Chiropractic Care Helps Relieve Herniated Disc Problems

Unfortunately, quite a few of our Sunnyvale & San Francisco, CA patients are familiar with the pain associated with a herniated disc all too well. Fortunately, Dr. Jamie Stern has helped many people with disc pain, and a number of medical studies have verified that chiropractic care can help patients recover from this kind of condition.

Research on Herniated Discs and Chiropractic

In one report, a group of doctors from Switzerland recruited 148 patients who were dealing with pain in their low 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 area of his or her disc herniation.

Data was collected after the first 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 offers when it comes to treating this particular condition. Among the information gathered was the person's self-reported changes in both lumbar and leg pain.

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

Even those people 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 report, a 26-year-old man 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 care, "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 useful chiropractic can be when it comes to alleviating herniated disc pain and treating the symptoms they bring about. So, if you are suffering from back pain caused by a herniated disc and want to find some relief, chiropractic might be an effective solution.

Don't suffer from chronic herniated disc pain. Give our Sunnyvale & San Francisco, CA office a call today at (415) 308-7636 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.