovered that chiropractic offered the most beneficial results.

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

To find out what Dr. Messerschmidt 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 many patients in our Juneau, AK office with ankle sprains but Dr. Messerschmidt 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), an estimated 25,000 men and women 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 frequent 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 exercises that increase the risk for this type of ankle sprain include running and jumping. You're also at risk if you have previous ankle injuries, poor posture or balance, weak muscles, and reduced range of motion.

How Can Chiropractic Treatments and Dr. Messerschmidt Help?

A paper printed in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics set out to discover chiropractic's role when it comes to ankle sprain recovery. The authors recruited 33 people between the ages of 18 and 45 who had a history of ankle inversion sprains, who were reporting tenderness and/or pain, and had not re-injured the ankle in the previous six weeks.

Eighteen of the participants were assigned to receive rehabilitation and the other 15 patients received chiropractic in addition to rehabilitation. Each person had five full weeks of treatment, with the rehab group receiving therapies seven days a week and the rehab plus chiropractic group receiving therapy six out of the seven days.

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps With Ankle Sprains

Researchers found that the people who participated in both rehab and chiropractic fared the best at the 4-week mark when it came to pain and joint restriction. Additionally, no negative effects were reported, showing that this treatment option is safe.

If you're near our office in Juneau, AK and you're recovering from an ankle injury, give us a call. We'll do what we can to keep you up and running... literally!

References

• 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 with fibromyalgia, you are not alone, as Dr. Messerschmidt sees many people with this particular condition in our Juneau, AK chiropractic office. Actually, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that roughly two percent of all adults in the US have fibromyalgia. Thankfully, chiropractic care is one treatment option that can provide positive results.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps Fibromyalgia

In a medical study published in mid-2015, 215 women and men with fibromyalgia were assessed based on factors ranging from pain to quality of sleep to the levels of depression symptoms and anxiety they felt. Then they were split into two groups with one group receiving a multi-modal therapy program for three months and the second group receiving the same program plus chiropractic adjustments (specifically, to the upper neck tissues) for the same length of time.

The subjects who received chiropractic care in addition to the multi-disciplinary therapy program reported greater results in all areas (pain, sleep, depression, and anxiety) at 12 weeks post-treatment when compared to the study patients who received multi-modal therapy without chiropractic. Furthermore, those positive outcomes were lasting as the individuals reported continued improvement one full year later.

Fibromyalgia can greatly 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. Messerschmidt can do for your fibromyalgia pain, call our Juneau, AK chiropractic office today.

References

• 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.