Disc degeneration is tough because it usually happens over years and years. Over time the discs dehydrate, flatten and bulge. Basically if I have a tire on my car with a slow leak, it’s similar to a lumbar disc with degeneration. Over time it gets flatter and flatter, bulging more so you can clearly tell.
The difference is that you’ll see the tire deflate much sooner, maybe days or weeks, where a disc, you won’t see and may degenerate over years. Just like a tire, wear and tear can cause this and one particular incident can start it off or make it a whole lot worse.
Let’s take my car for example – I’ve had a certain amount of construction being done close to where I park. I must have driven over a large industrial type staple of sorts. Of course I didn’t know this until I made a road trip (about three hours) and the next morning saw that particular tire very flat. I don’t know exactly when it happened, as a matter of fact it could have happened weeks earlier for all I knew, but I knew I came from the construction going on at the time.
Let’s take an example of a patient now – Fred lifts a large box, feels something funny in his back. He ignores it, keeps working and resumes his night as usual. Two days later he notices that same pain but it appears much worse. He knows he has some arthritis in his back (degeneration) because years ago he had an x-ray after a similar injury. Now he is in severe pain the next week and the medications don’t seem to help!
Chiropractic treatment may be able to help! By putting the spine in as good of alignment as it could be will help. Normal, good alignment is when everything in the spine lines up so that pressure stays off of the nerves and the discs stay in position, healthy and hydrated.
Research has shown us that sometimes, if a problem has exited for years it could take many months or years to fix it. However with the advances in Chiropractic medicine the problem may be able to be fixed much sooner. Your chiropractor can advise you with recommendations to correct your problem, and help to eliminate your pain.
CT Spine and Disc Center is located in central Connecticut- Specializing in patients who suffer from sciatica, disc degeneration, bulging disc or herniated disc in the lumbar spine. Call us at 860-633-8756 to see if you are a candidate for non surgical spinal decompressionAdditional Reading Resources:
The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine published a study showing in cases of washers with low back pain, that they had a higher disability recurrence if they saw a physical therapist or MD versus seeing a chiropractor.
