Size of Tonawanda Disc Herniation in Canal Is Not 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 causing pain either mechanically (by pressing on a nerve) or chemically (by irritating a nerve). Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation figures this out during the all-important physical exam. The MRI and other imaging studies are extras that can assist - or distract - the chiropractic back pain treatment approach if the doctor and patient allow 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 little or no pain while back pain sufferers who are in unbearable pain may show a small disc herniation. It can be upsetting. Fortunately, research continues to comfort all involved by explaining 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 took up 31.5% of their spinal canal while the non-operative patients’ discs took up 31.2% of their spinal canals. That is not much of a difference. Researchers wrote that this does not predict which patients will fail nonsurgical treatment and require surgery within 2 years after getting a lumbar spine MRI scan. (3) With knowledge of these findings, Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation chooses conservative treatment of these disc herniations.

CONSERVATIVE CARE EFFECT ON DISC SIZE

Chiropractors are back pain specialists. Your Tonawanda chiropractor is the Tonawanda back pain specialist. Painful disc herniations are welcome at Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation as the spinal research shows that, though painful, disc herniations large and small 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 revealed a reduction in the size of the herniation. (4) Two years after conservative care, herniated disc patients showed a 16.5% decrease in size. 57% of patients had a reduction, 40% demonstrated no change in size, and 3% had a larger herniation. (5) Particularly, conservative treatment of the disc herniation with flexion distraction Cox® Technic produced increases in the measurements of the spinal canal by as much as 28% in area, 17% in height and 7% in width. (6) Tonawanda back pain sufferers are happy with such improvement in their disc herniations as pain relief results.

CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation

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 considerable pain and alteration to her lifestyle which was enhanced with his use of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.

Schedule your Tonawanda chiropractic appointment today. Regardless of its size, your disc herniation is in good company and in good hands at Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation.