From Chronic Pain to Healing: What Your Augusta Chiropractor Wants You to Know About Recent Discoveries
If you suffer with chronic low back pain, you know how vexing it can be when treatments only deliver short term relief. While we don't have all the answers yet, new research is helping us all better understand why discs degenerate and exploring new approaches that may eventually offer more effective treatments. Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic is keeping close tabs on all of this to help our Augusta back pain patients most effectively.
Understanding Your Disc Health: The Hydration Factor
Your spinal discs serve as padding between the bones of your spine, consisting primarily of water-containing molecules known as proteoglycans. Over time, as these discs lose moisture, they become less effective at protecting your spine from impact, causing pain and additional wear and tear. While staying hydrated won't cure disc problems, it may support your discs' natural function—though we still need more research to completely grasp how this works. We can talk more at your next Augusta chiropractic visit about ways to hydrate your discs.
Early Promise: Lab-Grown Disc Components
Research by Chopra and colleagues (1) has shown progress in creating "biomimetic proteoglycans"—lab-made versions of your disc's natural building blocks. In laboratory studies, these engineered molecules can simulate some properties of healthy disc tissue. However, these studies are just beginning, and it may take time to determine if this treatment will be both safe and effective for people|this research is still in its infancy, and it will likely be some time before we know if this approach can safely and effectively help human patients like our Augusta back pain patients.
Why Decompression Techniques May Help
Exploring Natural Pain Pathways
Some of the most preliminary research by Melrose and colleagues (3) is examining whether compounds from natural sources, including venoms (wow!), could be developed into targeted pain treatments. This research is in very early stages and focuses on understanding pain mechanisms rather than coming up with ready-to-use treatments. It may be many years before we see practical applications, if any come at all. Fasincating!
What This Means for Your Current Treatment
While these research developments are encouraging, they don't change your immediate treatment options. What they do suggest is:
- Lifestyle factors like hydration and movement patterns may be more significant than we previously understood.
- Current treatments your chiropractor uses may have stronger scientific support than before.
- Future treatment options are being researched, though timeline and success remain uncertain.
- Managing expectations is important—innovative therapies need extensive time to create and verify their safety.
The reality is that back pain treatment remains challenging, and while research is advancing our understanding, most of these discoveries take time. Your best approach remains working with your Augusta chiropractor at Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic who knows current evidence-based treatments like Cox® Technic while staying informed about emerging research.
CONTACT Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox, on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes how The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management talks about disc degeneration and the back pain that accompanies it.
