Disc Injury Treatment in Missouri City, TX

Comprehensive Consultation and Exam

Corrective chiropractic care starts with a detailed evaluation, using specific imaging when necessary, to measure all biomechanical factors affecting disc health. This evaluation helps us provide specific, safe, natural treatments, without drugs, shots, or surgery, to balance the biomechanical alignment of the joints, rehydrate the discs, and strengthen stabilizing muscle fibers.

A full report of your health condition is critical to help us address the root cause of the problem. If we only treat your disc injury pain, you will likely get temporary relief at the expense of leaving the underlying cause unaddressed, risking further degeneration and future injury. The condition could progress and no longer be correctable. The longer you wait for care, the more time you give the problem to take hold of your health.

Digital X-rays

A picture is worth a thousand words. X-rays allow us to create a tailored and specific approach to correct misalignments and injuries. We can analyze the alignment of the vertebrae, pelvis, hips, and sacrum, assess disc health, and uncover signs of degeneration. X-rays help us determine how long the problem has been going on and estimate an accurate time frame for treatment and recovery. Due to technological breakthroughs, radiation levels for digital X-rays are extremely low, making them accessible to most people.

Specific Chiropractic Care in Missouri City, TX

When a disc has abnormal pressure applied to it or does not have enough continual pumping through normal joint motion to stay healthy, it will shrink and dehydrate. The fluid inside the disc’s center will be pushed to one side, like a ketchup packet, stretching the fibrous connective tissue wrapper. This bulging disc can be painful if it irritates nearby nerves. If a disc bulge remains untreated, pressure can increase, causing the wrapper to tear and release fluid to push up against nerve roots. A herniated disc can be extremely painful, radiating from the spine through different areas of the body, like the buttocks, legs, ankles, and feet. It may also affect bowel, bladder, digestive, and reproductive function in severe cases.

Chiropractic care works to realign the spine, restoring balance and equalizing pressure across the body. We create custom exercise plans to reinforce stabilizing muscles, preventing future disc injuries.

Custom Therapeutic Exercise Plan

We seek to correct all biomechanical imbalances, whether they affect the discs, joints, or muscles. Weak muscles create instability, and tight or spastic muscles create immobility. Muscles often spasm during a subluxation (spinal misalignment) to stabilize the vertebrae and hold them in alignment, while others may become neurologically inhibited, unable to contract and perform their stabilizing function. This condition can be referred to as reactive splinting. The body’s innate intelligence senses the injury and knows that if the person moves around too much, it could further aggravate or injure the area. These spasms can lead to postural changes, severe pain, or mobility issues.

Isometric stabilization is a great way to recondition weak muscles. Superman exercises, McKenzie lumbar extension exercises, cat camels, and in-office full-body wobble exercises are designed to increase the range of motion and restore the pumping mechanism to improve disc mobility, balance, and hydration.

Auto Accidents

Sitting changes the natural shape of your spine. You have up to 35% more compression onto your spinal tissues in a seated position than in a standing one, compensating the natural shock absorption function of your discs. Applying severe force to this unnatural position, like the impact of a vehicle, several thousand pounds of force slamming into another object, can no doubt result in swelling or tearing of disc tissues.

After a car accident, a comprehensive approach to handling your injuries is one of the most important things to look for. You don’t just want to treat the pain symptom of irritated disc material; you also want to address injuries in the spine, ligaments, joints, and muscles. Car accident recovery can’t neglect spinal alignment and biomechanical balance if you’re going to make a complete and timely recovery.

Life Essentials Chiropractic provides a high-level, customized corrective approach for each patient’s unique biomechanical situation and injury. There is no effective cookie-cutter approach to disc injury relief. We will not simply recommend injections or pain medication. We want to relieve pain by rehabilitating your injury for a long-term result.

Degenerative Disc Disease

Degenerative disc disease is like a kitchen sponge left on the counter for a week or two. It becomes dried out, thin, and hard, making it ineffectual and subjecting it to cracking and breaking. DDD results in stiff, rigid, or stuck joints that compromise your flexibility and range of motion. Symptoms are most common after periods of immobility, like first thing in the morning, sitting at a desk all day, or after a long car ride. Usually, after patients start moving around, they typically notice that they feel closer to normal.

When a vertebral segment loses its full range of motion and becomes stuck and or misaligned, that specific spinal segment can no longer create the pumping mechanism that keeps your discs healthy. Without it, your discs become thin, hard, and dried out over time, putting people with unaddressed spinal misalignments at risk of degenerative disc disease. In fact, orthopedic research has demonstrated numerous times that you can see permanent signs of degeneration after just two weeks of misalignment. Staying physically active will keep those discs hydrated, and corrective chiropractic care will maintain alignment and mobility.