Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic Treats Disc Herniation Pain
Disc herniations can bring about back pain and leg pain for some. Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic welcomes those back pain sufferers due to a disc herniation. Gentle, relieving treatment without surgery is what we provide. Augusta back pain patients are relieved when they find us!
DISC HERNIATION: Size, Weight, Sleep
What matters when a disc causes back pain? Its size? Its weight? Its effect on quality of life? Spinal researchers have generated data and published that what the pain-producing disc looks like on imaging doesn’t really matter. The size and shape of an intervertebral spinal disc’s bulging nucleus pulposus has no tie to a patient’s clinical presentation or symptomatology or how a patient feels. (1) The weight of a disc fragment did not relate to the duration of symptoms or severity of pre- or post-operative leg pain nor post-operative leg pain or back pain improvement, the percentage of space the disc occupied in the spinal canal, herniation classification, or vertebral level. The size of the lumbar disc herniation didn’t have much effect on patient outcomes. (2) Chronic lower back pain and sciatica due to lumbar disc herniation adversely affected sufferer’s quality of sleep. Treatment positively impacted patient perception of pain in visual analog scale (VAS) scores as well as in the PSQI Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index scores. (3) Pain lessening chiropractic treatment of a pain-producing disc necessitates reducing the risk of recurrent back pain episodes as well as reducing the pain of the current episode.
MANAGING BACK PAIN AND RISK OF ITS RECURRENCE
Once you’ve felt back pain related to a disc herniation, you don’t want it again! Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic gets that and wants you to know that managing - as conservatively as possible - the disc herniation is more accurate than curing it. 6.05% of lumbar discectomy surgery patients had a re-current disc herniation. What prompted this? On their own, factors like age, BMI, current smoking status, heavy lifting, degenerative facet joint disease, operation time, and the time it took to ambulate after surgery influenced the risk of recurrent disc herniation. Combined, older age, male sex, high body mass index (BMI), and early ambulation were significant factors in the experience of a recurrent lumbar disc herniation. Controlling weight, not lifting heavy items, and exercising were proposed risk reducers. (4) One new study reported that the amount of sedentary time probably did not increase the risk of a new episode of low back pain as much as the amount and type of physical activity. (5) Pain relief comes more as a roller coaster than a straight hill to pain relief. A disc herniation is like a bruise on an apple making the apple (and by comparison, the spine) never quite the same again. That’s where Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic comes in with a treatment plan that makes sure you understand the disc herniation, how to nutritionally take care of it, how to exercise to return it to strength and keep it strong, and how to do activities of daily living to prevent (re)injury. A recent systematic review of approaches to managing back pain listed 10 approaches: manipulation/mobilization, psychological/behavioral, advice to stay active/bed rest, reassurance, antidepressants, NSAIDS, opioids, muscle relaxants, and paracetamol. (6) Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic supports walking, moving, careful lifting, and especially being treated with gentle, safe, effective Cox® Technic spinal manipulation!
CONTACT Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Robert Patterson on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates the realistic expectations back pain patients can have with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your Augusta chiropractic appointment now. Disc herniation sufferers are welcomed to our practice for relief and a plan for controlling its future effect on life.
