76% of us has
a disc herniation. (1) Do 76% of us have back pain right now? Nope! Thank goodness! The presence of a disc herniation on imaging isn’t the important issue. The concern is
whether that disc is producing pain either mechanically (by pressing
on a nerve) or chemically (by irritating a nerve). Vancouver Spine Care Centre determines this during 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 show
huge discs in back pain sufferers who have minimal
or no pain while back pain sufferers who are in unbearable
pain may have a small disc herniation. It can be upsetting.
Luckily, 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 diagnosed with a lumbar disc herniation said
that 91.3% of them did not have back surgery within a year. The
surgery patients’ discs occupied 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
difference. Researchers wrote that this doesn’t predict which patients will fail nonsurgical
treatment and require surgery within 2 years after undergoing
a lumbar spine MRI scan. (3) With knowledge of these
findings, Vancouver Spine Care Centre chooses conservative treatment of these
disc herniations.
CONSERVATIVE CARE EFFECT ON DISC SIZE
Chiropractors are back pain specialists. Your
Vancouver chiropractor is the Vancouver back pain specialist.
Painful disc herniations are accepted
at Vancouver Spine Care Centre as the spinal research shows that, though
painful, disc herniations big and little react
well to conservative treatment. As a matter of fact,
in following up with patients who underwent conservative
treatment for their disc herniation, 35% to 100% of the cases revealed
a decrease 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% had a larger
herniation. (5) Particularly, conservative treatment of
the disc herniation with flexion distraction Cox® Technic produced
increases in the dimensions of the spinal canal by as much
as 28% in area, 17% in height and 7% in width. (6) Vancouver back pain
sufferers are happy with such improvement in their disc
herniations as pain relief results.
CONTACT Vancouver Spine Care Centre
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 significant
pain and alteration to her lifestyle which was enhanced with his
use of the
Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your Vancouver chiropractic appointment
today. No matter its size, your disc herniation is in good
company and in good hands at Vancouver Spine Care Centre.