Taking pain medications to alleviate frequent health symptoms such as stress, back pain, or headaches can only do so much. However, not treating the underlying cause of these chronic health issues is not fixing them.

All or some of your chronic health symptoms can be helped by chiropractors. Yet, are you thinking that consulting with chiropractors is right for you?

A chiropractic adjustment is a non-invasive procedure that brings a myriad of positive benefits, including:

Sciatica pain relief

A pressured or damaged sciatic nerve can cause radiating pain from your lower back down to your legs. Chronic pain and over-medicating are some of the things that can happen with sciatic pain. Relieving the pressure on the sciatic nerve is the benefit a chiropractic treatment provides. It has been proven that the severity of the pain and pain days is drastically reduced with a chiropractic adjustment.

Headache relief

Spinal and back pain problems are the chief causes of both migraine and tension headaches. Migraine and tension headaches result from muscle tension caused by back misalignment.

It has been seen that the most common ailment second to back pain treated by chiropractors is a headache. Multiple studies have examined and proven the effectiveness of chiropractic treatments for the relief of headaches.

Ear Infections and Acid Reflux

The most sensitive parts of the human body are the nerves in the brain, gut, and head. Ear infections and acid reflux are medical conditions that occur when the nerves are affected.

The “gut-brain” connection is one of the health conditions that can improve with a chiropractic adjustment.

High Blood Pressure

People suffering from high blood pressure have been found by a study to gain the same effect as taking high blood pressure medications with a chiropractic adjustment.

Not only that, the same study discovered that the effectiveness of the chiropractic adjustment lasts for six months. This surprising discovery is something to consider in the treatment of high blood pressure.

Scoliosis

The abnormal curvature of the spine causes a condition called scoliosis. Some of the health conditions caused by scoliosis include:

• Reduced range of motion
• Trouble breathing
• Abnormal posture
• Pain

Treatment options are limited for people affected by scoliosis. However, it has been found that preventing and treating the progression of scoliosis is helped by a chiropractic adjustment.

It is especially beneficial when a patient suffering from scoliosis combines physical therapy with chiropractic treatment. However, while chiropractic adjustment is seen as a viable option for scoliosis patients, the result varies.

Inflammation reduction

One of the major causes of tension, pain, and joint tissues is inflammation. Multiple health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and chronic pain are linked to inflammation.

Inflammation reduction has been attributed to chiropractic adjustments. Some of the proven benefits provided by a chiropractic treatment include:

• Joint pain relief
• Relief from chronic lower back pain
• Reduced muscle tension

The risk of developing health conditions is reduced with the reduction of inflammation.

Multiple areas of health conditions are improved with the non-invasive process known as chiropractic treatment. While medications and surgeries are considered the best options for pain reduction and treatment, they are also expensive and dangerous.

A chiropractic treatment offers the least expensive and safe route to achieve good health. Contact us at My Chiro Place Richmond to know more about us.

We all think herniated disc and a bulging disc is the same. Yet, there is a difference between the two. A crack in the annulus or outer layer of the disc is seen as a herniated disc. The crack affecting the small part of the disc allows the rupture of the nucleus pulposus or the inner soft material.

 

What is a Bulging Disc?

 

Here’s how to know if you have a bulging disc. A bulging disc, on the other hand, is different from a herniated disc. In a bulging disc, the disc bulges out of the space it normally resides between the vertebrae. The disc bulges but it does not crack.

A larger part of the disc is affected by a bulging disc than a herniated disc. A herniated disc is more likely to give you pain but, the common condition is with the bulging disc. You may have a bulging disc without experiencing pain at the outset of the condition.

 

Symptoms

 

Bulging disc is a common medical condition affecting both the young and old. It is a condition that does not have to cause panic. The symptoms experienced in the affected nerve occur with the applied pressure exerted by a bulging disc. Some of the common symptoms manifested by a bulging disc include:

• Pain
• Muscle weakness
• Numbness

A bulging disc can make you feel the pain coming from different parts of the body such as the kidneys, heart or abdomen. Again, the pain felt depends on the nerve affected by the bulging disc.

The symptoms manifested when a bulging disc presses against the spinal cord include:

A bulging disc in the thoracic spine:

• Paralysis from the waist down
• Muscle numbness, tingling or weakness in one or both legs
• Spastic or increased reflexes in one or both legs
• Changes in the function of bowel and bladder

A bulging disc in the cervical spine:

• Pain radiating in your fingers, upper arm, and forearm
• Pain around the neck area
• Pain over or near the shoulder blade

A bulging disc will not cause immediate pain. Rather, the pain starts slowly which is experienced during certain activities or get worse over time. However, the pain and the accompanying symptoms of a bulging disc clear up after a few weeks or months.

 

Treatment

 

Conservative Treatment

Surgery is not necessarily the treatment route for most cases of bulging discs. Treatment depends on the symptoms manifested by a patient. Conservative treatment usually involves pain medication prescriptions and physical therapy.

Doing all these is a watch-and-see period where the medical practitioner observes whether the symptoms go away after several weeks.

Surgery is only recommended when the physician does not see any improvement or a gradual deterioration of the condition is being shown by the patient.

 

Surgery

A discectomy and laminotomy are the likely surgery procedure treatments for a bulging disc in the past. The operation entails removal of the bulging disc to relieve the pressure on the spinal nerves and cord.

However, the decompression brought about by the laminotomy and discectomy surgery procedures has been discontinued due to the numerous cases of nerve issues.

In light of this, other safer surgical procedures have since been adopted for bulging discs.