Chiropractic's Role in Herniated Disc Conditions
The Pained Disc
One of the most common causes of debilitating low back pain is the herniated disc. It affects roughly 33 percent of the population. It can be of great pain and life altering consequence. An option that is most sought out is surgery. But with surgery comes more complications and even what is called failed back surgery syndrome. Which is even more common than the disc herniation.
There are other conservative treatment options that are very effective without drugs or surgery. Chiropractic’s role in this is many. Specifically flexion distraction therapy. Here is a link that explains more in detail about the technique (Click Here). The basics of this is to help get the disc material to retract off the nerve and back into the actual disc itself. See what happens when a disc herniation occurs is the disc cushion that is within pushes outside of the stronger material and hits on the nerve near the disc. This is when you start to experience pain and radiating symptoms into the leg. This is a problem that too many people face.
Flexion Distraction Therapy in Depth
Here is a schematic of the technique.
Flexion Distraction Therapy
This simple but very effective technique creates negative pressure within the disc so that the disc material can more easily get back to where it needs to be. The chiropractor will put pressure along the lumbar spine and move the bottom half of the table down and out. What this allows is decompression of the spine. This means that you don’t feel pain as bad and eventually the disc will heal by making sure you are watching your posture and movements. Along with this technique you will be given exercises to train the core to stabilize the spine. This is a crucial part in treatment as well.
Treatment
This treatment has seen great results and as much as 90% of people can resolve a herniated disc. Treatments will be done over a 4 to 6 week period with 8-12 treatments in that span. This has proven the most beneficial and patients should see a moderate improvement even after a few visits.
If you know someone who could benefit from this technique then try it out. It is a successful conservative treatment for herniated disc as well as bulging discs.