Manahawkin Chiropractic Center Treats Disc Herniation Pain

July 26, 2022

Disc herniations can bring about back pain and leg pain for some. Manahawkin Chiropractic Center welcomes those disc herniation pain patients. Gentle, relieving treatment without surgery is what we provide. Manahawkin back pain patients are relieved when they find us!

DISC HERNIATION: Size, Weight, Sleep

What matters when a disc causes back pain? Its size? Its weight? Its effect on quality of life? Spinal researchers have produced data and described that what the pain-producing disc looks like on imaging doesn’t really matter. The shape and size of an intervertebral spinal disc’s protruded nucleus pulposus has no tie to a patient’s clinical presentation or symptomatology or how a patient feels. (1) The weight of a disc fragment did not correlate with the amount of time the symptoms lasted or severity of pre- or post-operative leg pain nor post-operative leg pain or back pain improvement, the percent of space the disc occupied in the spinal canal, herniation classification, or vertebral level. The size of the lumbar disc herniation did not have much effect on clinical outcomes. (2) Chronic lower back pain and sciatica due to lumbar disc herniation negatively affected sleep quality. Treatment positively impacted patient perception of pain in visual analog scale (VAS) scores and the PSQI Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index scores. (3) Relieving chiropractic treatment of a pain-producing disc involves decreasing the risk of recurrent back pain episodes as well as reducing the pain of the current episode.

MANAGING BACK PAIN AND RISK OF ITS RECURRENCE

Once you have experienced a disc herniation and its resulting back pain, you don’t want it again! Manahawkin Chiropractic Center gets that and wants you to know that managing - as conservatively as possible - the disc herniation is more realistic than curing it. 6.05% of lumbar discectomy surgery patients had a re-current disc herniation. What brought that on? On their own, factors like age, BMI, current smoking status, heavy lifting, degenerative facet joint disease, operation time, and the ambulation time after surgery affected the risk of recurrent disc herniation. Combined, older age, male sex, high body mass index (BMI), and early ambulation were significant factors in the recurrence or a lumbar disc herniation. Managing weight, not lifting heavy items, and exercising were proposed risk reducers. (4) One new study reported that the amount of sedentary time probably did not raise the chance of a new occurrence of low back pain as much as the amount and type of physical activity. (5) Pain relief happens more as a roller coaster than a straight hill to no pain. A disc herniation is like a bruise on an apple rendering the apple (and by comparison, the spine) never quite the same again. That’s where Manahawkin Chiropractic Center comes in with a treatment plan that ensures you know all there is to know about a disc herniation, how to nutritionally take care of it, how to get it back to being strong with exercise and keeping it that way, and how to perform activities of daily living to prevent (re)injury. A newer systematic review of ways to approach the management of back pain revealed 10 approaches: manipulation/mobilization, psychological/behavioral, advice to stay active/bed rest, reassurance, antidepressants, NSAIDS, opioids, muscle relaxants, and paracetamol. (6) Manahawkin Chiropractic Center promotes walking, moving, careful lifting, and especially being treated with gentle, safe, effective Cox® Technic spinal manipulation!

CONTACT Manahawkin Chiropractic Center

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Robert Patterson on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates the realistic expectations back pain patients can have with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.

Schedule your Manahawkin chiropractic appointment today. Disc herniation sufferers are invited to our practice for relief and a plan for controlling its future impact on life. 

Manahawkin Chiropractic Center offers non-surgical treatment for relief of disc herniation related back pain.