Spinal decompression a promising treatment for slipped disc

If you have a slipped disc, then you are likely no stranger to pain.

Fortunately, there is a treatment option that offers promising results for helping with slipped discs, thereby working to relieve your pain—and that is spinal decompression.

Slipped discs: What are they, and how do they happen?

The average spinal column is made up of 33 vertebrae separated by 23 discs. These discs have a strong outer covering and a gel-filled inside, and they are necessary for providing cushion between the vertebrae to help you move about better and easier. If they weren’t there, your spine would be bone on bone, so imagine how that would feel and how it would impact your ability to move.

Sometimes, due to either injury or weakness, the gel-filled center pushes through the outer covering and places pressure on the spinal column and nerves, resulting in what is commonly referred to as a slipped, ruptured, or herniated disc. It’s similar to filling a plastic bag with jelly, sealing it, then applying pressure until one of the seams gives way and jelly starts to ooze out.

Symptoms of slipped discs include pain in and around the upper, middle, or lower back and down the extremities. You may also notice weakness, and possibly even a tingling or burning sensation. This makes remedying the issue necessary to reducing the pain you are experiencing and improving your quality of life.

How can spinal decompression help?

One of the primary benefits of nonsurgical spinal decompression for slipped discs is that it is noninvasive, which means you won’t undergo lengthy recovery times such as is common with various types of back surgery. Spinal decompression is also a treatment option that doesn’t involve the use of prescription painkillers, so you don’t have to worry about spending your days fighting the fatigue and lack of focus these pills often cause.

When you engage in spinal decompression therapy to help remedy your slipped disc, you simply lie on a moveable table and the chiropractor places a strap around your trunk and your pelvic region, controlling the table’s movements to slowly and gently elongate your spine. This helps reduce the pressure on the damaged disc’s center, thereby keeping the gel-filled center intact and lessening any protrusion-related issues. Each session is roughly 30–45 minutes, and you will likely need several sessions to fully rectify the problem.

What does the research say?

Research has confirmed the advantages of engaging in nonsurgical spinal decompression for slipped discs. For example, one study involving 30 individuals with chronic low back pain due to slipped discs found that six weeks of spinal decompression therapy “was associated with a reduction in pain and an increase in disc height.”¹

If you are dealing with a slipped disc and looking for relief, spinal decompression may be your answer. So, talk it over with your chiropractor and find out whether this treatment is right for you.

Reference

¹ Apfel C, et al. Restoration of disk height through non-surgical spinal decompression is associated with decreased discogenic low back pain: a retrospective cohort study. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2010:11;155