Moriarty Chiropractic Treats Disc Herniation Pain

Disc herniations cause back pain and leg pain for some. Moriarty Chiropractic welcomes those disc herniation pain patients. Gentle, relieving treatment without surgery is what we offer. Nashua back pain patients find relief when they find us!

DISC HERNIATION: Size, Weight, Sleep

What matters when a disc produces back pain? Its size? Its weight? Its effect on quality of life? Spinal researchers have produced data and described that how the painful disc appears on imaging doesn’t really matter. The size and shape of an intervertebral spinal disc’s bulging nucleus pulposus has no link to a patient’s clinical presentation or symptomatology or how a patient feels. (1) The weight of a disc fragment did not relate to 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 percentage of spinal canal occupation, 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 adversely impacted sufferer’s quality of sleep. 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 necessitates 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’ve experienced a disc herniation and its resulting back pain, you don’t want it again! Moriarty Chiropractic gets that and wants you to know that managing - as conservatively as possible - the disc herniation is more accurate than curing it. 6.05% of lumbar discectomy surgery patients had a re-current disc herniation. What prompted this? On their own, factors like age, BMI, current smoking status, heavy lifting, degenerative facet joint disease, operation time, and the ambulation time after surgery influenced the risk of recurrent disc herniation. Combined, older age, male sex, high body mass index (BMI), and early ambulation were significant factors in the experience of a recurrent 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 increase the risk of a new bout of low back pain as much as the amount and type of physical activity. (5) Pain relief comes 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 is where Moriarty Chiropractic 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 exercise to return it to strength and keep it strong, and how to perform activities of daily living to prevent (re)injury. A recent systematic review of ways to approach the management of back pain listed 10 approaches: manipulation/mobilization, psychological/behavioral, advice to stay active/bed rest, reassurance, antidepressants, NSAIDS, opioids, muscle relaxants, and paracetamol. (6) Moriarty Chiropractic supports walking, moving, careful lifting, and especially being treated with gentle, safe, effective Cox® Technic spinal manipulation!

CONTACT Moriarty Chiropractic

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

Make your Nashua chiropractic appointment today. Disc herniation sufferers are welcomed to our practice for relief and a plan for controlling its future effect on life.