There are many different kinds of treatment offered by chiropractors in Atlanta. Most chiropractors are trained in numerous "techniques" of treatment. Each doctor will develop interests in different treatments, depending upon judgments (s)he makes about the relative merits of each treatment.
The evolution of my perspective on the cause and best treatments for neck and back pain was heavily influenced by my personal experience with intractable low back pain during my chiropractic education. Early in my schooling I injured my low back doing weight-training activity.
After about one year of unsuccessful, sporadic treatment I inferred I had a herniated disc. This occurred about the time that MRI scanners were being developed (1983). After six years of limping with sciatic pain I opted to have the least invasive surgery I could at that time- a percutaneous discectomy (done in Nashville,TN). That procedure has largely, fallen out of favor, in favor of microdiscectomies, which are excellent procedures for the right patient.
The point is, that the relative importance on the status of the spinal disc in the etiology of back pain was not lost on me. In fact, it continues to preoccupy me, professionally, to this day.
The story of your spine, my spine and your neighbor's spine, is the story of our spinal discs. This story proceeds differently in different people but, generally, it goes like this. Discs exist between the bones of your spinal column. They are made of tough, fibrous tissue and contain a hydrated tissue inside. Discs accumulate tears and may bulge or herniate, i.e. the hydrated tissue may escape the confines of the disc. The escaping material may put pressure on nerves, causing pain to radiate down the arm or leg.
As the discs wear out, they lose water and get thinner/dehydrate. The thinner they get, the less cushion they provide the bones. The bones may become bone-on-bone and become swollen and discolored on MRI scans (Modic changes). Bones become misshapen, what we call, "arthritis" or degeneration or spondylosis. These changes take decades to occur and lead to pain and disability.
It has been clear, for a long time, that the spinal disc status is, largely, determinative of a given spine's pain and disability. That is why we have become so interested in MRI scans. The most commonly sought after information on spinal MRI scans is the status of the spinal disc.
The question is, "Can anything be done about improving a spinal disc, and a patient's short and long-term prognosis?"
Some recent studies are very interesting in this regard. One recent study, using CT scans has shown that discs can increase their hydration and size/cushion after a series of treatments that decompresses the disc by pulling it apart. This phenomenon was previously documented, anecdotally, by a medical radiologist that conducted MRI scans before and after such treatments with patients. Most importantly, patients improve, clinically, from this treatment.
In several other studies, radioisotopes were used to quantify the number of molecules that are made/synthesized by cells inside spinal discs which were treated by decompression. And the results documented 3 to 7x the number of reparative molecules are made by discs treated such. Other studies have shown that discs treated with decompression, increase the number of cells in them too. And these cells, in turn, make more reparative molecules.
As a gross structure, the spinal disc does not seem to have much regenerative potential. But on a microscopic and physiologic level, spinal discs appear to have a regenerative potential and that has proven to be clinically important. In other words, patients who are treated with this spinal decompression, generally improve significantly.
My life's, and clinical, experiences has lead me to a preoccupation of the spinal disc in my assessment and treatment approach to spinal pain. There are other, uncommon, causes of spinal pain, of course. But the vast majority of spinal pain is caused by the influence of time, gravity and genetics on our spines. If you haven't tried spinal decompression for your neck or back pain, you should consider it.
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