Hi Hopehasgone
There is no therapy that can repair a ruptured disk, but depending on the surrounding tissue and the alignment of the vertebrae that are involved in the bulge, then it is often possible to alleviate the symptoms of the trapped nerve by changing the environment that the bulge is obstructing.
There is a procedure that Martin Knight uses that lasers the rupture and seals it, not a therapy asuch I know but it is being used, and in fact it also helps prevent further rupture or bulging by strengthening the wall.
Chiropractors shown to help disc prolapse
Hi Hopehasgone, sorry about your poor response to chiropractic care. A recent study shows that it can help, but sadly not in your case.
[url]Symptomatic Magnetic Resonance I... [J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2013] - PubMed - NCBI[/url]
Hi,
I concede that perhaps I was hasty in judging all chiropractors, but my experience has put me off from them. You may say this makes me ignorant but truth is I saw ni benefit. Also, the people I know who used such treatments and benefitted fall in two categories - a) those who just had non-specific back pain and b) those who got better after a very long time. The first category of person did not have a serious underlying problem, so the chiropractor may have stood a better chance if helping him/her. The second category of person does not believe in conventional medication and surgery and would do anything to avoud it, and goi to the chiro perhaps made them feel proactive. I am sure the treatment works for some but I don't really believe in it, and people can try it if they want. It is also worh pointin out that almost everyone ob these forums who is now having surgey tried such treatments before, and they did finally resort to surgery. It is a very common thing to read about
Chiropractic and other conservative care first. Surgery as a last resort.
Hi Hopehasgone, If you were not helped by a chiropractor I can understand that you have a negative view of chiropractic.
As this view from the journal of the American Medical Association says to other back sufferers, try everything else first before resorting surgery - including chiropractic.
[url]JAMA Network | JAMA | Low Back Pain[/url]
The success rate for spinal surgery is about 50% and the complication rate is much higher than that for conservative treatment.
In spite of your poor response to chiropractic, it was the right thing to try first. It works in about 3 out of 4 people with disc herniation as this study shows Elsevier
Unfortunately you were the 1! Best wishes with your further care.
Hi,
I tried it, it didn't work. I have seen two surgeons who have told me the success rate for a microdiscectomy is 90%. Of course, I would much rather not have it but the level of disability I have at the moment warrants this.
Hi,
I tried it, it didn't work. I have seen two surgeons who have told me the success rate for a microdiscectomy is 90%. Of course, I would much rather not have it but the level of disability I have at the moment warrants this.
I just wondered if you asked what rated as a success? Sometime the operation is classed a success but the patient still dies, of course a very extreme case and not usually in discectomies but I do wonder.
I asked what success meant and they saidbthat 90% of people who have a discectomy see a resolution of their symptoms. Success also means that the doctors achieved their objective wihout causing any major damage.
I can see that some people avoid surgery because it sounds like the worst option, and in some ways it is, but what choice does one have if all other options have yielded no response. I am a young person. I cannot walk without extreme discomfort, and alhough there is not a lot of pain, he quality of myblife has diminished significantly. I also think you are right in some ways but I think you shouldn't scare people who have made the choice to have surgery. Most people do it out of frustration because they are not seeing any results using conservative measures, and sacring them like this is not fair since their is a lot of clinical evidence to show that people actually recover. Perhaps you think chiropractors are a better option and maybe it has worked or you or people you know, but that does not mean that surgery is not a viable option for some people. I don't know of I will get better. In fact, if you read my other posts you will see I am very paranoid and anxious about surgery but I cannot wait to heal naturally. I have had this problem for nearly eight months. I have seen two experienced surgeons, two physios and a chiropractor. Almost everyone I saw recommended surgery. The physio said I should have it to avoid the problem getting worse. If it were just pain I could have managed it bt my whole body is twisted and I may straighten out in a few months if the surgery works. I just think chiropractors are just snake oil salespeople. Almostbeveryone who has surgery tried one before and was conned out of hundreds of pounds. Twisting your spine has no benefit because the chiro has no direct access to the discal area and if the disc is already protruding, their prodding can cause further damage. Fair enough if people want to try this stuff, maybe it works for some. I just see no real science behind it It is an easier option to take because it feels like you are being treated and youbare not being cut open. I certainly won't recommend them. I had a bad experience using a well known chiro who has an excellent reputation. I jyst never felt any better. The core symptoms never went away, and seeing how fragile my spine was I am now horrified that I let him twist it and turn it the way he did.
Hi Hopehasgone, If you were not helped by a chiropractor I can understand that you have a negative view of chiropractic.
As this view from the journal of the American Medical Association says to other back sufferers, try everything else first before resorting surgery - including chiropractic.
[url]JAMA Network | JAMA | Low Back Pain[/url]
The success rate for spinal surgery is about 50% and the complication rate is much higher than that for conservative treatment.
In spite of your poor response to chiropractic, it was the right thing to try first. It works in about 3 out of 4 people with disc herniation as this study shows Elsevier
Unfortunately you were the 1! Best wishes with your further care.
hi MB1, how does a chiropractor manage to mend or fix '' about 3 out of 4 people with disc herniation'' ?. isnt a disc herniation when the outer caseing is split and the jelly-like substance is bulging out ?, how do they seal the split?.
all the best, daveyam.
Hi,
I think people who believe in chiropractors are also a part of the problem. They can never be sure if it was he chiro that relieved them of their problem. A lot of disc prolapses do heal with time and people who have used chiropractors within this period probably think their recovery had something to do with it. That also goes for people who saw accupuncturists and massage specialists. If your symptoms are not seeing a continuous reduction (no matter how subtle those changes are), you are not improving. If you are not, chances of the problem going away are not that great, and even if it does, the chiros or the massage people have nothing to do with it since the condition's natural history suggests that there will be improvement. I decided tk have the op because I have quit my college course, have bot been to work or out on an social engagement. My movement was limited and I could barely stand or walk. For nearly a year I suffered now some people thing they are doing the brave and noble thing by avoiding sugery, but honestly, the whole experience was far simpler than I ever imagined, and people on these forums know how much I fretted. I felt my life had ended and the surgeon said that I should have the operation because he knew the risks were low and that the quality of my life could be better. That remains to be seen, but I know that I am no worse off after having the operation (so far), and if things recover well, I should be much more active). My hiro said my treatment would take "a veryblong long time", and for his treatment I had to pay him around £100 a week. That is a lot of money for someone who was out of work due to the condition and also workin part-time wih a wife to support. I mean, his treatment made no difference. In fact, I think he possibly made me worse.
The day before my op, my neighbour's daughter in law was leaving. She saw me and asked if I was OK. Obviously I was not. I told her I was terrified of he operation and I am deliberating whether to have it. She said he husband had the same problem and has suffered for 21 years. He never had the op and instead went to the chiro Ibam seeing. This guy still has problems. He chiro did diddley-squat for him. I find it strange that someone should choose to suffer for that long just because they fear a few days of pain and discpmfort after the op. Sure back surgery does not always work for people, but usually that is if the patient is not diagnosed properly. If there is very conclusive evidence of nerve entrapment and the symptoms match and there is a scan confirming it, it should be a no-brainer. I think wasting my time with the chiro really made me despondent and very depressed because he lied. This is the way I feel. He knew he cannot help and he just kept conning me ot of money. There was no difference to my symptoms and he kept saying there was. I was still unable to move and he said my range lf motion had improved. He was trying to cnvince me that I was improving when I wasn't. I just think these silly treatments just brwak people's hearts in the end because if you put your faith in them, and they don't work, you feel conned.
Hi,
If I heal well from my op, I will try and debunk the chiro myths. I hate these guys. Three months of my life I will never get back. I could have had the op earlier and I mau have been much better by now. Instead this snake oil salesman lured me into false hope and he even misdiagnosed me, but thankfully I only had treatment after I gave him my MRI scan. Also this guy is supposed to be really good. Almost everyone has recommended him, and his qualifications suggest he is very experienced. My point is that these guys cannot fix anything oher than very mild problems. They give you symptomatic relief until your body heals itself. They cannot push the disc back in. How can they? They disc is cartilage. It has been overstrecthed and is not touching nerves and spinal areas the chiro has no direct access to. They can move your spine in a position where the pressure is momentarily taken off but the spine always movea back. If the disc is large, the chiro can twist and turn all he or she wants but it won't take pressure off. In my case, the disc was occupying more than 50% of the spinal canal.
He knew my diagnosis, and he knows the mechanics of the spine. He probably knew nothing he can do would help, but he just wanted his cash dose. I thibk these people are rarely supported by the NHS because there is little science behind what they do. They should not be allowed to practice because all they really do is give people some false placebo feelings. My recommendation to anyone wih back problems would be to see an orthopaedic surgeon, get a scan and make sure your symptoms match the scan resulta. My scan was done before a physical examination and even at that stage the Physio knew the l5 nerve root was trapped because of the pain distribtion and pattern of radiculopathy. This was then confirmed on the scan and I saw at least two experienced Orthopaedic surgeons. For eight months I saw no difference to my physical condition. Two of these months I saw the chiro because he said he will get me back to my feet in six sessions and later on he started saying that my recovery will take a very very log time and it was clear he meant it would take many months. Now if I were to recover naturay I doubt his treatment would have had anything to do wih it because the kid of timeframe he was speaking of was in line with what it would normally take for a person with a prolapsed disc to recover and I wanted my life back much quicker than that. I stopped my studies, I cannot work and I can't go out or do anyhing. Surgery was the optipn for me. I hope I make a good recovery, but even if I don't, I am never going back to a chiro again. They are despicable liars in my view and make money out of people`s misery. Surgeons can make mistakes but they do get actual results that are quantifiable.
I think anyone with a very large prolapsed diac should avoid a chiropractor. When I was at the hospital, I heard some people took that route and the chiros were just too brutal. The loint is this: your spine is injured. The prolapse can cause serious damage to your body as it is. Now twisting and turning he spine is not necessarily going to cause damage, but it can. If there is that much damage there already, the chiro will not take responsibility. After my diagnosis, not one of my NHS physios wluld tpuch me. They said the problem was so far gone they cannot help me. Only a couple of exercises were prescribed and they were easy ones. My chirp was asking me to do strenuous stuff and that made my lower back hurt a lot more. I actuly stolped doing the exercises and I felt better than when I was dping them. You can strain your back easily.
The hospital staff told me that turning and twisting the spine can cause damage, so why do people go to chiropractors? There are some conditions where manipulation may be the only treatment (maybe you dislocated something). However, get a diagnosis through an mri scan and make sure you see a proper doctor before you let these clowns handle your spine. They might make it worse ans then you may need more treatment.