Disc herniations abound! 76% of us have one. (1) Do 76% of us have back pain right now? Nope! Thank goodness! The presence of a disc herniation on imaging is
not the important issue. The issue is
whether that disc is causing pain either mechanically (by pressing
on a nerve) or chemically (by irritating a nerve). Paramus Medical & Sports Rehabilitation Center figures
this out in the course of the all-important
physical exam. The MRI and other imaging studies are extras that
can assist - or distract - the chiropractic back pain treatment approach if the
doctor and patient allow it. So let’s not let it!
PERCENT OF SPINAL CANAL A DISC OCCUPIES
DOESN’T MATTER
Some imaging studies or MRI images will illustrate
huge discs in back pain sufferers who have not a lot of
or no pain while back pain sufferers who are in awful
pain may have a minimal disc herniation. It can be annoying.
Fortunately, research continues to comfort all involved by
explaining that size isn’t everything. A study 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 who had a lumbar disc herniation stated
that 91.3% of them did not have back surgery within a year. The
surgery patients’ discs took up 31.5%
of their spinal canal while the non-operative patients’ discs took
up 31.2% of their spinal canals. That’s not much of a
variance. Researchers wrote that this does
not predict which patients will fail nonoperative
treatment and need surgery within 2 years after getting
a lumbar spine MRI scan. (3) With knowledge of these
findings, Paramus Medical & Sports Rehabilitation Center chooses conservative treatment of these
disc herniations.
CONSERVATIVE CARE EFFECT ON DISC SIZE
Chiropractors are back pain specialists. Your
Paramus chiropractor is the Paramus back pain specialist.
Painful disc herniations are welcome
at Paramus Medical & Sports Rehabilitation Center as the spinal research indicates that, though
painful, disc herniations big and little respond
nicely to conservative treatment. Actually,
in following up with patients who underwent conservative
treatment for their disc herniation, 35% to 100% of the cases revealed
a reduction in the size of the disc. (4) Two
years after conservative care, herniated disc patients showed a 16.5%
decrease in size. 57% of patients showed a reduction,
40% demonstrated no change in size, and 3% showed a bigger
herniation. (5) More specifically, 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) Paramus back pain
sufferers are happy with such improvement in their disc
herniations as pain relief results.
CONTACT Paramus Medical & Sports Rehabilitation Center
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 considerable
pain and alteration to her lifestyle which was improved with his
use of the
Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your Paramus chiropractic appointment
today. No matter its size, your disc herniation is in good
company and in good hands at Paramus Medical & Sports Rehabilitation Center.