Spinal Decompression

The modifications of different illnesses create one of the toughest challenges for consultants, analysts, and patients. As an example, we frequently hear through the mass media that scientists are looking for the cures for assorted sicknesses. Each of these forms of the illness cause different symptoms and treatments, and would therefore need different cures. Similarly, numerous kinds of arthritis exist, for example psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Another variety of this devastating illness is spinal arthritis.

Spinal arthritis, or spinal stenosis, involves the tapering of the spine, manifesting itself through stress on the spinal nerve as well as on the roots of nerves. This illness sometimes involves 3 regions of the backbone : the canals at the nerves' base that expand from the spinal nerve ; the openings between the backbone's bones, through which nerves exit the backbone and then continue to other body parts ; and the tube in the middle pillar of bones, through that the roots' base and the backbone continue. This tapering can include either a big or minuscule area of the backbone. The subject of spinal arthritis may feel aches or a scarcity of sensation in the shoulders, neck, or legs.

Spinal arthritis sufferers are most frequently ladies and men who are over 50 years of age. Nonetheless , younger folk who experience an injury to their backbone may also experience spinal arthritis. In addition, those that are born with tapering of the spinal channel could also become inflicted with this illness.

Spinal arthritis sufferers of every age may experience no symptoms, because of the tapering of the area in the spinal channel. However , if this narrowing puts stress on the nerve roots or spinal nerve, sufferers might endure cramps, absence of sensation, aches in the legs and arms, and weakness. Also, if the chiselled area in the backbone presses down on the nerve base, sufferers of spinal arthritis may experience discomfort sealing down their leg. They should right away engage in bending exercises, reinforcing exercises, stretching the lumbar region, and sitting.

When a victim of spinal arthritis isn't experiencing tremendous or worsening nerve organisation, then the doctor might prescribe either anti-swelling drugs that have no steroids, such as aspirin, and ibuprofen, to lower swelling and reduce aches, or drugs like Tylenol, to reduce discomfort.

If stronger treatment is required corticosteroid injections can be given into the remotest of the membranes covering the nerve roots and the spinal nerve, this will lower swelling and treat pointy agony that spreads down a leg, or down to the hips. Anaesthetic shots, and nerve blocks, can be given nearby the nerve that is influenced, to momentarily reduce agony.

Doctors frequently counsel physical treatment or exercises to increase stamina, continue the backbone's motion, and fortify back and belly muscles. This could help to make the backbone steadier. Aerobic activity is also a choice if the patient isn't in too much discomfort.

When treatment not concerning surgery is ineffectual, surgery becomes a choice. The target is to reduce the nerves' pressure or spinal nerve, and to re-establish and sustain the backbone's arrangement and strength.

Today, spinal arthritis remains one of the most devastating sorts of sicknesses that folk can have. Luckily, doctors and analysts continue to enhance its treatment, to relieve its victims' discomfort.

Inversion therapy is a treatment that involves anti-gravity. A person's feet are put into some sort of tight shoes, and the individual hangs upside down in search of pain relief. Does it work? Is it safe?

The theory behind inversion therapy is that it takes gravitational pressure off of the spinal anatomy such as nerve roots and intervertebral discs. The space between vertebrae is theoretically increased during anti-gravity inversion therapy. The treatment is in essence a form of spinal traction, with body weight providing the traction.

Inversion therapy has been found to be effective for short term back pain relief. There have been some well designed research studies evaluating it for long term relief. Unfortunately these studies have shown it to be ineffective for longer relief. In conjunction with a comprehensive treatment protocol for back pain, inversion therapy may fit in nicely to assist with pain relief.

When patients hang upside down for the inversion therapy, it may increase blood pressure. So for patients who have an issue with high blood pressure or heart disease, it should be avoided. Otherwise, it appears to be very safe.

The same risk factors hold true for glaucoma, which involves elevated intra-ocular pressure. This could be exacerbated with upside down inversion treatment.

Inversion therapy does not have to be 90 degrees, it may be done at less of an angle. Treatment may be achieved twice a day for 20 minutes at a time. Those who are new to inversion treatment should probably angle at 30 degrees to start for a few weeks until comfortable with the treatment. Most people do not need to go beyond 60 degrees to achieve full benefit.

Will inversion treatment help with a bulging disc? The answer is probably not. Yes inversion may pull arthritic joints and disc spaces apart, allowing patients to feel symptomatically better for a period. However, it is not like the intermittent traction with spinal decompression therapy where a negative pressure is created in the intervertebral disc. This negative pressure brings in increased nutrients and oxygen to the disc, allowing for potential healing.

Can inversion therapy help relieve sciatica pain? The answer is potentially yes. The reason is it can in fact pull the discs apart temporarily, which can relieve pain from a pinched nerve. But as mentioned, there is no real evidence that an inversion table sucks back in a herniated disc.

The bottom line is that inversion therapy may allow for short term back pain relief, but long term relief has not been seen. Sciatica pain relief may also be achieved, but as with back pain itself it may simply be short term.

What is spinal decompression therapy and how can it help you?

Perhaps before we discuss spinal decompression therapy we should take a brief moment to talk about who might benefit from this treatment and why. As the name implies spinal decompression therapy is a treatment for spinal problems that are associated with pressure or compression. There are a number of different spinal ailments that are the result of compression of the nerves exiting the spine. The most common are slipped discs, spinal stenosis, sciatica and pinched nerves.

While the exact mechanisms of these various conditions are different they all ultimately involve pressure on or compression of the spinal nerve roots. There are surgical techniques of spinal decompression, but this article will focus on non-surgical methods available to decompress the spine. Many times these non-surgical techniques can reduce or eliminate the need for surgery. Several studies suggest that the techniques that we are about to be discuss may reduce the need for back surgery from 47 to 60 percent. So in theory more widespread use of non-surgical spinal decompression strategies could effectively eliminate the need for about one in every two spine surgery procedures. That is really great news for folks suffering from pinched spinal nerves regardless of the cause of the compression.

So how does it all work? The basic concept is really quite simple. A nerve exiting the spine gets compressed by a bad disc, spinal stenosis of spondylosis, a fancy name for spinal arthritis. Pressure on the nerve causes it to become inflamed and chemical changes occur in the nerve which makes it hyper-excitable. The result is pain, lots of it and also numbness and even weakness in the muscle of the lower back, hip and leg. Depending on the nature of the nerve compression and the amount of chemical changes that occur in each patient's compressed nerve, the signs and symptoms will vary from patient-to-patient. The important thing to remember is that the first job is to decompress the nerve. Then the inflammation and chemical changes need to be addressed for the body to heal properly.

Step one: Take the pressure off the spinal nerve to stop ongoing nerve damage. There are a number of ways to take the pressure off a pinched nerve. The general term for this is called spinal decompression; in truth we should really call it spinal nerve decompression therapy. Because it is more accurate to say we decompress the spinal nerve than to state we decompress the spine. So how do we decompress the spinal nerves? The answer is straight forward. Apply traction. Spinal traction has been used to treat back pain from nerve compression for thousands of years.

The most important question is how to most efficiently apply traction to the spine to effectively decompress the spinal nerves? There are a number of ways.

You probably can remember seeing pictures of patients strung up in harnesses with pulleys and weights. This old style of traction has been dismissed as ineffective, probably because it was inefficient in truly separating the vertebrae and causing decompression of the spinal nerve roots.

Then there are some home-based methods of spinal decompression. The two most popular ones are inversion machines that turn you upside down and cause gravity to distract the spine rather than compress it and the large exercise balls that can be used to elongate the spine through exercise. Both have pros and cons and for our discussion these should be relegated to follow-up home use after a course of true medical spinal decompression therapy.

That leaves two competing professional technologies to provide spinal decompression therapy in a medical setting. One therapy is called Spinal Decompression Therapy. It consists of a traction-like table and uses computerized sensors to monitor muscle contraction. This is important because when you start to administer traction to the spine a reflex occurs in the back muscles that resists the decompressive force. This is called the muscle stretch reflex. So this monitoring of the muscle stretch reflex is important to provide effective force to decompress the spine and pinched nerves. The Spinal Decompression Equipment times the traction with the relaxation of the muscles. Without considering this reflex muscle contraction the force used to decompress the spine will only be placing traction on the spinal muscles and not truly decompressing the pinched nerve.

In fact some scientists believe that old school traction failed to produce excellent results because they could not overcome the reflex muscle contraction hat occurs when you stretch the spinal muscles. If this was the case then traditional traction devices were limited to stretching back muscles and did very little to decompress the spine nerves. Modern Spinal Decompression equipment seems to have overcome this obstacle to true spinal nerve decompression.

An alternative to Spinal Decompression Treatment Tables is a technique called Flexion-Distraction Therapy. Flexion Distraction Therapy is unique because it is one of the only forms of decompression that treats the patient while he/she is face down. This is important for a couple of reasons.

We just talked about the muscle stretch reflex in the spinal muscles that makes them contract and resist decompression of the spine. There are many more reflexes associated with muscles. Another important reflex is called the agonist-antagonist reflex. Simply put, this is a reflex that causes the back muscle to relax when the stomach muscles are shortened. This reflex may be one of the reasons why Flexion Distraction Therapy can have profound effects on pinched spinal nerves.

While the patient is face down on the table, the Flexion Distraction Table flexes slightly. This has the effect of shortening the stomach muscles and causing a reflex relaxation of the back muscles. By slightly flexing the spine before applying the traction, the Flexion Distraction Therapy abolishes or greatly reduces the muscle stretch reflex in the back muscles. So once the spine is slightly flexed, resistance to traction of the back muscles is minimized and the spinal nerves can be effectively decompressed. Another advantage of Flexion Distraction Therapy is that the flexion movement of the table mechanically opens up the canal where most spinal nerve compression occurs.

So the properties of Flexion Distraction Therapy that make is ideal for spinal decompression is that by the nature of the procedure, back muscle relaxation and resistance to distraction are eliminated and the area of maximum nerve compression is mechanically enlarged all of which adds to effectiveness of spinal nerve root decompression.

Both Spinal Decompression technology and Flexion Distraction Technology for the non-surgical decompression of spinal nerve roots can be highly effective in reducing the pain and other symptoms associated with spinal nerve root compression. They are usually administered with additional therapies which are designed to reduce nerve inflammation and restore proper nerve chemistry. Either are worth looking into before considering surgery to decompress pinched spinal nerves.

Research supports the effectiveness of both of these competing techniques for the non-surgical decompression of spinal nerve roots.

Over the course of their lives, nearly eighty percent of Americans will experience some sort of back pain. Many of them will experience pain so debilitating that they actually miss work because of it. These are extraordinarily high numbers of people with discomfort in this region of the body. While many causes of back pain can be prevented, it is only by understanding two of the most important reasons leading to soreness and injury that people can take preventative action and reduce their chances of experiencing pain. These two causes are sitting for long periods of time and lack of hip flexibility.

However, people should also realize that these two causes of back pain also work together to increase injury and soreness. Sitting for hours and hours every day in front of a computer or at a workstation leads to a cramming of the spinal discs, as well as a reduction of mobility in the hips. The hips are designed to be extremely mobile with a large range of motion, But sitting down causes the lower back to take over when movements are required. In essence, the hips tend to "turn off" and the low back takes up the slack when sitting. And when the person gets up, this habitual use of muscles continues unless corrected.

Sitting down puts increased pressure on the vertebrae of the back, especially compared to standing up. When standing, the loads placed on the spine are reduced because the abdominal muscles are more activated and the hips and leg muscles are also working to support the body. But when sitting in a chair, all of the weight of the upper body comes to rest on the pelvis directly, with no transfer of the force through the hips to the legs and feet. This results in higher loads being placed on the joints of the lower back where the lumbar (lower) spine meets the pelvis. Over time, the tissues supporting this area of the body tend to weaken and break down.

While many people feel that standing for long periods of time causes soreness and discomfort, this is usually the feeling of sore muscles. The back extensors, hips, and legs may get sore from spending too much time standing up, but usually the pressures on the tissues such as the ligaments and the spinal discs are reduced. But when sitting down for too long, the muscles may be saved from working to support the spine, but the loads are then directed to the ligaments, discs, bones, and other connective tissues. Muscles soreness can be recovered from much more quickly than damage to the discs.

Sitting also places the hips in a position where they are not allowed to expand, move, or activate muscles to support the body. This can lead to reduced flexibility and range of motion in the hips. When this happens, additional stress is placed on the low back, as the body seeks necessary mobility from the tower back that is missing in the hips. The lumbar spine, however, is not meant to have a large range of motion -- it is built to be very stable and supportive of the joints directly above and below it. When the body is lacking in mobility at the hips, back injuries occur.

Thus, sitting down for long periods of time and reduced mobility in the hip joints can lead to back injuries. The longer one sits in a chair and the less flexibility in the hips, the greater the chance of lower back pain and the worse that soreness can be. People who are seriously concerned about the health of their back must learn to reduce or mitigate the compressive forces on their spines and use their bodies as they were designed -- to keep the loads off of the discs and ligaments of the lumbar spine and utilize the natural mobility of the hips for movement and activity.

The pain alert system in the body is one of the most useful aspects of the nervous system, at least from a survival and danger-avoidance standpoint. But when the system becomes overly sensitized, either due to tissue damage or long-term inflammation, it can cause all sorts of problems for people, the main one being chronic pain lasting months or years. But much of the pain that is felt years after an injury may be due to the nervous system and brain not communicating effectively with each other anymore.

There are pain sensors spread throughout the body; they are located near the skin, in muscles, and on bones. When these nerves receive enough of an input, they open up and allow a flood of positively-charged ions in, which sends a pain message to the spinal cord and brain. The pain receptors can be activated through a number of different mechanisms, from a hammer hitting someone's thumb, to a dangerous chemical being dropped on a hand or leg, to hot coffee being spilled. All of these can result in pain due to mechanical, chemical, or temperature changes that affect the nerves.

However, the pain messages must reach a critical level in order to send a real pain message to the brain. Lightly touching a hammer to your thumb will not usually send you screaming and sucking it to reduce the pain (unless the nerves are already highly sensitized). The pain receptors may open and allow some positive ions in, but they are not judged to be enough to create pain. The brain, along with the spinal cord, evaluates the messages received from the pain receptors and decides whether or not there is a danger. If danger is perceived, then pain is the result, but if the inputs are not sufficient to cause pain, the brain does not send the message to protect the body part.

This processing by the brain is one of the most important aspects of pain for people to understand. Elite athletes may be able to run the last 6 miles of a marathon with a stress fracture, while other people have to take the day off of work if they have a mild paper cut. Why is this? In essence, it is due to the sensory messages that the brain receives from the tissues and the messages it sends after receiving those inputs from the nerves. The actual condition of the tissues is one of the aspects the brain evaluates, but it is not the only one. It may be more important to keep running and finish the race than to send a danger message full of pain.

But when the brain believes that a person is in danger, it will send the pain message. At that point, the brain is almost completely in control and other various systems can take over. There is nothing like being hit with an object to test the reflexes to see how fast a person can get out of the way. The inflammatory system may turn on as the body then sends blood and nutrients to the site of the injury to cause swelling in order to protect the tissues. And pain from an acute injury can last as long as the brain determines that there is still a danger.

Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) is a process that may involve one intervertebral disc or numerous. It's a fairly common condition, at least 30% of people aged 30-50 years old will have some degree of DDD, although a lot will not have any pain at all from it.

It involves loss of hydration to the disc which is normally 80% water and can be from natural causes, post traumatic, genetics, essentially numerous causes, some of which we know and some we don't.

Here are the ones we know:

1) Acute injury to the back - This may occur from a car accident or some other accident that causes the disc to sustain tears in the outer portion of the disc. The outer portion is called the annulus and is the part that has the nerve endings where pain occurs.

2) Wear and Tear - Repetitive injury to the disc, such as occurs with heavy lifting occupations or truck driving, can over time cause disc degeneration and back pain or neck pain depending on where the problem occurs.

3) Post-surgical - Patients who undergo a discectomy for a herniated disc will have less disc after the discectomy than prior. With less spongy material to support body loads, the remaining disc will have a higher propensity for degeneration.

4) Obesity - Higher body mass will place more stress on your discs and potentially enhance the degeneration.

5) Genetics - You may be predisposed to excessive disc wear and tear, so if someone in your family has or had degenerative disc disease, you may also develop back or neck pain related to DDD.

6) Smoking - This habit adversely affects discs and can cause faster degeneration. Smoking decreases the amount of water in your discs, and that water is what helps your discs absorb stresses from movement successfully. With less water content, your intervertebral discs can wear out sooner.

As you can see, there are some causes of DDD that can be controlled, but genetics is not one of them.

Degenerative Spondylolisthesis is an extremely common spinal condition that causes back pain along with hip, buttock, and leg pain. The term "spondy" means spine and "listhesis" means slip. From degenerative arthritis occurring, one vertebral body ends up shifting on the one below it, and this can cause pain from either:

1. Spinal arthritis


2. Spinal instability


3. Pinching nerves from the slip (spinal stenosis)

The spinal canal has a typical cross sectional area that allows nerve roots to get out just fine normally. But if one vertebra slips and thereby shifts its position on top of another level, that cross sectional area decreases. You have a bony area that is shifting, but the surrounding soft tissues are shifted right with it.

This can pull traction on nerve roots that were previously very happy with the amount of space they had to exit from the spinal canal. With the slippage, those nerve roots may get pinched at one of 3 places:

1. Pinched nerve in the area where they come off of the spinal cord (dura)


2. The area as they enter the exit hole (foramen) from the spinal canal called the lateral recess


3. The exiting hole from the spinal canal, called the foramen

Either place of compression can produce symptoms of hip, buttock, and/or leg pain called spinal stenosis. Stenosis in this case refers to constriction of an anatomic circumference. If there instability when a person moves, such that the vertebra shifts when a person stands up and moves and then goes back upon sitting, this can create intermittent symptoms of back pain and/or spinal stenosis.

Unfortunately when spondylolisthesis occurs, it is a mechanical problem. We do not have a special powder or injection material that will fix it. However, degenerative spondylolisthesis is obviously not a fatal condition, and it doesn't cause paralysis.

So it can be treated conservatively with many options including:

1. Physical Therapy


2. Pain Management injections


3. Pain Medication


4. Chiropractic Treatment


5. Spinal Decompression Treatment

If these options fail, then surgery can work very well but should be considered as a last resort.

Anyone who has long-term pain syndromes may consider manipulation under anesthesia as an alternative treatment to painkillers and surgery. Basic conditions that may lead to this procedure are acute and chronic neck pain, joint pain, back pain, shortened muscles, muscle spasms, and fibrous adhesions (scar tissue).

Pain caused by the lumbar, thoracic, or cervical spine, frozen shoulder, and any discomfort in the pelvic region or sacroiliac may be treated by manipulation under anesthesia (MUA). The treatment is safe and can serve as a replacement for more intrusive and dangerous medical procedures. There are three primary ways that patients undergo this procedure.

1. During mild sedation
2. Under general anesthesia
3. After injection of the anesthetic into a specific area of the spine

Specialists working in a team environment to assure the safety of the patient may perform this procedure in a medical surgery facility. Manipulation under anesthesia is always a team effort, which generally consists of the anesthesiologist, the chiropractor or doctor responsible for the manipulation, and an assistant. Unlike general chiropractic procedures, manipulation under anesthesia is almost always performed in a hospital or other traditional medical facility such as an outpatient surgery center.

The primary aim of manipulation under anesthesia is to break up scar tissue or fibrous adhesions that center around the spine. The process uses specific kinesthetic maneuvers of postural and articular varieties, passive stretches, and short-lever manipulations of the spine specific to the problem areas.

Although the terminology might be new to many people, manipulation under anesthesia is far from a new procedure. It has been a part of medical treatment for more than sixty years and has its own CPT Code designation.

Who Receives Treatment

Back and neck injuries are the leading reasons for spinal manipulation, but not every situation requires the procedure, and some doctors might be hesitant to perform manipulation based on many factors including the physical condition of the patient. One of the main reason the procedure is done is for frozen shoulder, also known as adhesive capsulitis

Other care and treatment is often attempted before spinal manipulation, but if those efforts prove ineffective, manipulation is the next step. Scar tissue builds up along with adhesions during prolonged aggravation of spinal joints. Over time, this produces chronic pain in the spine and surrounding muscles.

While chiropractic treatments, epidural injections, and physical therapy often give temporary relief from pain, they do nothing to treat the underlying problem of fibrous adhesions. Back surgery most often does nothing for this either and may make that problem worse. Manipulation under anesthesia can bring results that are more permanent for chronic back and neck pain.

An epidural for back pain relief cannot only be an unpleasant experience it can also provide the patient with some relief from their back pain. I have personally undergone fifteen of these procedures myself so please keep in mind this article is written from my experiences and what works for me may not work for you.

With this in mind, here we go.

I suffered a devastating injury to my lower spine (L4-5) and have since had 8 back surgeries, a spinal infection, 15 epidural for back pain along with many other treatments in my quest for pain relief.

First of all, let me say that an epidural injection can be uncomfortable at times. However, I never experienced any actual pain during or after one of these procedures. To me there is a big difference between being sore or uncomfortable than being in pain.

I have been sedated before undergoing an epidural and I've also been awake and alert for some. I prefer to be sedated but when I wasn't, it really was not too bad. No worse than having a root canal for me and the discomfort is over shortly after the procedure. Unlike the pain and discomfort some feel after having a root canal.

The actual procedure lasts only fifteen minutes to a half an hour. In fact you will probably spend more time in the waiting room than the procedure itself.

The relief I feel (especially for the pain in back of leg) has been instantaneous at times and at other times I did not feel relief for a day or so. The point is, I did get some relief. Again, this is just my experience.

So the question you have to ask yourself a question. Is a little more pain and discomfort worth the chance to finally get some pain relief that lasts? For me the answer was obvious.

The best advice I can offer you is to not fret over the procedure and go in with a positive attitude. A positive attitude is everything in my book. I also find it helps to calm my nerves as well!

In my experience, having an epidural for back pain relief was well worth the little discomfort I felt and I can only hope that if you decide to undergo an epidural that you experience the same positive results as I.

Now if I could only get rid of my stiff back.

It would not be out of place to guide the people afflicted with herniated discs to some of the efficacious remedies to cure the back pain as incidence of the cases is on the rise now-a-days. Causes are not unknown. Incidents of falling down while boarding and getting off buses and other means of the public transport system, sustaining injuries in road accidents and attacks by miscreants, in sport activities/competitions/ matches such as foot ball, cricket, tennis, badminton, baseball, basketball -- athletics i.e., boxing, wrestling, weight lifting, long jump, high jump, car racing, and also -- on the cultural front, the most strenuous, arduous and toilsome demonstrations in the multifarious forms of art; for example -- stormy dance contests and other gimmicks, acrobatics and juggleries in the name of art and cultural activities/programs in T.V. reality shows -- are, in different degrees, responsible for the ever- growing incidence of the disc rupturing/slipping cases.

What is a herniated disc?

A herniated disc, commonly called a "slipped disc" or a "ruptured disc" or a "broken disc"--is most often a consequence of an accident resulting in a rupture, lifting any thing too heavy or in a wrong way, causing an injury or trauma in the spine. In other words, it involves a disc slipping/rupturing/breaking.

A person with the back pain, leg pain or weakness of the extremely lower muscles is diagnosed as a "patient suffering from a herniated disc." A herniated disc is caused by a sudden fall or an accident or may occur gradually with repetitive straining of nerves. Most often the people, who experience a herniated disc, already have "spinal stonosis"-a problem that causes narrowing of the spinal cord and spinal nerves. When a herniated disc occurs, the space for the nerves is further diminished, and irritation of the nerve results.

What is a bulging disc?

Although associated with a herniated disc, a bulging disc is something different, exclusively related to the lumber (lower spine of the back), and a totally old age problem.

The "nucleus pulposus" (the jelly-like substance in the middle of the spinal disc) of the "herniated disc" bulges out through the "annulus" (surrounding wall) and presses on the nerve root next to it. This nerve root becomes inflamed and causes serious pain. The problem may also be caused by degenerative disc disease (spondylosis). The disc consists of about 80 per cent of water. When one grows older, the disc starts to dry out and shrink, causing small tears in the "annulus" and inflammation of the nerve root.

In a case of herniated disc, the decompression takes place quite quickly and causes the disc to slip out, whereas in a case of bulging disc, the decompression takes place very slowly and causes the disc to bulge out.

What happens is that the spinal disc -- a soft cushion that sits between each vertebra of the spine -- becomes more rigid with age. In a young individual, the disc is soft and elastic, but like so many other structures in the body, the disc gradually loses its elasticity and is more vulnerable to injury. In fact, even in individuals as young as 30, MRIs show evidence of disc deterioration in about 30 per cent of people.

What is Sciatica?

Sciatica is also associated with the herniated disc. Sciatica patients experience a severe pain that shoots from the buttocks and hips, and runs down to the legs and feet. This condition is mostly accompanied by back pain felt in the legs. This is why it is also called the "leg pain." Since it involves the sciatic nerve - the body's biggest nerve - hence it has been given the medical name "sciatica." When this nerve gets irritated or disturbed by some pressure, possibly by a herniated disc, the patient feels a burning pain which is medically termed the "sciatic pain." So, sciatica, essentially, is a by-product of the herniated disc condition.

How does a herniated disc occur?

A person afflicted with a herniated disc, suffers from an unbearable pain and swelling. When the disc (muscular cushion) is displaced from its original position because of an injury or rupture, resulting in an extra growth, the bundle of spinal nerves is pinched from the abnormal growth. The injury to the nerves and the attached muscles produces "prostaglandins" which cause a severe pain in the back, neck, waist, shoulders and sometimes in the arms and legs as well.

When the spinal disc becomes less elastic, it ruptures. When so happens, a portion of the spinal disc pushes outside its normal boundary - this is what's medically termed a "herniated disc." When a herniated disc bulges out from between the vertebrae, the spinal nerves and the spinal cord, it gets pinched. There is normally a little extra space around the spinal cord and spinal nerves, but if enough of the herniated disc is pushed out of place, then these structures may be compressed.

Symptoms of herniated disc

The compression of the spinal cord or the spinal nerves turns them out of order. This means that abnormal signals may be passed from the compressed nerves, or signals may not be passed at all.

Electric shock-like abnormal sensations caused by any pressure on the nerve, and the pain going down to the arms and then to the legs, feeling of the abnormal sensations of tingling, numbness, or pins and needles in the same region as painful electric shock sensations, and weakness of the muscles because of the nerve irritation - are some of the symptoms a herniated disc patient experiences.

Remedies and therapeutic Options

In the treatment of herniated disc cases, there are two types of remedies and therapeutic options; the first being the surgical and the second one the non- surgical.

Surgical option:

It is only allopathic system of medicine that adopts the surgical option as the last resort when the use of all other artificial remedies-- the counter-pain medication and pain-killers such as "ibuprofen" prove ineffective in the treatment of a case of back pain striking either from a herniated disc or a strained/pulled muscle. In more serious cases wherein all the non-surgical remedies and therapeutic techniques fail to give a quick relief, the patients writhing in pain are promptly rushed to an allopath who, with the consent of the patient's relatives, go ahead for the surgery without any delay, if he is a surgeon himself; otherwise he refers the case to a surgeon or any government hospital. This kind of surgery conducted on a herniated disc patient is medically termed "disc fusion" and "discectomy" in which dislocated disc is replaced in its original position, extra growth caused by the dislocation removed and finally the bundle of spinal nerves that was strained due to the abnormal overgrowth normalized.

However, there is a little difference between a disc fusion and a discectomy. Disc fusion - also called "spinal fusion" - involves replacement of an artificial disc in the lumbar spine. It is considered the best treatment particularly for the "degenerative disc disease."

Discectomy - also known as" spondylodesis" or "spondyloryndesis" - is a surgical technique usually used to combine the two or more vertebrae. This procedure is used primarily to alleviate the pain caused by abnormal motion of the vertebrae by immobilizing the vertebrae themselves.
Supplementary bone tissue is used in conjunction with body's natural "osteblastic" processes. Thus the central portion of an intervertebral disc, the nucleus pulposus, which causes the pain by straining the pain by stressing the spinal cord or radiating nerves, is
removed.

Then, the disc material pressing on the spinal nerve or spinal cord is completely removed. The intervertebral foramen -- the bone channel, through which the spinal nerve runs -- is then enlarged with a drill giving the nerve more room to exist the spinal canal.

To open the vertebrae from collapsing and to increase their stability, the open space is often filled with bone graft, taken from the pelvis or cadaveric bone. The slow process of the bone graft joining the vertebrae together is called "fusion." Sometimes, a titanium plate is screwed on the vertebrae to increase stability, especially when there is more than one disc involved.
The surgery requires a short stay of one to three days in the clinic and a gradual recovery takes 4 to 6 weeks.

Non-surgical Options

Non-surgical methods of treatment may be adopted and used from various medical systems of curing diseases such as allopathic, homeopathic,natural/physical, Unani/Ayurvedic, and the last but not the least, Yoga.

Although universally popular, allopathic system of medicine (a method of treating disease with remedies that produces effects different from or opposite to those caused by the disease itself) has never and nowhere found to be as efficacious as other alternative medical systems of treatment, natural/physical remedies (physiotherapy), homeopathy and, of course -- conventional but still more efficacious systems of medicine -- Unani/Ayurvedic and Yoga -- that have been ceaselessly improved upon over the years by means of further study, research, development and new experiments from time to time. Allopathic system gives a quick but temporary relief whereas other systems give a slow but lasting relief.

Allopathic principle of medicine cures the effect of disease leaving its cause untouched. This resurfaces in any other form of the disease in future, while homeopathic system of treatment (a system of medicine that attempts to cure patients with heavily diluted preparations/drugs which cause effects similar to the symptoms produced by the disease...quite opposite to allopathic) gets to the bottom of the problem and eradicates the very cause of disease by its root. If diagnosed with the exact symptoms of the disease and administered an accurate medicine to the patient, the disorder disappears in a trice.

Physiotherapy is another option by which natural elements/agents such as solar energy, the water, the air, electricity, ice, etc., is resorted to, and has also been proved quite effective in the treatment of diseases. As mentioned earlier, despite amazing efficacy and utility of the homeopathic and natural remedies, allopathic system is still in vague all over the world, and there is nothing wrong with resorting to this option. However, the natural methods of curing diseases including homeopathy being a permanent solution to the whole problem, are by all manner of means, more deserve to be discussed and explained in detail in such a way as to attract more and more people, especially those afflicted with a herniated disc.

The natural method of treatment comprises a schedule of specifically prescribed exercises plus therapeutic techniques and a well-programmed bed rest. These remedies will definitely bring a quick relief from the pain and steadily accelerate the pace towards a complete recovery, regardless of the cause for the pain. Following are some suggestions with regard to the use and application of the natural therapeutic techniques to the herniated disc patients on the way leading to a durable relief and successful recovery from the back pain.

Natural Remedies-Non-surgical options

The first and foremost among these remedies are some medically prescribed techniques that follow:

Ice Pack: Ice, in fact, is the best solution, especially to the problem of strained nerves. While watching a competition of boxing, you may have definitely noticed a boxer receiving an injury in his face from the rival. The first thing his coach does is to apply an ice pack to the injured area in his face. Applying a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a towel to the site of injury also serves the purpose, if ice packs are not available in the nick of time.

Ice Massage: In most of the cases ice massage has been experienced to be quite effective and useful. Take a cube of ice and rub it around the affected area in a circular motion.

Hot packs: Hot/warm packs have been found an effective solution only to the problem of pulls/strains. These should be used only after trying the ice packs.

Body Massage: In using the massage technique, there is no need for any masseur or massage specialist to massage the patient's body. Any of the ordinary persons/relatives can do the job very easily and comfortably. The only requirement is-oil. If you don't have the special massage oil, take a little quantity of olive, mineral, or any ordinary oil that is within your reach. You may mix a little bit of "vanilla extract" to give it a nice scent. Pour a handful of oil on the affected area of the back and rub it gently. A back rub does not require a massage therapist. You can do it yourself without any difficulty. Just do what feels good to you and massage gently.

Bed Rest

For the cases of herniated disc, the first step towards recovery is bed rest. Though it is not possible to lie in bed all the time, the patient is best advised to do so as much as possible.

First Stage: Lay the patient on a strong and firm mattress to ensure that the back is placed as straight as possible. Moreover, the pillows should also be firm to ensure straightness and alignment of the bed. Taking rest in this way will help the body repair any damage done as a result of the disc rupture.

Second Stage: Elevating legs has been experienced to have provided higher degree of comfort in the recovery process. Place a small to medium size pillow underneath the patient's knees. It will lessen some of the pressure that may have been put on the back of the patient while being laid down on the bed. Elevating thighs slightly may also be helpful.

Third Stage: Place a pillow or any other soft object between his legs. It will help him remove any pressure that may have been applied to the affected portion of the back. While getting out of bed, the patient is well advised to take special care not to move suddenly, rather push self into a sitting position by using a side of the body instead of the back. However, lying on the stomach is not advisable in this condition.

Fourth Stage: For a patient who is on bed rest to recover from a back complication, it is essential to consume a raw food with a plenty of fluids. Bed rest most often results in the intestinal tract getting slow and it may cause constipation. To avoid this, ingesting uncooked food high in nutrition and drinking fluids as much possible is the best precautionary measure.

Fifth Stage: Applying heat and cold to the aching parts of the body alternatively has also been experienced to have alleviated the pain associated with herniated discs.

These are some of the natural remedies that have been traditionally used for centuries by virtue of their effectiveness in curing herniated discs and they have also proved quite helpful in healing the wounds associated with herniated disc.

Recovery Time:

These remedies combined with the "pain-killers" prescribed by the physicians can and will definitely ease the pain. Recovery takes normally two weeks in non-surgical cases, and an average of three to six weeks in surgical ones, depending on the severity of the injury. By adopting a medically prescribed program of specific exercises and body movements, desirable results can be achieved.

Prevention:

There is a saying; - "prevention is better than cure." Following the old adage, some precautionary measures must be taken to prevent the troubles. Among these are the back exercises and abdominal workouts that may prove helpful in strengthening muscles. Daily exercise, walk, jogging, running and also swimming if possible, are some of the best precautionary measures that may help you keep away from major back problems.