Aging Gracefully and with Great Health

Chiropractic Therapy And Treating Degenerative Disc Disease

18 December 2014 by For Content

Chiropractics are medical techniques of treating musculoskeletal and nerve disorders that mainly originate from the spine. Chiropractors are useful in addressing several diseases and conditions such as herniated discs, fibromyalgia, coccydynia, muscle and back pains and certain types of headaches.

One common condition that chiropractors effectively address is degenerative disc disease. Most people suffering from this condition rarely know what is affecting them. In many instances, they attribute the pain and discomfort they feel to several other diseases and conditions. The following is an overview of degenerative disc disease, the symptoms you should expect and how chiropractors can help address the disease.

Degenerative disc disease

As suggested by the name, this disease results from the degeneration or exhaustion of your spinal disc fluid and joints. The disease is mostly associated to aging. It however presents in young people when they inherit aging disorders from their parents. They can also suffer the condition if they physically damage their spine in an accident or when carrying out some physical tasks . 

The pain resulting from this disease mostly manifests as lower back pain or neck pain. In some instances, the pain is distributed to other regions of your musculoskeletal framework. Chiropractors determine the exact cause and region of degenerative disc disease using several mechanisms, after which the appropriate correction mechanism is applied.

Common symptoms indicating degenerative disc disease

While it is common to experience DDD associated pain at the exact point of disc degeneration, there are several instances where the pain manifests differently. Some of the common symptoms chiropractors use to diagnose DDD include pain when sitting down for a long time, tingling sensations at certain muscle areas, leg weakness, less pain when moving or lying down and the ultimate loss of bladder control. Most people ignore these pains and apply pain relieving medication without necessarily treating the disease.

Chiropractic treatment

The aim of chiropractic treatment in these situations is to restore appropriate spinal functioning. This treatment is often non invasive and involves physical spinal manipulation by chiropractors. The chiropractors may specifically identify the non functioning joints and manipulate the spine to restore their functioning using thrusting techniques and deep tissue massage that is gentle. They may also use non thrusting techniques that are gentle to address the general area where the problem may be identified.  In some occasions, some instruments may be used to readjust your spinal discs to proper working alignments.

Chiropractors recommend several appointments for the procedures so as to allow for gradual disc realignment.  During these appointments, several additional procedures may be employed such as stretching, trigger point therapy and massage to enhance the curative effect. It is important to get chiropractors' opinions before treating any muscular, back or neck pains.

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