Acute herniated discs the in neck and other aggravations can be extremely debilitating. Chiropractic adjustments can provide immense relief to reduce herniated disc symptoms, aligning and balancing the spine and related systems.
Some doctors may prescribe medication or surgery, but here at Active Edge, we focus on the long-term solutions involving movement retraining and physical therapy to teach you how to stabilize the spine on your own, without relying on pharmaceuticals or the consequences of surgery.
Between your vertebrae are cartilaginous discs that provide cushion between the individual vertebrae bones. A herniated disc occurs when the soft material between your vertebrae slips out of place due to strain, injury, or aging. This can put pressure on or “pinch” nearby nerves, causing you irritation, pain, and discomfort.
Depending on the location and severity of the herniated disc, symptoms may vary. If you experience any of these signs, seeking professional care is advisable.
A herniated disc is typically caused by a combination of factors, often related to wear and tear on the spine. Common causes of a slipped or bulging disc include:
Achieving and maintaining proper alignment and balance can help safely decrease irritation on the spinal nerve, resulting in reduced symptom severity and improved function. Chiropractic adjustments can help align and balance the spine, but maintenance of alignment, you’ll need adjustments more frequently.
At Active Edge, we can adjust you as needed and provide you with the tools to strengthen and stay aligned. Through physical therapy and training, we help you stabilize supporting muscles like your core, to maintain balance, spinal alignment, and keep pressure off your affected spinal nerves.
We have herniated disc specialists and certified therapists on staff who will guide you through exercises that will help you activate inactive muscles and deactivate overactive muscles that could be contributing to your imbalance and further irritation of nerves.
As Doctors of Chiropractic, our education is based on the foundation that our bodies are intelligent and interconnected. Our curriculum includes some of the most in-depth training in spinal anatomy, musculoskeletal conditions and diagnosis, vertebral subluxations, kinesiology, and more. We’ve refined our knowledge over the years with continuous study about spine health, herniated discs, and the far reaching affects it may have on your body as well as how other dysfunction can affect spine function, and health.
Our doctors are trained in a variety of techniques and utilize this diversified approach to make each patient’s experience as effective and comfortable as possible. Some of the techniques in our office include:
Applying these and other modalities in private practice since 2012, we balance musculature and retrain movement patterns for optimal movement which allows patients to see positive improvements in pain reduction and range of motion.
A few common home remedies for discs are adjusting your sleep position to reduce pressure on your back. People often report that laying flat on their back on the floor is the most comfortable place to be. Putting something under one or both knees may also be helpful.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITw_yz8jqBA
Natural analgesics and anti-inflammatories can assist the healing process. Some of our favorites are: https://drhensel.metagenics.com/inflanvonoid-rapid and
Try prone press ups, laying on your stomach, putting pressure into your hands and lifting your chest while reaching your sternum forward. This position is similar to baby cobra or cobra in yoga. Press up into this position hold for 3-10 seconds and lower back down. Do 10-20 of these.
Stretching and self massage with hands, lacrosse ball, foam roller, or percussion gun. Muscles that will commonly be contributing to pain associated with a herniated disc are psoas,gluts, QL, and lats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJhdzMi6hOU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NluhrQXv42w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awkPgE8E544
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHGsbSag5qI
Topical magnesium oil, cbd creams, or essential oil blends containing analgesic and healing properties. We love the CBD muscle rub and Deep Relief products from young living. https://www.myyl.com/activedgehealth
Take a mineral-rich, hot bath to relax muscles and bring nutrients into the injured areas. Ice or cold plunge to help reduce inflammation and pain. Pro tip: alternating between the two, can really boost nutrient delivery while driving out toxins and excess inflammation.
Light exercise such as taking a walk or riding a stationary bike to tolerance. There is a fine line between therapy and torture. Staying on the therapy side reminds your body to continue healing. Crossing over that threshold into the no pain has the potential to exacerbate damage rather than encouraging healing. We generally recommend avoiding twisting movements when disc involvement is suspected.
It can take from 2 weeks to 3 months long to recover from a herniated disc. From our experience, the sooner you seek chiropractic care, the faster and more effectively you are likely to heal. Depending on how lit up your back or other affected areas are, treatment may begin with more passive modalities and supplementation aimed to reduce pain and boost healing before moving into more comprehensive therapies.Age, diet, exercise, and sleep habits are a few factors that can change how long it takes to heal.
We have a variety of treatments available to help you with your herniated disc. Sometimes a chiropractic adjustment is appropriate, sometimes massage or one of our other functional medicine treatments. Sometimes your body needs treatment administered in a certain order based on the compensations and protections it has created. We can’t always know which muscles are tight because they are compensatory vs causal, but we regularly test and recheck throughout our visits to ensure we are on the right path. If we do steal a way a cheat so to speak, that discomfort or exacerbation is generally short lived and can be corrected by addressing the causal components.
The likely hood of there being long lasting damage from a chiropractic adjustment is very slim but could happen. To put it into perspective, you’re more likely suffer a stroke while having your hair washed at the hair dresser than it is for you to be hurt by a chiropractic adjustment.
Yes. A herniated disc can occur anywhere in your spine and chiropractors are specialists of the musculoskeletal system which includes the spine.
At this point, you are feeling better than you ever thought you could as you are feeling energized and thriving. You have learned a lot about your body, you are moving more efficiently, you understand your body’s cues, and you have a good idea of what to do with these cues. This means you get to try new things, achieve new goals, and conquer new challenges! As you do, we will be here as your resource, as needed, to help you nourish, boost, and refresh your health.
Pain is generally the last symptom to show up and the first to go away. This means that by the time you realize there is a problem, there has been a problem for a long time. Especially for chronic or recurring issues, understanding how you got to where you are is so important for getting to where you want to go. In this stage of your journey, you will resolve underlying dysfunction, remove cheats, and retrain habits. As we aid you in activating your body’s natural healing potential, we will help you regain movement, energy, and body function both inside and outside. Throughout this process, you will start to feel greater ease and inspiration as you restore communication and efficiency in your body. Together, we will constantly assess, observe, and reassess your body’s responses to boost your results.
You are your own person, with your own collection of life events which brought you to where you are today. You deserve to be heard, seen, and treated as the individual you are. Your journey begins with your Discovery Evaluation. This first visit includes your exam which works to uncover the root of your issue(s), new patient diagnostics, and, of course, your first treatment. This is how we will help you begin connecting the dots and feeling better. After your first treatment, we will ask you to observe your body’s responses– good, bad, or indifferent. There is no wrong answer as this is just starting point information and direction for moving forward. In your second visit, we will review this feedback and your diagnostics to further identify potential underlying causes and compensations. We will combine everything we have learned about you, consider your goals, and together create a plan to resolve your concerns from the roots up.
