CHIROPRACTOR FOR DISC PROBLEMS

At Better Health Chiropractic & Physical Rehab, we treat all types of disc problems. This treatment helps to restore better motion and position to the spinal joint. Besides reducing disc bulging and disc herniation, better spinal function helps reduce inflammation, which results in healing the surrounding soft tissues. We provide chiropractic care and rehabilitative therapy treatments in a non-surgical way to avoid surgery or a dependency on pain pills.

To understand what a herniated disc or disc herniation, bulging disc, or degenerative disc disease is, it is first important to understand the make-up of your spine. There are 24 vertebrae in the spine, and each vertebra has a disc, which acts like a shock absorber, that corresponds to it. Each vertebra is classified with a number and a letter for which region it is located in. There are 7 in the cervical spine (C1-C7), 12 in the thoracic spine (T1-T12) and 5 in the lumber spine (L1-L5). There are a total of 23 discs, each named for the vertebrae above and below; C3-C4 would mean the disc that is between C3 and C4.

The disc is made up of 2 different layers. The outer part is the annulus fibrosis that has concentric rings. These rings give the disc its strength and help to contain the inner part the nucleus pulposus. The nucleus is made up of a jelly-like material that contains a lot of fluid, mainly water. This jelly middle allows the disc to absorb a lot of compressive forces that are applied to the spine with any upright movement of the body.

To help support the discs, there are ligaments that protect all sides of the disc and keep the vertebrae aligned. Unfortunately, the back part of these ligaments is the weakest because the ligament needs to allow the nerves to exit at each level. As a child these disc are very flexible and adapt well to compressive forces. When we age the disc starts to become more brittle as well as may become thinner. Disc degeneration or disc desiccation is the term applied to thinning discs. This thinning occurs when there are a lot of compressive forces on the disc or can occur if there is some trauma.

But injuries or just aging can cause the discs to lose their fluid content and wear thin – beginning the degenerative disc disease process or disc herniation / herniated disc process. This allows the vertebrae to rub together, becoming rough, worn down – or even fused together. The result is a degenerative disc.

When there are a lot of compressive forces applied to these discs, other injuries can occur that cause weakening of the annulus fibrosis or tears can occur. These disc lesions are classified into two categories: contained and uncontained. In contained disc lesions the nucleus is still contained within the disc (disc bulge and herniation), and in uncontained disc lesions the nucleus will protrude past the disc (disc extrusion and sequestered disc).