Recent Posts

In our Rockville practice, it isn't uncommon for us to see people troubled with sciatica, and Dr. Aazami has helped many of these people heal with chiropractic. What makes chiropractic care so helpful to those who suffer with this condition? First off, it shortens their time of recovery and a Norwegian medical study confirms it.

In the article, which took place in a Norwegian hospital's orthopedic division, researchers looked at 44 patients who presented with abrupt low back pain that was diagnosed as acute sciatic nerve pain. The participants were all treated by a chiropractor, with the average follow-up being two years after treatment.

The authors found that all but two patients went back to work after receiving chiropractic treatment, which is a 95% success rate. Moreover, the average period of time that the individuals spent off work "was reduced by two thirds as compared with that associated with conventional medical treatment."

Considering that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that over 170,000 workdays were lost 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 might also decrease costs to businesses and employees from lost work.

If you live in Rockville and you suffer with sciatic pain, Dr. Aazami is here to assist. Give us a call at (240) 221-2666 and we'll work with you to find the source of your sciatica 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.

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

Dr. Aazami sees a lot of people in our Rockville office who are struggling with frequent headaches. Fortunately, chiropractic adjustments 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 goal 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 subjects 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 group 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.

We Can Help Patients Find Comfort From Head Pain

Dr. Aazami has helped many patients who were suffering from headache pain in our Rockville office. Call us today at (240) 221-2666 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 Rockville practice, we see many people who are troubled with back pain, and some of these people have been told they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Aazami has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of operation. The science confirms the results we see in our office. One medical study published in the journal Spine found that consulting with a chiropractor as your first move in overcoming with your back pain may literally keep you off of the operating table.

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

What the authors discovered was that 42.7% of the patients who first saw a surgeon for their back problems ended up with surgery in that 3-year time frame, whereas only 1.5 percent 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 results. Consulting with a chiropractor drastically reduces your odds of getting back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this report "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.

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

The Problems with Surgery

Any surgical procedure has risks, but a major problem associated with spine surgery is that there's a very high rate of failure. 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 authors of 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. Aazami is convinced that surgery should be the absolute last resort for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without the need of risky surgery or drugs--and many scientific studies have confirmed the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Rockville and you need relief for your back pain, give our office a call today at (240) 221-2666 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.
  

Neck pain is a common condition after an auto injury, and it's something that Dr. Aazami sees frequently in our Rockville office. Chiropractic care can be very helpful for neck pain symptoms after a crash. Let's examine what causes neck pain and why chiropractic works.

Your neck is subjected to very high stresses and strains during a collision, so it's not surprising that neck pain is so common from this type of injury. During even a low speed wreck, your head is subjected to very rapid acceleration. In such crashes, a head that normally weighs about 10 pounds can instantly weigh eight times as much. This force exerts a severe strain on the tissues of the cervical spine. The bones of your spinal column are held together with strong bands of tissue called ligaments, and these ligaments provide stability for your neck. These ligaments can be sprained during a collision, just as your ankle ligaments can be sprained. A sprain means that the ligament is stretched or torn.

When you experience a sprained ligament, the injured area become swollen and sore, and that's what happens after a car crash. Chiropractic helps by increasing flexibility in the injured region, which helps the tissues heal and helps decrease scar tissue.

Dr. Aazami is here in Rockville to help you recover from neck pain. We've been helping patients since 1995 and we can probably help you, too. First, we'll do a careful evaluation to establish the root cause of your pain, and then decide how to restore your body's natural functioning. Give our office a call today at (240) 221-2666 to make an appointment.

Since trauma to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is often quite painful, we do our best to help our Rockville patients find relief as quickly and effectively as possible. In fact, Dr. Aazami will tell you that the research shows just how much chiropractic can help ease pain in the jaw.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With TMJ Pain and Discomfort

For example, one study published in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice involved 15 patients with TMJ pain who were treated with neck adjustments, middle-back adjustments, and trigger point therapy via dry needling. Subjects were evaluated prior to these therapies and at two weeks and two months post-treatment. The clinicians reported positive results such as reduced pain, greater jaw mobility, and lower disability at both follow-ups.

Another research paper conducted an analysis of almost 800 studies involving manual and manipulative therapy for disorders such as TMJ and revealed similar results. The group concluded that there is a "fair...level of evidence" that chiropractic care can help ease discomfort associated with TMJ and other upper extremity disorders.

This is great news since the triggers of TMJ are largely unknown. While injury to the jaw area can cause pain symptoms, there are other sources to consider as well, such as grinding teeth, arthritis, and clenching of the jaw due to tension.

Dr. Aazami Can Help People Find Comfort From TMJ Pain

No matter what is making your jaw ache, call Dr. Aazami now and schedule an appointment to come into our Rockville location. We'll do our best to help you smile pain-free!

References

• 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 large number of sports injuries in our Rockville clinic, and Dr. Aazami is often able to help these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital reports that more than 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and younger are injured each year when playing sports. Add that to the nearly 2 million adults injured each year while engaged in sports-related activities, as reported by statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can begin to see the importance of preventing these sorts of widespread injuries. One way to possible achieve that goal, as stated in a study released in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to engage in routine chiropractic care.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg injuries are common, frequently sidelining the players and affecting their team's likelihood of winning. One specific study was administered using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see if chiropractic could diminish these injuries and help keep them in the game.

For this study particularly, all of the players was given medical treatment. Additionally, half of them also engaged in chiropractic treatments at the rate of 1 session each week for the first 6 weeks, biweekly sessions for the next three months, and one session each month for the last three months of the study. The remaining group were given no chiropractic intervention at all and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic care.

Following 24 matches, researchers reported a reduced amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had received chiropractic care. Additionally, that very group also missed fewer matches connected to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to come to the conclusion that chiropractic ought to be made an addition to sports training programs to dramatically reduce the number of leg injuries.

If you or your child plays sports and you would like to ensure greater time is dedicated on the field as opposed to on the sidelines, call our Rockville office at (240) 221-2666 and schedule 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 suffer from painful conditions like frozen shoulder syndrome at some time in their lives. That makes shoulder pain a common problem and one that Dr. Aazami sees in our Rockville practice on a regular basis.

In general, 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 stretching can often times help relieve the pain, so too can chiropractic adjustments.

For instance, 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 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 participant reported an improvement of 50 percent or less, so reports like this demonstrate just how effective chiropractic can be when it comes to decreasing shoulder pain and increasing quality of life.

Let Dr. Aazami help you ease your pain by contacting our Rockville 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. Aazami works with many sciatica patients here in our Rockville office, and many of these individuals were worried that they might need surgery to relieve their pain. The most recent research indicates that many people don't require surgery for this widespread issue, and that chiropractic is more successful at resolving sciatic nerve pain.

A popular surgery for sciatica is microdiscectomy, and in a 2010 study, specialists looked at 80 individuals with sciatica who were referred for this procedure.

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

Both groups got better; however, no noticeable difference in outcome was recorded one year post-treatment between either group. In addition, around sixty percent of the participating patients who could not find pain relief from any other treatment method "benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention."

In other words, chiropractic delivered the same positive benefits as surgery without needing to go through the higher levels of surgery-based pain or suffer through lengthy recovery times often affiliated with that specific treatment option. Additionally, you also don't run the risks linked to surgical microdiscectomy, including nerve root damage, bowel or bladder incontinence, bleeding, or infection.

Surgery should be the last resort for sciatica pain. If you live in Rockville and you're experiencing back pain or sciatica, give Dr. Aazami a call today at (240) 221-2666. 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.
  

While many women automatically assume that carrying a child and severe pain in the lower back go hand in hand, they are often surprised when they discover that this is not necessarily the case. In fact, chiropractic adjustments can often help relieve back pain for pregnant women by as much as 85%.

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

A research study published in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies involved 115 women who were pregnant (most of which were in their third trimester) and reported pain in their low back, 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 subsequent point in time, 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?

52% 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 medications or undergoing any type of treatment that could potentially harm your unborn child.

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 Rockville to help with natural chiropractic care. Give us a call today at (240) 221-2666 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 people in the US suffer with chronic pain than diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer combined. In addition, neck pain is the third most reported type of pain, beat out only by lower back pain and headaches.

Of course, a lot of people come to our Rockville office seeking neck pain care, and Dr. Aazami has helped many of them find relief. This is a smart decision, as some studies have shown that over 90% of neck pain patients get relief with chiropractic care.

Studies Confirm Chiropractic's Positive Effects

A study published in The Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy included 64 people who were suffering with neck pain. Around half were placed in an experimental group and the other half were designated to a comparison group. Both received chiropractic adjustments of the neck as well as a home exercise plan, while the experimental group also received adjustments of the thoracic spine.

Data was gathered before treatment began and one week after the adjustments. Researchers found that 94% 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, showing that looking at the entire spinal column is a critical part of restoring the body's normal function.

One more study posted in Physical Therapy involved 60 participants between the ages of 18 and 60 who reported dealing with neck pain. Each individual 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 adjustments.

Researchers found that the study patients who received the thrust manipulations (the same manipulations 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.

Chiropractic Even Offers Benefits After Failed Neck Surgery

Another study found the same kind of positive results after thoracic adjustments in a patient who had a failed neck surgical treatment. This particular case involved a 46-year-old patient who had recently had neck surgery but still endured neck pain, headaches, pain in her elbow, and muscle fatigue.

The woman documented reduced pain in her neck and lower headache intensity, immediately after the first chiropractic treatment session. After six weeks of care, which involved chiropractic, exercise, and patient education, the patient still placed 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 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 solution that has a high success rate, try chiropractic. It may just be the relief you're looking for.

We're located in Rockville and Dr. Aazami can help you recover from neck pain. Give us a call today at (240) 221-2666.

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.