Chiropractic Care Effective for Herniated Disc Problems

Regrettably, many of our Tucson patients are familiar with the pain associated with a herniated disc all too well. Fortunately, Dr. Conlee has helped many people with disc pain, and a number of scientific studies have verified that chiropractic care can help patients recover from this kind of problem.

Research on Herniated Discs and Chiropractic

In one study, a group of doctors from Switzerland recruited 148 patients who were suffering with pain in their lower back and legs due to a disc herniation (which was confirmed through magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI). Each individual then received chiropractic adjustments that focused on the location of his or her disc problem.

Data was obtained after the preliminary treatment session at set intervals--namely, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year--to ascertain what kind of short-term and long-term effects, if any, chiropractic care offers when it comes to treating this particular problem. Among the information obtained was the individual's self-reported changes in both back and leg pain.

The authors found that, overall, the patients reported "significant improvement" for both types of pain every time the results were collected. In fact, over 90% of the patients reported that their pain "improved" within the first three months, with 88% still citing improvement one year after their first treatment session.

Even those patients who were defined as "chronic" still claimed an improvement in pain at a rate of 89% one year beyond when treatment first began. This is the same positive effect that was found in the following case study.

Case Study Shows that Chiropractic Benefits Chronic Disc Herniation Symptoms

In this paper, a 26-year-old male had presented with disc herniation symptoms such as pain in the lower back, left leg, and left groin area, along with left foot drop and muscle weakness. He had suffered with these symptoms for more than two years after sustaining a sports injury, and his disc herniation was confirmed via MRI.

After receiving chiropractic, "The patient responded favorably and his multi-symptom complex resolved within 90 days of treatment." In addition, the patient was still experiencing relief one year after the chiropractic intervention.

Studies like these show how beneficial chiropractic can be when it comes to alleviating herniated disc pain and reducing the symptoms they bring about. So, if you are suffering from back ache caused by a herniated disc and want to find some relief, chiropractic can be an effective solution.

Don't suffer from chronic herniated disc pain. Give our Tucson office a call today at (520) 322-6161 for a consultation or appointment.

References

• Leemann S, Peterson CK, Schmid C, Anklin B, Humphreys BK. Outcomes of acute and chronic patients with magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed symptomatic lumbar disc herniations receiving high-velocity, low-amplitude, spinal manipulative therapy: a prospective observational cohort study with one-year follow-up. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2014;37(3):155-163.
• Polkinghorn BS, Colloca CJ. Treatment of symptomatic lumbar disc herniation using activator methods chiropractic technique. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 1998;21(3):187-196.