Healthy News January 2024 Disc Size Doesnt Necessarily Matter & 4 Ways To Ease Chronic Pain

Now there’s a twist on new year’s resolutions of dieting to downsize! With back pain and neck pain, a small disc is not necessarily pain-free. Surprised? If you have a small disc and pain, you’re not! What does matter is (1) how much mechanical pressure the disc protrusion is placing on the nerve root and/or (2) how much chemical irritation is involved if an extruded disc’s inner gel-like material has left the anular fibers that surround it and now surrounds the spinal nerve(s) which has (have) never come in contact with each other before. Nerves hurt when this new chemical irritant comes in! A tiny extruded disc can generate enormous pain if chemical irritation is part of the problem. A huge disc protrusion may not trigger pain at all if it does not contact a spinal nerve. (1-7) A 2023 published study just ended their report with the conclusion that the size of a disc protrusion did not demonstrate a noteworthy relationship to pain and function. (8) If you or a loved one or friend is beginning 2024 with Minster back pain with or without sciatic leg pain or neck pain with or without arm pain radiculopathy, come see Minster Chiropractic Center for some Minster pain relief with gentle, safe chiropractic Cox® Technic care!

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Timothy Gagan on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson about use of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for a patient experiencing back and leg pain because of a disc herniation.              

 

Minster CHIROPRACTIC TIP OF THE MONTH: 4 Ways to Reduce Chronic Pain In 2024

As researchers and healthcare professionals work toward establishing practice guidelines (ex: WHO) in managing chronic pain (back, neck, etc.), they are analyzing influencing factors that chronic pain sufferers and their caregivers need to address for best clinical outcomes:

1. Understand the condition. A clear grasp of the chronic primary low back pain condition via education/advice was associated with beneficial developments in pain, function, quality of life, and psychological outcomes. (9)
2. Consider emotional influences. Adverse childhood events were documented to be significantly related to chronic pain and pain-related disability as an adult. (10)
3. Undergo spinal manipulation. A study of nonpharmacological pain management approaches used by Medicare patients found that manipulative therapies, mainly chiropractic, have been the most widely studied approaches. (11) Cox® Technic flexion-distraction - as we use in our targetlocation practice – helped a 67-year-old veteran who experienced chronic low back pain and intermittent lower extremity pain for several decades get overall improvement in his condition, decrease use of pain medication, and gain mobility after 4 sessions in just a short 4-week period. (12)
4. Exercise. Structured exercise programs were shown to decrease pain and functional limitation in chronic low back pain patients. (13)

Make 2024 your year for pain relief! Minster Chiropractic Center is excited to be your Minster chiropractic partner in this project. See you soon!

Make your Minster chiropractic appointment today!