Size of West Palm Beach Disc Herniation in Canal Is Not That Important

76% of us has a disc herniation. (1) Do all 76% have back pain right now? Thankfully, no! The presence of a disc herniation on imaging isn’t the important issue. The concern is whether that disc is producing pain either mechanically (by pressing on a nerve) or chemically (by irritating a nerve). Chiropractic Care determines this during the all-important physical exam. The MRI and other imaging studies are tools that can help - 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 TAKES UP 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 awful pain may show a minimal disc herniation. It can be frustrating. Fortunately, research maintains that size is not 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 stated that 91.3% of them did not undergo back surgery within a year. The surgery patients’ discs occupied 31.5% of their spinal canal while the non-surgical patients’ discs occupied 31.2% of their spinal canals. That’s not much of a difference. Researchers wrote that this doesn’t predict which patients will fail nonoperative treatment and need surgery within 2 years after getting a lumbar spine MRI scan. (3) In light of these findings, Chiropractic Care chooses conservative treatment of these disc herniations.

CONSERVATIVE CARE EFFECT ON DISC SIZE

Chiropractors are back pain specialists. Your West Palm Beach chiropractor is the West Palm Beach back pain specialist. Disc herniations causing pain are welcome at Chiropractic Care as the spinal research indicates that, though painful, disc herniations big and small respond nicely to conservative treatment. As a matter of fact, in following up with patients who underwent conservative treatment for their disc herniation, 35% to 100% of the cases revealed a decrease 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 had a reduction, 40% demonstrated no change in size, and 3% showed 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) West Palm Beach back pain sufferers are grateful for such improvement in their disc herniations as pain relief results.

CONTACT Chiropractic Care

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 resulting in 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 West Palm Beach chiropractic appointment today. No matter its size, your disc herniation is in good company and in good hands at Chiropractic Care.