Can Chiropractic Help With Disc Problems?

In most cases, ABSOLUTELY!

While a disc problem can become painful, it doesn't have to take the fun out of your life. A Chiropractor may help provide you with instant relief, as well as avoid possible surgery to your spine.

It is very easy for us to resort to pain killers for immediate relief for our back pain, but is this fixing the problem, or just masking the pain? How many times have you taken pain killers for your back pain only to have the discomfort come on hours or even days later? While pain killers mask the symptoms of a disc problem, a good Chiropractor gets to the cause of your problem, providing you with long lasting results.

Before we can even understand how a Chiropractor may be able to help you overcome disc pain, we must first understand what spinal discs are, their role, as well as how they may become damaged.

What are spinal discs?

Spinal discs or intervertebral discs are small cartilage pads located between your spinal bones. They are composed of an inner jelly-like substance (nucleus pulposus) and a tough outer fibrous ring (annulus fibrosis).

The role of your spinal discs is to allow your vertebrae (bones of the spine) to move freely on one another as well as creating a gap for your spinal nerves to exit from your spine. Your discs also absorb 90% of the weight that goes through your spine and provides a degree of shock absorption. The remaining 10% of the weight rests on the small joints at the back of your spine (facets).

When healthy, discs allow normal turning and bending. Since your spinal discs have a very poor blood supply, they depend upon proper spinal mobility to nourish the disc and expel waste. If your spinal joints lose their normal motion your discs can become malnourished and the health of your spinal discs deteriorates. Like a wet sponge, a healthy disc is flexible. A dry sponge is hard, stiff, and can crack easily. This is how many disc problems begin.

There are various types of disc problems including, disc tear, bulging disc, herniated disc, prolapsed disc, and desiccated disc. Let's have a look at the difference in them all.

DISC TEAR

This type of disc problem refers to a crack or micro tear in the tough outer ring of the disc. This may lead to fluid leaking from the disc and causing it to wear thin.

BULGING DISC

Occurs when the soft jelly-like material in the middle of the disc pushes to one side -forwards or backwards - causing swelling. This swelling can contribute to pressure on the spinal nerves triggering off painful symptoms.

HERNIATED DISC

When a disc becomes herniated, the fluid from the centre of the disc ruptures through the outer fibres, stretching the disc beyond its normal limits.

DISC PROLAPSE

Refers to a condition in which part of the disc tears away and becomes a free floating fragment.

DESSICATED DISC

Occurs when the disc loses its fluid content, and degenerates down to a rough, worn down appearance. This occurs as the bones begin to fuse to each other.

What are some symptoms I may experience as a result of a disc condition?

Symptoms of a disc problem may vary with each individual person. For some, a disc condition may cause little to no pain. For others, a disc problem can push onto nerves in the spine, resulting in a lot of pain, and limited movement. Some symptoms you may experience as a result of this includes, a dull or sharp pain, muscle spasm or cramping, weakness, tingling or referred pain (pain into other parts of the body). It could even make standing, sitting, walking, lifting, urinating, defecating, sneezing, coughing, and moving nearly impossible. In extreme cases, numbness of the legs or foot, or a loss of muscle control may occur.

What causes disc problems?

While pain due to a disc problem may come on all of a sudden, it is usually the result of wear and tear over a long period of time.

For instance, a middle-aged accountant who sits for long periods of time suffers from disc dehydration, and has poor posture and spinal mobility, then lifts a heavy piece of furniture and experiences acute back pain and leg pain.

Or perhaps many months of repetitive lifting, bending or twisting, he experiences no pain at all, until he sneezes. Bingo! A herniated disc.

How can a Chiropractor help?

We mentioned earlier that a lack of spinal mobility may contribute to problems with your discs and may hence contribute to back pain. Subluxations (spinal misalignments) contribute to poor movement between your spinal joints, thus creating unnecessary pressure on your discs. Chiropractors are the only health professional qualified to correct these subluxations. By doing so, they are able to restore the mobility between your spinal joints, thus allowing the nutrients to pass through the joints and to the discs.

While results cannot be guaranteed, many patients have avoided needless surgery or a dependency on pain killers, by choosing to have Chiropractic care. The traditional approach to disc problems often ignores spinal function. Having regular Chiropractic adjustments is safer and often more effective than back surgery.

As a matter of fact, in one study, Chiropractic care had shown 96% effectiveness in helping disc sufferers, as opposed to those who underwent surgery (3% success rate). When you look at these statistics, Chiropractic for disc problems just makes sense!

Someone once said and I totally agree, "Try Chiropractic first, medication second, and surgery third".

If you are suffering from back pain or from other symptoms due to an unhealthy spinal disc, consider Chiropractic care as a safe, gentle and natural means for overcoming this debilitating ailment.