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Herniated Disc Treatment - A New Approach
from: Dr. George BestHerniated disc treatment used to come down to oral medication, steroid injections, physical therapy, and/or some form of surgery. Due to the poor overall success rate of these approaches, many herniated disc sufferers have wound up living in pain. A new treatment option is now available that provides a big improvement in success rate and safety in the treatment of herniated discs.
A new kind of intermittent spinal traction known as spinal decompression is rapidly becoming the treatment of choice for herniated disc sufferers. The old kind of traction was used for many years in herniated disc cases, but it was not particularly effective, and it even made symptoms worse in some patients. Regular traction often sets off muscle spasm, which may increase pain and may even compress a herniated disc further, increasing the bulging.
Spinal decompression systems are still traction machines, but they pull very slowly and gently so as not to trigger muscle spasm. Some of the most advanced spinal decompression systems take things even further in that they use computers to monitor the body for signs of muscle resistance that signals the onset of spasm and can immediately cause the motor to reduce its pull at the first sign of any resistance. The best of the spinal decompression systems monitor the body and change the treatment intensity as needed every 1/17th of a second. This speed of change is important to the avoidance of triggering muscle spasm.
Because the muscles are kept relaxed during treatment, spinal decompression treatment drastically lowers the pressure inside the herniated disc and creates a suction within the disc that pulls back in the bulging disc material. This suction effect also draws in fluid and nutrients that aid in disc healing and stabilization over time.
The number of decompression sessions, the frequency of treatment, and the recommended follow-up care will depend on several factors, including the age and overall health of the patient, the number of discs involved, and the severity of the herniation. Spinal decompression can be used on lumbar and cervical discs with a high degree of success.
Statistically, spinal decompression with the more advanced machines, and with appropriate patient selection has a success rate of 80-90%, and of those who are successfully treated, the results hold up well long-term in most cases. Given the success rate and the fact that the most common side-effect is some temporary post-treatment muscle soreness, spinal decompression is often the best option in herniated disc treatment.
Unfortunately, the aggressive advertising and hype, and inapproriate use of spinal decompression by some health care practitioners in recent years has led to unrealistic patient expectations and crackdowns by regulatory agencies on advertising claims that have sullied the reputation of spinal decompression. While spinal decompression does represent a major advance in the treatment of herniated discs, it is not a cure-all, it is not 100% effective, and it is not appropriate for every patient.
In appropriate use, spinal decompression does return the vast majority of patients to sufficient health so that they can live normal lives and enjoy favorite activities, but it does not restore a herniated disc to a completely normal condition. No treatment can. Surgery, including the highly-touted disc replacement surgery (which is still experimental) does not restore a damaged disc to normal. Regardless of the treatment, poor posture, improper lifting and other damaging activities can precipitate a return of disc problems no matter how successful the initial disc treatment was.
Through good patient selection and by making sure to give patients realistic expectations, spinal decompression providers are able to supply an extremely safe and effective treatment choice for those suffering with a herniated disc.
Dr. George Best has been treating people suffering with herniated discs since 1992. For more information on herniated discs, (http://ezinearticles.com/?Breakthrough-In-Sciatica-Symptom-Relief&id=925426) sciatica, or degenerative disc disease, visit (http://www.spinesa.com/bulgingdisc.html) Herniated Disc. Click here to get your own (http://www.uberarticles.com/home.php?id=18733&b=771) unique version of this article with free reprint rights
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