76% of us has
a disc herniation. (1) Do 76% of us have back pain right now? Thankfully,
no! The presence of a disc herniation on imaging isn’t the chief issue. The matter is
whether that disc is causing pain either mechanically (by pressing
on a nerve) or chemically (by irritating a nerve). Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka determines this in the course of the all-important
physical exam. The MRI and other imaging studies are tools that
can assist - or distract - the chiropractic back pain treatment approach if the
doctor and patient let it. So let’s not let it!
PERCENT OF SPINAL CANAL A DISC TAKES UP
DOESN’T MATTER
Some imaging studies or MRI images will illustrate
huge discs in back pain sufferers who have minimal
or no pain while back pain sufferers who are in awful
pain may show a minimal disc herniation. It can be annoying.
Fortunately, research continues to comfort all involved by
explaining that size isn’t everything. A research
paper documented that there was no correlation of pain
and disability with the size of a disc herniation seen on MRI. (2) Another
study of 368 patients diagnosed with a lumbar disc herniation said
that 91.3% of them did not undergo back surgery within a year. The
surgery patients’ discs occupied 31.5%
of their spinal canal while the non-operative patients’ discs occupied 31.2% of their spinal canals. That’s not much of a
difference. Researchers wrote that this doesn’t predict which patients will fail nonoperative
treatment and need surgery within 2 years after getting
a lumbar spine MRI scan. (3) In light of these
findings, Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka chooses conservative treatment of these
disc herniations.
CONSERVATIVE CARE EFFECT ON DISC SIZE
Chiropractors are back pain specialists. Your
Sitka chiropractor is the Sitka back pain specialist.
Painful disc herniations are accepted
at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka as the spinal research shows that, though
painful, disc herniations big and little respond
nicely to conservative treatment. As a matter of fact,
in following up with patients who had conservative
treatment for their disc herniation, 35% to 100% of the cases revealed
a reduction in the size of the herniation. (4) Two
years after conservative care, herniated disc patients had a 16.5%
reduction in size. 57% of patients showed a reduction,
40% showed no change in size, and 3% showed a larger
herniation. (5) Particularly, conservative treatment of
the disc herniation with flexion distraction Cox® Technic delivered
increases in the measurements of the spinal canal by as much
as 28% in area, 17% in height and 7% in width. (6) Sitka back pain
sufferers are happy with such improvement in their disc
herniations as pain relief results.
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
Listen to the PODCAST
with Dr. George Joachim on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. Dr. Joachim shares
the case of a patient with a disc herniation resulting in
spinal stenosis that generated significant
pain and alteration to her lifestyle which was enhanced with his
use of the
Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your Sitka chiropractic appointment
today. No matter its size, your disc herniation is in good
company and in good hands at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka.