Providing Non Surgical Treatments forHerniated Discs
Disc Herniation
The discs of the spine, also known as intervertebral discs are what separate the bones (vertebrae) of the spine. When degenerated or injured, discs can bulge and herniate. This can put direct pressure on spinal nerves, the spinal cord, and nerves in the outer disc. The resulting pressure on the nerves and/or the spinal cord can cause numbness/tingling, weakness, and pain. Spinal discs do not have blood supply to them in adults. Therefore they do not directly receive water, oxygen, and nutrients necessary for healing. When the spine is moving normally, water, oxygen, and nutrients are diffused into the discs from the blood supply in the bones surrounding them. Normal motion of spine segments is critical to maintain healthy discs. Without this motion and the resulting loss of nutrients, the disc can start to dehydrate, degenerate, and become injured. Broadway Chiropractic Center has been helping people with disc injuries and herniations avoid surgery for decades, and we are here to help you.
How does this happen?
Disc herniations commonly happen in trauma or in degenerating discs. Intervertebral disc lose a lot of their blood supply when we are in our early twenties. The discs rely upon normal motion of the spine which imbibes nutrients or “hydrates” the disc so they remain thick and healthy. If this does not occur, the disc will start to dehydrate, degenerate, and collapse. As the disc breaks down it becomes weaker and more susceptible to injury. Cracks can form in the disc and the “jelly” in the middle of the disc pushes outward.
Types of disc injury
Disc injuries can include bulges or swelling of the disc and herniations or cracking and tearing of the disc. There are several varying degrees of severity of disc herniations. The disc can have a small amount of tearing all the way to a complete rupture of its soft gelatinous content also known as herniated nucleus pulposus.
How we can help
Chiropractic care and decompression therapy for disc herniations is successful because we restore normal motion back to the spine. When spinal joints move normally, the nerves around them increase input to your your brain. These nerve receptors increase the function of your pre frontal cortex of the brain. (in your forehead). This is the part of your brain that is responsible for awareness of what is happening in your body. When it can "see" what is happening it gets to work to fix you. But when there is no input, it doesn't have the information it needs to adapt and respond to your injury.
Restoring normal motion to the spine also "rehydrates" the disc with water, oxygen, and nutrients which it needs to heal. By using decompression therapy, we can unload the discs and take stress off of the injured area. As the disc starts to heal and pressure comes off of the nerves, the pain and/ or numbness can subside. We do this with some combination of gentle chiropractic techniques, decompression therapy, and exercises/stretches. Our goal is to get you out of pain now while addressing the underlying cause of your disc herniation, so it doesn't happen again.
If you are suffering with a disc herniation and searching for a Denver chiropractor and want to get rid of the pain so you can sleep, work, walk, sit pain free, ski, golf, and play with your kids again, call us (303) 733-3522.