Size of Manchester Disc Herniation in Canal Isnt That Important

76% of us has a disc herniation. (1) Do all 76% have back pain right now? Nope! Thank goodness! The presence of a disc herniation on imaging is not the chief issue. The issue is whether that disc is causing pain either mechanically (by pressing on a nerve) or chemically (by irritating a nerve). Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries figures this out in the course of 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 illustrate very large discs in back pain sufferers who have little or no pain while back pain sufferers who are in excruciating pain may have a minimal disc herniation. It can be frustrating. Luckily, research maintains that size isn’t everything. A study reported that there was no correlation of pain and disability with the size of a disc herniation seen on MRI. (2) Another study of 368 patients diagnosed with a lumbar disc herniation stated that 91.3% of them did not have back surgery within a year. The surgery patients’ discs occupied 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 variance. Researchers wrote that this doesn’t predict which patients will fail nonsurgical treatment and need surgery within 2 years after undergoing a lumbar spine MRI scan. (3) With knowledge of these findings, Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries chooses conservative treatment of these disc herniations.

CONSERVATIVE CARE EFFECT ON DISC SIZE

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

CONTACT Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries

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

Schedule your Manchester chiropractic appointment today. No matter its size, your disc herniation is in good company and in good hands at Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries.