Physical Considerations
Any number of factors in addition to advanced age can cause or contribute to degenerative changes. In our modern society many of us spend hours sitting at a desk not once moving enough to pump precious fluids through the discs. Further, not enough exercise results in a gradual weakening of the supporting muscle and ligamentous structures making the discs prone to injury from even ordinary everyday activities as we use our backs each day through sitting and standing, bending and lifting. Too little activity during the week followed by too much activity on the weekend can also result in injury. Naturally, traumatic falls or accidents can directly injure even a healthy spinal joint, but is made all that much worse if it is in a weakened state to start. Repeated episodes of even minor injuries can eventually result in muscle tension and/or inflammation limiting the motion, and thus the pumping action of the disc, which becomes progressively stiffer and drier causing it to lose its shock absorbing properties, and make it that much more likely to sustain yet the next injury. This is the very definition of degeneration where each incident lowers the pain and subsequent injury threshold so that eventually the most ordinary of activities such as walking through the grocery store is too much. There may also be an as of yet unidentified genetic factor causing some individuals to be more likely to develop this condition.
Any combination of events or circumstances that result in a weakening of the outer annular fibers of the disc may eventually lead to a bulging or herniation of disc material that can pinch the adjacent nerve root or spinal cord causing additional problems.
The answer here is to maintain a normal weight and be physically fit.
Can Degenerative Changes Be Reversed?
In the past, a patient suffering from this degenerative process was usually given pain medications or injections, instructed to refrain from physical activities, referred for physical therapy, and when they weren’t progressing they were sent for spinal surgery or simply told to learn to live with it. Since 2005 when the FDA finally approved non-surgical spinal decompression therapy, there is new hope for those who suffer from degenerative joint diseases. Spinal Decompression Therapy is a non-invasive, non-surgical treatment performed on a special, computer controlled table similar in some ways to an ordinary traction table. A single disc level is isolated and by utilizing specific traction and relaxation cycles throughout the treatment, along with proper positioning, negative pressure can actually be created within the disc. It works by gently separating the offending disc 5 to 7 millimeters creating negative pressure (or a vacuum) inside the disc to pull water, oxygen, and nutrients into the disc, thereby re-hydrating a degenerated disc and bringing in the nutrients needed to heal the torn fibers and halt the degenerative process. As the disc is re-hydrated the shock absorbing properties are restored and the stress on the joint is reduced and the inflammation subsides. Many times much of the lost height can be restored as well. Now a normal life can be resumed.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Michael L. Hall, D.C. practices at Triangle Disc Care in Raleigh, North Carolina specializing in Spinal Decompression for the treatment of acute and chronic neck pain and back pain due to herniated, degenerated discs. This is a conservative procedure, first approved for use in the U.S. in 2005, for patients suffering with bulging or herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, posterior facet syndrome, sciatica, failed back surgery syndrome, and non-specified mechanical low back or neck pain.
For more information call (919) 571-2515, click on [www.triangledisc.com] or email [office@triangledisc.com].
