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What Is Degenerative Disc Disease?
What Is Degenerative Disc Disease?
Symptoms usually include dull ache or pain traveling across the lower back, stiffness, and catching sensation in lower back. Upper back or neck degenerative disc disease can happen in any region of your spine. Degenerative disc is a condition in which the disc or cushion between your vertebrae start to break down, usually having been damaged at some point in your life. As they wear out they can create abnormal movement in the spine and send abnormal signals to the supporting muscles, leading to muscle imbalance, dysfunction, and pain.
These changes are more likely to occur in people who do heavy physical work, such as repeated heavy lifting. A previous sudden (acute) injury, such as a fall, leading to a herniated disc might also begin the degeneration process. Those old injuries you might have not given a second thought to sometimes come back to haunt you.
Some studies correlate a genetic relationship to degenerative changes, so be sure and thank your parents if you have this condition. As the space between the vertebrae gets smaller, there is less padding between them, which creates bone on bone and the spine becomes less stable. The body reacts to this by constructing bony growths, called “bone spurs” (osteophytes). Bone spurs can put pressure on the spinal nerves or spinal cord, resulting in pain and affecting nerve function.
If degenerative changes in the bones occur in your upper back, you might develop a slumped or hunched appearance of your back. We have all seen men or women who have humped appearance, loss of height, and permanent postural abnormalities. This might be where we get the term “little old lady.” If this has occurred, you are in advanced stages of degenerative disc disease and need to take action now to prevent further postural changes. If someone in your family—a mother, father, or grandparent—has this, it is possible you have a genetic predisposition for the same condition.
SUCCESS CASE STUDY
Tim is a 70-year-old retired geologist. He was diagnosed in 1999 with degenerative disc in his lower back. He says he had occasional back pain but had always been able to work through it, until one day while playing golf he had tremendous lower back pain that was unrelenting for three weeks. He took high levels of pain killers and muscle relaxers with no relief. Hunched over and using a walker, he lunged onto my examination table. X-rays showed he had Stage 3 degenerative disc disease (DDD) at L4-L5 and L5-S1. After physical examination it was clear he also had severe muscle imbalances in his hip flexor muscles and lower back musculature. He said his number-one goal was to return to the golf course and that he would do anything it took to get back to swinging a golf club. Our treatment consisted of computerized lumbar decompression therapy, lower back joint realignments, a heavy dose of muscle balancing therapy, and electrical stimulation treatment. After four weeks he was 80-percent improved. He is now back on the course, and once a month he comes in for a tune-up treatment. He reminds me he can still shoot his age.
Effective Treatment for Degenerative Disc Disease
Computerized lumbar decompression therapy • Joint realignment, which allows decreased pressure on the disc • Muscle balance treatments • Core exercises to strengthen the muscles that support that joint • Natural anti-inflammatory such as Boswellia, turmeric, and hot packs for temporary relief • Electrical stimulation • Lumbar braces with the goal of reducing pressure on disc • Self care in the form of stretching, lower back exercises, and ergonomic modifications
Just like Tim, we can help you to become pain free! Call today to schedule your appointment and lets get you back to being pain free again!
Tell the receptionist that you would like to come in for the New Patient Special!
Jake Morgan DC
325-695-9355
Don’t forget to download your very own copy my latest book 21st Century Back Pain Solution!
What’s Wrong With Your Back Pain
What’s Wrong With Your Back Pain
We cannot always control everything that happens to us in this life, but we can control how we respond. Many struggles come as problems and pressures that sometimes cause pain. Others come as temptations, trials, and tribulations.
—L. Lionel Kendrick
We have talked about different factors that cause back pain or dysfunction, and now we will discuss in further detail and name conditions that occur when the back system breaks down—either through postural changes, muscle imbalances, new or old trauma, nutritional or activity deficiencies or, yes, a cumulative effect of all. This is not a complete review of all conditions that can culminate in back pain, but we will discuss the most common disorders related to back pain.
What Is a Bulging Disc?
This complicated condition can also be known as a bulging disc, disc protrusion, or slipped disc. The disc is the cushion that sits between the stacked vertebrae that make up your spine. It has several functions, an important one being to act as a shock absorber. Visualize a disc like a jelly doughnut. Inside the disc is a jellylike substance that can attract water or gel-like substances to help absorb compressive forces. This is why we are actually taller in the morning than in the evening. After gravity pushes down on your spine throughout the day, the disc hydration decreases. When you lie down at night and take the compression forces off the spine, the disc rehydrates.
Many people have bulging disc but might not have any symptoms associated with it. Disc pain can occur when it is torn, irritated, or putting pressure on the nerve. The outer portion of the disc has painful nerve fibers, which can be a source of pain…and you can develop a bulging disc (or multiple bulging discs) when the inner portion of the disc. In terms of the jelly doughnut example, the jelly breaks through the outer ring of the doughnut and can put pressure on the nerves in your lower back. When the nerve is compressed, it can cause sharp shooting pain, numbness or tingling that might radiate into your buttocks, thigh, back of your leg, and even down into your lower leg and foot. If a herniated disc happens in the neck, you might experience numbness, tingling, or sharp shooting pain in one or both arms.
The source of disc herniations can be an injury from a car accident, or lifting and twisting your lower back, which creates extreme compression and torsion on the spine. But many disc herniations occur due to muscular imbalances that occur over time, creating slow abnormal pressure on the disc and spine, which allows a weak region of the disc. This condition in chronic situations responds well to computerized spinal decompression therapy, a muscle balance treatment.
SUCCESS CASE STUDY
Janet is a 45-year-old city administrator, suffering from persistent lower back pain, as well as pain that travels into her right buttocks and the back of her lower leg. For two months, she hoped the pain would resolve on its own and had been, as she says, “eating Aleve every day.” She was unable to get comfortable at night and couldn’t bend over to put on socks in the morning. X-rays and an MRI revealed multiple disc bulges. She had seen her primary care doctor, who was giving steroids but with minimal relief. She began treatment that included computerized lumbar decompression therapy, joint realignments, muscle balancing therapy, and electrical muscle/nerve stimulation treatment in our clinic. She had a 50-percent reduction of pain in eight visits, and was 80-percent pain-free in 12 visits; she had no pain by 24 visits. She told me the best part of her treatment was that she gained knowledge of how to stay pain-free.
Effective Treatment for Bulgingor Herniated Disc
Computerized lumbar decompression therapy • Muscle balance treatments to allow your body to take pressure off the disc • Core exercises to strengthen the muscles that support that joint • Natural anti-inflammatory such as Boswellia extract or turmeric • Lumbar braces with the goal of reducing pressure on disc • Cold laser therapy • Electrical muscle/nerve stimulation
If you want to learn more about becoming pain free from a bulging disc and/or would like to schedule a consultation to see if you are a candidate for treatment at Advanced Chiropractic & Spinal Rehab
Call Today! 325-695-9355 Ask about our New Patient Special!
Jake Morgan DC
Download a copy of my latest book 21st Century Back Pain Solution Book.
What Is Causing My Back Pain—Joint, Muscle, or Nerve?
What Is Causing My Back Pain—Joint, Muscle, or Nerve?
Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have—life itself.
—Walter Anderson
Joint? Muscle? Nerve? The answer is usually “all of the above.” That is why just addressing one potential source at a time or not addressing the true cause can lead you to frustrations and continued pain, even if you have seen multiple doctors. There is usually a primary source of pain, followed by a second or third dysfunction. The best way to explain a complex problem is with a real-life example:
Susie is a 51-year-old who has worked as an accountant for 22 years. She states that she has sharp lower back pain and occasional numbness in her left leg. She says all she did was bend forward out of her chair to pick up a pen she had dropped on the floor. Now, this motion is not a traumatic event. She probably bends forward to pick objects off the floor several times a day and has so for years. Then what was so different about this one event to cause her back pain? Due to the nature of her lower back, she initially had a muscular imbalance that created improper spinal biomechanics, which over time weakened her spinal supporting musculature. The nerves were slow in sending a message to her muscles to protect or brace her spine as she bent forward. She currently has muscle spasms, misaligned vertebrae, and a disc bulge compressing the nerve that runs down her leg. The primary problem is ligament-stretching or -tearing, causing lack of stability and one or more misaligned vertebrae. Muscle spasms are secondary, and nerve pain is tertiary (third rank). You can now understand that back discomfort is usually a combination of joint, muscle, and nerve problems.
It might be necessary to have medication or injections in instances of severe pain that is irretraceable and limits you physically. Medication should be a means to manage pain while beginning physical treatments or making changes to your muscles, joints, or nerves. Believing the medication is going to solve all of your problems is not accurate, and it can be a dangerous road to becoming dependent on drugs.
Here’s what some of the top medical researchers had to say about chiropractic…
“Manipulation [chiropractic adjustments], with or without exercise, improved symptoms more than medical care did after both 3 and 12 months.”– British Medical Journal
“Chiropractor’s manipulation of the spine was more helpful than any of the following: traction, massage, biofeedback, acupuncture, injection of steroids into the spine and back corsets, and ultrasound.” — Stanley Bigos, MD, Professor of Orthopedic Surgery
For 10 days only, I’m running a very special offer where you can find out how much this amazing treatment can help your pain.
What does this offer include? Everything I normally do in my new patient evaluation.
Here’s what you’ll get…
An in-depth consultation about your health and well-being where I will listen…really listen…to the details of your case. A complete neuromuscular examination, full set of specialized x-rays (if necessary), and a thorough analysis of your exam and x-ray findings so we can start mapping out your plan to being pain free.
You’ll get to see everything first hand and find out if this amazing treatment will be your pain solution, like it has been for so many other patients.
Life is too short to let pain slow you down.
Jake Morgan DC
Call now 325-695-9355
Download your copy of my book or swing by 4549 Catclaw Dr. Abilene,TX and pick up your copy today!
Chronic Soreness! Is Joint Pain Affecting you life?
As I have discussed in the last couple of blogs there are different types of pain, today we are going to cover Joint Pain. If you need to get caught up on the different types of Pains, take a moment to look back at the blogs covering Nerve Pain, Soft Tissue Pain, and Trigger Point Pain.
Joint Pain
Joint pain may bring to mind, that pain in you back when you bend forward or that “catch’ when you rotate your neck, or pain in the knee when you get up after sitting for a period of time, from dull ache to chronic soreness, you have 360 joints of the body why do some hurt but not all, what causes joint pain. Keep reading to find out.
Spinal Subluxation (aka Misaligned Vertebrae)
A “vertebral subluxation” is a partial dislocation or misalignment of one or more joints in the spine. Subluxations can cause abnormal wear-and-tear of the joint, abnormal muscle function, decreased range of motion, decreased nerve function, and pain. Prolonged subluxations lead to severe degeneration and create degenerative disc disease, known as “subluxation degeneration.” You might also develop loss of proper curvatures of the spine, causing abnormal wear-and-tear of the spine and putting unwanted stress on muscles. Some muscles might get tight or overdeveloped, and others can weaken and shrink. To correct joint or spinal subluxations, joint manipulation or spinal realignments are applied to restore proper alignment. This might be done with the use of a practitioner’s or chiropractor’s hands, or gentle low force using handheld instruments that gently realign the spine. The only way to reduce subluxations is with some type of mechanical force—just taking pills will not realign a joint problem.
Arthritic Joint Pain
As the space between the vertebrae gets smaller, less padding between them creates bone on bone, and the spine becomes less stable. The body reacts to this by constructing bony growths called “bone spurs” (osteophytes is the medical terminology). Bone spurs can put pressure on the spinal nerves or spinal cord, resulting in pain and affecting nerve function. The common term to describe this is “degeneration” or osteoarthritis. As we discuss further in the up coming blogs, you will learn about different types of potential joint conditions in the spine.
Every community in America needs providers who are specialists in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of Joint Pain. When I say “specialist,” I mean doctors who specialize and put their attention, training, and treatment procedures together based on a deeper, more fundamental understanding of this condition. I am a specialist and have extensive training in treating conditions like this.
For 10 days only, I’m running a very special offer .
What does this offer include? Everything I normally do in my new patient evaluation.
Just call here’s what you’ll get…
An in-depth consultation about your health and well-being where I will listen…really listen…to the details of your case. A complete neuromuscular examination, full set of specialized x-rays (if necessary), and a thorough analysis of your exam and x-ray findings so we can start mapping out your plan to being pain free.
You’ll get to see everything first hand and find out if this amazing treatment will be your solution to pain, like it has been for so many other patients.
Life is too short to let pain slow you down. Call now 325-695-9355.
Don’t forget to download your copy of my book! Or swing by the office at 4549 Catclaw Dr. Abilene, TX and pick up a copy!
Suffering from Chronic Muscle Pain?
Continuing on with our discussions of the different types of pain, today I will discuss Trigger Points. If you missed out on my two previous blogs on Nerve Pain and Soft Tissue Pain I suggest you go take a look at those!
Trigger Points
You might be thinking right now of that knot in your shoulders or upper back—this is called a “trigger point.” An active trigger point will refer pain to other regions of the body when you apply pressure to it. A latent trigger point is when the pain in the muscle is localized and does not to other regions of the body. Trigger points usually develop in overworked muscles that contract and never relax. Contraction of the muscles compresses on the blood vessels that feed the muscle—nutrients such as oxygen can’t flow to the damaged muscle. What happens to most organisms when they can’t get oxygen? They die. Therefore, this can lead to permanent or chronic damage in muscle tissue. When chronic compression occurs, blood stagnates as it cannot escape and rejuvenate. Lactic acid, a byproduct of muscle use, cannot escape, which leads to irritation and more trigger points, or commonly known as muscle knots. To treat this you want to restore healthy blood flow to get rid of toxins and allow healthy nutrients to return back to that region. Chronic muscle pain develops for several reasons, most commonly due to postural changes, repetitive motions, or emotional stress (we will talk more on stress later in this book.)
Predictable painful regions, which we will call problem areas, are usually located in muscles in the following regions: between your shoulder blades, around your buttocks, and on top of your shoulders. Trigger points or tight muscles can lead to misalignments of the bones of your spine. It is very seldom you don’t find a trigger point without misaligned bones in the neck, upper back, or lower back.
Effective treatment for trigger points includes the following:
- Joint manipulation to restore proper joint movement and take unwanted workload off the spinal muscles
- Trigger point therapy to make muscle pain disappear
- Muscle balance treatments to improve postural strains
- Natural anti-inflammatory, such as Boswellia extract or turmeric hot packs
- Electrical muscle stimulation to repair, and relieve, muscle, joint and nerve pain.
- Magnesium supplementation to relax muscles
- BioFREEZE Pain Relieving Cream, unique formula containing a variety of effective anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving agents, good for immediate short-term muscle pain relief
What Is The Most Common Soft Tissue Injury That Can Leave You With A Life-Time Of Pain And Misery And Is Missed By Almost All Doctors?
Spinal ligaments play a vital role in supporting the spine, and they are typically damaged due to trauma such as auto accidents or other traumatic injuries. If there is a rupture or tear in this ligament, it can cascade into a number of problems, such as nerve irrigation, chronic muscle spasm, spinal subluxation (vertebral misalignments), chronic neck and back pain, or degenerative spinal arthritis, all of which we have covered in detail. These conditions might not kill you but, perhaps worse, you could slowly lose of quality of life. The American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment 5th Edition grades these impairments even higher than some fractures. This is probably the worst soft tissue diagnosis you could have, and it usually occurs from an acute trauma or accident.
Sadly not all doctors realize this or do not have the specialty knowledge to detect this injury. It is very commonly overlooked and misdiagnosed. These ligament injuries may lead to nerve impingement, irritations, and almost always subluxations or misaligned vertebrae.
Every community in America needs providers who are specialists in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of spinal ligament injuries. When I say “specialist,” I mean doctors who specialize and put their attention, training, and treatment procedures together based on a deeper, more fundamental understanding of this condition. I am a specialist and have extensive training in treating conditions like this.
For 10 days only, I’m running a very special offer .
What does this offer include? Everything I normally do in my new patient evaluation.
Just call here’s what you’ll get…
An in-depth consultation about your health and well-being where I will listen…really listen…to the details of your case. A complete neuromuscular examination, full set of specialized x-rays (if necessary), and a thorough analysis of your exam and x-ray findings so we can start mapping out your plan to being pain free.
You’ll get to see everything first hand and find out if this amazing treatment will be your solution to pain, like it has been for so many other patients.
Life is too short to let pain slow you down. Call now 325-695-9355.