“You have to know where you came from to know where you are
going.”
It is true for all of us personally,
familiarly, and professionally. It’s true for
medicine – allopathic and alternative - too. It is true for the understanding
of the disc and the spine it houses. Knowledge
of Baton Rouge back pain keeps evolving, and
one of the key milestones was rather recent
in the history of man. Capitol Spine & Rehabilitation shares
old and new discoveries about the disc
and the back pain it causes as well as the
Baton Rouge chiropractic care that relieves that back
pain.
HISTORY OF THE DISC HERNIATION
The understanding of disc herniation as a
compressive force on spinal nerves resulting in back pain and leg
pain is a relatively new phenomenon. Keep
in mind that the spine changes as it matures. The shape
of the disc and the composition of it tissue changes. The disc’s center,
nucleus pulposus, changes and gets smaller. (1) We know
differently today, but in 1909, the disc herniation was believed
to be a tumor. In 1930, a neurologist (T Alajouanine) and surgeon (D
Petit-Dutaillis) described their surgical experiences with disc
herniations that were initially studied by a pathologist
named CG Schmorl. But it was not until 1934 when WJ Mixter and JS
Barr published the first report of surgically taking out disc herniations in 19 patients. (2) (Unless it is
published, it did not happen…and you do not get credit
for it!) So it was less than a century ago that
the disc herniation was termed a disc herniation and recognized
as such! Allopathy and alternative medicine like chiropractic have risen
to the challenge in those intervening years.
ALLOPATHY and ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Allopathic medicine is usually focused
on the disease and has a tendency to concentrate
on symptom-specific treatment (usually pharmacological or invasive) to remove the cause of pain. Alternative medicine traditionally
centered on a whole-body approach and has a tendency to concentrate on treatments that increase
the body’s capability to heal itself (herbal supplements, Reiki, chiropractic, Tai chi, acupuncture, etc.) to decrease pain. (3) Nowadays, integrative medicine is escalating in its appreciation and utilization of the best of both.
CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT FOR DISC HERNIATION
Chiropractic care is comprehensive
care for spine pain conditions. For the disc herniation resulting in
low back pain, neck pain, leg pain and/or arm pain, gentle flexion distraction
spinal manipulation is relieving. A new study points
out that horizontal traction was quite effective
in causing a significant enlargement of
average lumbar spine disc height and decrease in lumbar
lordosis. (4) Such is available with the Cox Technic System of Spinal Pain
Management causing long-y axis distraction. Capitol Spine & Rehabilitation concentrates
in this treatment. Cox Technic is depicted as a non-thrust low
velocity variable amplitude spinal manipulation that manages low
back pain non-pharmacologically. It’s shown to
reduce pain in chronic low back pain patients. (5) It decreases
intradiscal pressure in the disc to as low as -192mmHg, widens the
spinal canal area by 28%, and enlarges disc height by 17%. (6)
Capitol Spine & Rehabilitation relieves back pain due to disc herniation quite
effectively.
CONTACT Capitol Spine & Rehabilitation
Listen to this PODCAST
by Dr. Jake Bohnen on The Back
Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. He presents a
case of a disc herniation he treated with Cox® Technic and reduced pain…and the
herniation on MRI!
Schedule a non-surgical Baton Rouge chiropractic care
appointment with Capitol Spine & Rehabilitation today. Together, we’ll determine where you’ve been on your back pain journey
and make a path of correction and control for its
future with the most appropriate treatment possible.