Size of Plainville Disc Herniation in Canal Isnt That Important

76% of us has a disc herniation. (1) Do 76% of us have back pain right now? Thankfully, no! The presence of a disc herniation on imaging is not the important issue. The matter is whether that disc is causing pain either mechanically (by pressing on a nerve) or chemically (by irritating a nerve). Layden Chiropractic determines this 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 allow it! 

PERCENT OF SPINAL CANAL A DISC OCCUPIES DOESN’T MATTER

Some imaging studies or MRI images will illustrate very large discs in back pain sufferers who have little or no pain while back pain sufferers who are in excruciating pain may show a minimal disc herniation. It can be frustrating. Fortunately, research maintains that size isn’t everything. A research paper documented 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 who had a lumbar disc herniation said that 91.3% of them did not undergo back surgery within a year. The surgery patients’ discs took up 31.5% of their spinal canal while the non-operative patients’ discs occupied 31.2% of their spinal canals. That is not much of a variance. Researchers report that this does not predict which patients will fail nonoperative treatment and need surgery within 2 years after getting a lumbar spine MRI scan. (3) With knowledge of these findings, Layden Chiropractic chooses conservative treatment of these disc herniations.

CONSERVATIVE CARE EFFECT ON DISC SIZE

Chiropractors are back pain specialists. Your Plainville chiropractor is the Plainville back pain specialist. Painful disc herniations are welcome at Layden Chiropractic as the spinal research shows that, though painful, disc herniations large and little react 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 disc. (4) Two years after conservative care, herniated disc patients showed 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) More specifically, 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) Plainville back pain sufferers are happy with such improvement in their disc herniations as pain relief results.

CONTACT Layden Chiropractic

Listen to the PODCAST with Dr. George Joachim on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. Dr. Joachim presents the case of a patient with a disc herniation preoducing spinal stenosis that created significant pain and alteration to her lifestyle which was improved with his use of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.

Schedule your Plainville chiropractic appointment today. Regardless of its size, your disc herniation is in good company and in good hands at Layden Chiropractic.