What do discs in your back hate?
As a Chiropractor in Caledonia I see many patients who have injured the discs in their low backs, often times experiencing very painful back pain and sciatica pain. In this post I cover what a disc is, how Chiropractic can help disc injuries, and how to avoid injuring the discs in your back.
But first…. What do discs hate?
Repetitive bending and prolonged sitting!
What is a disc?
The discs in your back are between the vertebrae (back bones) and all movement between the bones. I sometimes describe them as jelly donuts, as the fluid in the disc can get squished out similarly to a jelly doughnut. When this happens it is called a disc herniation and can be very painful.
What can you do about injured Discs? Can a Chiropractor help?
Chiropractors work with people who are suffering with disc herniations often to help their bodies recover. They do this by helping the patient create the best position of the spine for the disc to heal, often times by adjustingthe spine into a proper alignment.
Here is a great article showing a person recovering from a severe disc injury with the help of specific chiropractic adjustments.
What if my disc herniation is creating sciatica pain down my leg?
The following are excerpts from a research study of Chiropractic manipulation used for helping disc herniation patients. The study had 102 patients who had disc herniation injuries in their low backs and were suffering from sciatica.
“Acute back pain and sciatica are major sources of disability, with impairment of daily living activities.”
“Spinal manipulation is widely used in the treatment of low back pain and sciatica.”
“Active manipulations have more effect than simulated manipulations on pain relief for acute back pain and sciatica with disc protrusion.” -The Chiropractic adjustment had a good pain relieving effect for patients who had sciatica due to a disc injury in their low back.
“At the end of follow-up a significant difference was present between active and simulated manipulations on the percentage of cases becoming pain-free (local pain 28% vs. 6%; radiating pain 55% vs. 20%).” – The patients who were manipulated by the Chiropractor had less local pain and less radiating pain.
“Patients receiving active manipulations enjoyed significantly greater relief of local and radiating acute low back pain, spent fewer days with moderate-to-severe pain, and consumed fewer drugs for the control of pain.”
The authors from this study concluded that Chiropractic spinal manipulations may relieve acute back pain and sciatica with disc protrusion. We see this often in our Chiropractic clinic in Caledonia. Patients whose spines are well adjusted have a greater ability to adapt and heal to back injuries such as sciatica and disc herniations.
What if I want to avoid a disc injury in the future?
Ideally, we help people avoid injuring their backs. This requires listening to your body and it does require effort. Proper maintenance can go a long way. I go through some of the things that discs hate in this presentation I did for the students at CDI College. Take a look and don’t hesitate to contact us at the office about discs in your back.
