Size of Baton Rouge Disc Herniation in Canal Is Not That Important

76% of us has a disc herniation. (1) Do 76% of us have back pain right now? Nope! Thank goodness! The presence of a disc herniation on imaging isn’t the important issue. The issue is whether that disc is producing pain either mechanically (by pressing on a nerve) or chemically (by irritating a nerve). Spine & Sports Rehab Center figures this out in the course of the all-important physical exam. The MRI and other imaging studies are tools that can assist - or distract - the chiropractic back pain treatment approach if the doctor and patient let it. So let’s not let it! 

PERCENT OF SPINAL CANAL A DISC TAKES UP DOESN’T MATTER

Some imaging studies or MRI images will show very large discs in back pain sufferers who have not a lot of or no pain while back pain sufferers who are in unbearable pain may have a small disc herniation. It can be frustrating. Luckily, research maintains that size isn’t everything. A research paper documented that there was no correlation of pain and disability with the size of a disc herniation found on MRI. (2) Another study of 368 patients diagnosed with a lumbar disc herniation reported that 91.3% of them did not undergo back surgery within a year. The surgery patients’ discs took up 31.5% of their spinal canal while the non-operative patients’ discs took up 31.2% of their spinal canals. That is not much of a difference. Researchers wrote that this doesn’t predict which patients will fail nonsurgical treatment and require surgery within 2 years after undergoing a lumbar spine MRI scan. (3) In light of these findings, Spine & Sports Rehab Center uses conservative treatment of these disc herniations.

CONSERVATIVE CARE EFFECT ON DISC SIZE

Chiropractors are back pain specialists. Your Baton Rouge chiropractor is the Baton Rouge back pain specialist. Painful disc herniations are accepted at Spine & Sports Rehab Center as the spinal research shows that, though painful, disc herniations big and small respond well to conservative treatment. As a matter of fact, in following up with patients who underwent conservative treatment for their disc herniation, 35% to 100% of the cases showed a reduction in the size of the disc. (4) Two years after conservative care, herniated disc patients showed a 16.5% decrease in size. 57% of patients had a reduction, 40% demonstrated no change in size, and 3% had a bigger herniation. (5) Particularly, conservative treatment of the disc herniation with flexion distraction Cox® Technic delivered increases in the measurements of the spinal canal by as much as 28% in area, 17% in height and 7% in width. (6) Baton Rouge back pain sufferers are grateful for such improvement in their disc herniations as pain relief results.

CONTACT Spine & Sports Rehab Center

Listen to the PODCAST with Dr. George Joachim on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. Dr. Joachim presents the case of a patient with a disc herniation preoducing spinal stenosis that created considerable pain and alteration to her lifestyle which was enhanced with his use of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.

Schedule your Baton Rouge chiropractic appointment today. Regardless of its size, your disc herniation is in good company and in good hands at Spine & Sports Rehab Center.