Back pain can have many causes, sometimes it is the disc. The disc is a fibrous cushioning cartilage between each of the spine bones called vertebrae. The disc has a unique structure and is designed to take lots of pressure and other stresses. Occasionally there can be swelling and even tears in that cartilage. Here is some information for you and how you can help determine your best course of action. Don’t always believe the doctor that sees you, remember they are selling you SOMETHING… a drug, a shot, a treatment plan, a SURGERY… and we all know we can buy stuff we don't really need. In this case that can be a life long problem… buyer beware!
Here is a video that I made explaining some of the details I have found regarding disc injuries that people have presented to me. Sometimes patients bring in an MRI or and x-ray to show me, but we can usually know what the result is before the studies have been done just by the clinical findings. This is what I look for.
If a patient tries to get care for an injury to the back and it has not gone well, we change course and start to evaluate knees, hip, and even the neck and upper back to see if there is a relationship. . Once we discover there is pain at the lumbar area, the small of the back we then check a couple orthopedic and neurological signs. Straight leg raise helps determine the severity of a disc injury as well as the side. We also do deep tendon reflexes and muscular tests. If a patient cannot walk a couple steps on their tip toes or their heels we assume there is a more serious condition that many times has to be referred out for surgical consult. In my 25 years of practice I have had to send only three for surgery that they got. Three others refused to have surgery and wanted me to treat them. I was successful in two of those three, the final one having to go to surgery within a year.
Treatment should be individualized. Symptoms show up the same way. Once we have found the actual problem we still have to work on the surrounding muscles as well as where the nerves all go. This is attributed to Hilton's law. Sometimes with back pain there can be pain in the knee, Sometimes with a back injury there can be referral pain For example, sometimes the nerve that is being pressed upon or has been injured by the back issue can show up as other problems in the internal organs. Lower back can show up as menstrual issues in females and prostate issues in men.
Other areas of spinal issues in other areas can cause all sorts of problems. I'll get into that in another post. Watch the video, make sure you subscribe. Have a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment