Disc Injury Treatment in Jacksonville, FL

Signs and symptoms of disc injuries

• Local pain
• Numbness and tingling sensations in the arms and legs
• Muscle weakness in the arms and legs
• Antalgic posture (“crooked” or leaning posture)
• Reduced range of motion at the area of injury
• Swelling, redness, and tenderness to touch around the area of injury

Often times, when a disc is injured the disc material can compress the nerves that are exiting the spine at that particular level. Every nerve that passes through our spine travels throughout our body to control whatever structure it connects to (muscles, skin, organs, etc…). This is why it is so common for people to feel radiating symptoms (pain, numbness, tingling, loss of sensation, muscle weakness, etc…) when they experience a disc injury.

The discs of our spine do not receive a strong blood supply. This limits the healing effects that our blood can have in damaged areas. This is why recovering from disc injuries can sometimes be a long and difficult process. However, there is a way to ensure we maximize our healing abilities to injured discs!

What we must realize about a disc injury is that it is a structural problem – a structural deviation away from normal. As chiropractors, we provide a structural solution to structural problems. When we make adjustments to the joints of the spine, we are improving the quality of movement each joint has, and this is the best possible way to ensure that our discs can heal when/if they’ve been injured!

Our Approach To Disc Injury

The way a disc receives it’s nutrition and maintains it’s health is through movement! When the joints of our spine move fluidly without restriction a process called imbibition occurs that keeps our discs well hydrated and functional. With a disc injury this necessary process is going to be limited if we do not make a conscious effort to maintain the health of that specific area.

With regular chiropractic care we can target specific joints and through the adjustment we can ensure that the joint is free of restriction allowing it to move as freely as possible. Again, the ability to move is absolutely essential to the maintenance of our discs especially for those that have been injured.

Exercises for a Disc Injury

When discs become injured, they become vulnerable to premature degeneration. The structural integrity of our spine is paramount. When the integrity of the discs (and other spinal joints) is sacrificed, our spine loses the ability to function optimally, leading to many different symptoms.

At a bare minimum, we all should have daily practices that incorporate easy, gentle motion into the joints of our spine. One of my favorite methods to accomplish this is simply hanging! When we hang (like from a pull-up bar), we allow gravity to decompress our spine. We also have the opportunity to incorporate gentle rocking motions into our spine while hanging, adding another benefit, MOTION, to the spinal joints and discs. This is a phenomenal daily practice to maintain the health of our spine!

Chiropractic Examination for Disc Injury

When disc injuries are present, it is crucial to understand where and for how long the injury has been in the spine. This data provides our chiropractors with the information necessary to create a plan of care that will bring results. Our exams are designed to show where areas of dysfunction and imbalance are located in the spine, so we know where to focus our attention.

Knowing where the primary areas of imbalance and damage are, provides insight into how the stresses of our lives are impacting our bodies. Often the daily stresses we have been under for many years become very clear and visible when looking at X-ray images of our spine. This ultimately empowers and motivates us to begin making better decisions that improve our health.

Once we have a clear plan of care outlined, we begin adjusting! Chiropractic adjustments have both local and global effects on the human body. Locally, adjustments to the spine will, of course, reduce pain and improve our range of motion at the injured area/segment, but the most powerful effects come as a result of the global impact that happens when stress is removed from the nervous system.

Damaged spinal discs will commonly create substantial pressure, compression, and tension in the nervous system, which is the system that controls and coordinates all the functions of the human body. When the nervous system is under stress, we simply cannot function optimally. The global effects experienced from liberating tension and stress from the nervous system by chiropractic adjustments, ensuring our spine is well aligned and moving fluidly, can be an incredibly powerful source of healing!

Frequently Asked Questions about Disc Injuries