Most people seek chiropractic care when they are in pain. Chiropractic is incredibly successful in addressing the aches and pains that come from daily life. From time to time we all get pain from sports, sitting at a desk all day, a car accident or some other injury causing event. But what if that main cause of your aches and pains isn’t physical but mental?
Your spine is like a chain that holds you up and allows for complex body movement. If any link in this chain becomes fixated (gets stuck!) the body loses flexibility and you can experience pain. Chiropractic restores motion to the spine, thus removing the CAUSE of the pain.
Chiropractic is known to:
• Improve joint mobility and relieve discomfort
• Improve nervous system function
• Speed recovery from injury
• Improve quality of life Continue reading
The lower back, which starts below the rib cage, is called the Lumbar Region or Lumbar Spine. Many factors can be responsible for lower back pain. Pain usually comes from inflammation or irritation. Causes of irritation include; poor footwear (yes slippers/flip flops are NOT good for your back), bad posture, lifting, bending, sitting and sleeping the wrong way. Continue reading
Vertebral Disc Anatomy
In between the bones in your spine are Vertebral Discs. The Vertebral Discs function as a shock absorber for your spine. Each disc in the spine is attached to the vertebra above it, therefore a disc cannot “slip” as commonly thought. There a space for the spinal cord to run inside the Vertebral Column and holes for the spinal nerves to come out.
The Vertebrae (spinal bones) and the discs provide a protective tunnel for your spinal cord and spinal nerves. There are several ways discs can be damaged, disc tear, bulging disc, herniated disc, prolapsed disc and desiccated disc.
Trauma or injury to the spine can cause discs to bulge, herniate, or rupture. This can be very painful, putting pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots, often interfering with their function. The spinal discs depend on the circulation of joint fluids to bring in nutrients and expel waste. If a spinal joint loses its normal motion and the pumping action is impaired the disc deteriorates. Like a wet sponge, a healthy disc is flexible, but a dry sponge is hard and stiff and can crack easily. This is how many disc problems occur.
If there is injury to the spine many conditions can result.
Degenerative Disc Disease
This is a result of improper movement and/or wear and tear on the Vertebral Discs in your spine. Your Spinal Joints are covered by cartilage, which protect your spine from damage. When the bones are not moving correctly the joints wear out and bone begins to grow on the spine.
Disc Tear/Annular Tears
This is the most common injury, and may or may not cause pain. It can be a small crack or micro tear in the outer cartilage material of the disc. The fluid starts to leak out, the disc begins to wear thin, and the color of the disc changes.
Bulging Disc
The soft jelly-like material in the middle of the disc pushes to one side, forward or backward, and swelling occurs.
Herniated Disc
The best way to visualize a Herniated Disc is to think of it like a jelly doughnut. A Herniated Disc is where the outer dough tears and the jelly inside the doughnut leaks out. The outer section of the disc (Annulus Fibrosis) tears allowing the inner jelly like section (Nucleus Pulposis) to leak through the disc. The soft jelly-like material from the nucleus in the middle of the disc ruptures through the outer fibers and extends to the outer edge or beyond the normal limits of the disc. The pain/symptoms are believed to be from inflammation resulting from the disc leaking onto the spinal nerve.
Prolapsed Disc
A piece of disc material separates away and becomes a fragment or a free-floating piece.
Desiccated Disc
The disc loses its fluid and degenerates to a rough, worn-down appearance. This occurs as the bones begin to fuse to each other.
How Chiropractic Helps
The chiropractic approach to disc problems is to help restore better motion and position to the spinal joints. Besides reducing disc bulging, better spinal function helps decrease inflammation and speed up the process of healing and pain relief.