Size of Elgin Disc Herniation in Canal Isnt That Important
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 is not the chief issue. The matter is whether that disc is producing pain either mechanically (by pressing on a nerve) or chemically (by irritating a nerve). Connected Chiropractic figures this out in the course of the all-important physical exam. The MRI and other imaging studies are extras that can help - or distract - the chiropractic back pain treatment approach if the doctor and patient let 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 very large discs in back pain sufferers who have not a lot of or no pain while back pain sufferers who are in excruciating pain may have a small disc herniation. It can be annoying. Fortunately, research maintains that size isn’t everything. A research paper reported that there was no correlation of pain and disability with the size of a disc herniation found on MRI. (2) Another study of 368 patients diagnosed with a lumbar disc herniation reported 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-surgical patients’ discs took up 31.2% of their spinal canals. That is not much of a difference. Researchers report that this does not predict which patients will fail nonsurgical treatment and need surgery within 2 years after undergoing a lumbar spine MRI scan. (3) With knowledge of these findings, Connected Chiropractic uses conservative treatment of these disc herniations.
CONSERVATIVE CARE EFFECT ON DISC SIZE
Chiropractors are back pain specialists. Your Elgin chiropractor is the Elgin back pain specialist. Painful disc herniations are accepted at Connected Chiropractic as the spinal research indicates that, though painful, disc herniations big and little respond well to conservative treatment. As a matter of fact, in following up with patients who had conservative treatment for their disc herniation, 35% to 100% of the cases showed a reduction in the size of the herniation. (4) Two years after conservative care, herniated disc patients had a 16.5% reduction in size. 57% of patients showed a reduction, 40% showed no change in size, and 3% had a larger herniation. (5) Particularly, conservative treatment of the disc herniation with flexion distraction Cox® Technic delivered increases in the dimensions of the spinal canal by as much as 28% in area, 17% in height and 7% in width. (6) Elgin back pain sufferers are happy with such improvement in their disc herniations as pain relief results.
CONTACT Connected Chiropractic
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 preoducing 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 Elgin chiropractic appointment today. Regardless of its size, your disc herniation is in good company and in good hands at Connected Chiropractic.
