Disc herniations cause back pain and leg pain for some. New Hampshire Spine and Sport welcomes those back pain sufferers due to a disc herniation. Gentle, relieving treatment without surgery is what we provide. Southern New Hampshire back pain patients find relief when they find us!
DISC HERNIATION: Size, Weight, Sleep
What matters when a disc triggers back pain? Its size? Its weight? Its effect on quality of life? Spinal researchers have generated data and published that what the pain-producing disc looks like on imaging does not really matter. The shape and size of an intervertebral spinal disc’s bulging 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 relate to the duration of symptoms or severity of pre- or post-operative leg pain nor post-operative leg pain or back pain improvement, the percentage 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 patient outcomes. (2) Chronic lower back pain and sciatica due to lumbar disc herniation negatively impacted sufferer’s quality of sleep. Treatment benefitted patient perception of pain in visual analog scale (VAS) scores as well as in the PSQI Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index scores. (3) Pain lessening chiropractic treatment of a pain-producing disc entails decreasing the risk of recurrent back pain episodes as well as decreasing the pain of the current episode.
MANAGING BACK PAIN AND RISK OF ITS RECURRENCE
Once you’ve felt back pain related to a disc herniation, you do not want to have it back! New Hampshire Spine and Sport gets that and shares 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 time it took to ambulate 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 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 chance of a new episode 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 pain relief. 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 New Hampshire Spine and Sport comes in with a treatment plan that ensures you know all there is to know about a disc herniation, how to feed it nutritionally, how to get it back to being strong with exercise and keeping it that way, and how to do activities of daily living to avert (re)injury. A newer 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) New Hampshire Spine and Sport supports walking, moving, careful lifting, and especially being treated with gentle, safe, effective Cox® Technic spinal manipulation!
CONTACT New Hampshire Spine and Sport
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 expect with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Make your Southern New Hampshire chiropractic appointment now. Disc herniation sufferers are invited to our practice for relief and a plan for controlling its future impact on life.