Spinal discs are connective tissue cushions between each vertebra that absorb the forces of gravity and support your body’s weight on the spine. They also create space for nerves to exit the spine and innervate your entire body. Discs are 80% water wrapped in a rigid and fibrous connective tissue. They are hydrated through a pumping mechanism activated by movement of the spine; therefore, they require continuous movement through your body’s full range of motion to maintain the health of their tissue.
When vertebral segments become misaligned or fixated, they lose their ability to maintain their full range of motion. This puts abnormal mechanical forces on the disc. Too much abnormal weight on one part of the disc causes it to bulge and irritate nearby nerves. If the force becomes more intense, the disc can shift around in the spine or even herniate, breaking the exterior wrapper and releasing its fluid onto nearby nerves.
$49 New Patient Disc Injury Pain Special
Comprehensive Consultation
Complete Physical Examination
All Necessary Digital X-rays
Report of Findings
Disc injuries can be acute, accompanied by a single trauma, or chronic, meaning that stress has accumulated over some time and eventually became too much for your body to withstand. At the initial injury, patients sometimes report hearing a pop or feeling a tear accompanied by searing pain. Muscle spasms are common, as your body locks up to protect the area of instability. As the muscle tension gradually relaxes, pain becomes a constant, dull ache along with decreased range of motion. Disc injuries can even affect posture, where one leg feels longer than the other or the torso and hips are out of alignment.
Nerve pain from a disc bulge or herniation can range in severity but is usually sharp, stabbing, or burning. It can also radiate through the extremities and result in numbness or tingling. Depending on the injury, it may be difficult for some to get into certain positions, with many unable to sit or stand. Disc injuries in the lower back affect the nerves that control reproduction, digestion, bowel, and bladder function, leading to dysfunction in these systems.
With any health problem, the sooner you address it, the easier it is to manage, usually meaning a faster recovery and less of a financial investment to deal with it. Like a cavity, catching it when it’s small is easier to deal with. The longer you let the problem fester, the more the disc can bulge, tear, or herniate. If the cause of your injury is spinal misalignment, then the problem can spread to other discs, further exacerbating your pain and limitations.
Most conventional treatments focus on stopping acute pain, but disc injuries are the result of a more significant global biomechanical imbalance, misalignment, or weakness. Certain muscles can become too weakened or inhibited, while others become over-tight or spastic. There can be structural misalignments in the spine, vertebrae, pelvis, and hips. All of these things must be considered holistically and simultaneously treated to correct the cause of the problem. Disc herniations, bulges, or tears are rarely spontaneous. Usually, a misalignment or imbalance between muscle-stabilizing groups gradually accumulates stress and wear and tear on the discs. Chiropractic seeks to balance all of these entities simultaneously and holistically. We want to address the herniation’s underlying cause, which will relieve pain and rebalance the body to prevent future injuries or relapses.
How Our Care Plan Works
1. Identify The Root Cause
You will never be able to achieve wellness by chasing your symptoms; you’ll only get stuck on a merry-go-round of medication offering temporary relief. True wellness comes by addressing and correcting the root cause of your symptoms. That work takes advanced diagnostic tools and doctors committed to understanding how you’re feeling and how it’s affecting your life. This crucial first step is the only way to forge a solid foundation for effective care.
2. Discover The Path To Your Goals
Once we’ve identified the root cause of your issues, together, we’ll develop a unique approach tailored to your needs and aspirations. Our various treatment modalities allow us to get the best results regardless of where a patient has been and where they’re going. Whether hitting a new PR, staying competitive through the back nine, or keeping up with your grandkids, each phase of your care is purpose-driven, taking you closer to the person you were meant to be.
3. Live Life Without Limits
With a solid foundation and a clear roadmap, you can achieve and sustain a vibrant, pain-free life, fully equipped to reach your God-given potential. We walk with you on this journey and provide you with the tools and knowledge to ward off future illness and injury and ensure continual improvements to your health and outlook. When you shed the anxiety and despair that comes with a life dictated by health limitations, you can achieve things you never thought possible.
How We Treat Disc Injury 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.
Common Causes of Disc Injury in Missouri City, TX
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.
Check Out Our Location Near You
5425 Hwy 6 Suite A-300
Missouri City, TX 77459
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it safe to go to a chiropractor with a herniated disc?
Yes, it is safe. Chiropractic care with an experienced doctor is entirely safe and should never cause any sort of agitation to a patient with a herniated disc. In fact, in most cases, chiropractic care provides excellent benefits and relief.
Can a chiropractor put a disc back in place?
Chiropractic doesn’t necessarily put a disc back in place, but it can help correct biomechanical alignment and balance in the spine, pelvis, and muscles. Correct alignment and spinal mobility will restore the natural pumping mechanism the discs rely on to remain hydrated and healthy.
How long does it take for a disc herniation to heal?
Healing time is based on the individual’s age, lifestyle, overall health, and the extent and severity of their injuries. It can take anywhere from weeks to a few weeks to several months.
What should you do with the herniated disc?
The best strategy is to consult a corrective care chiropractor with experience and training to evaluate the biomechanical situations of the spine, joints, and discs and customize a plan to restore balance and alignment to your musculoskeletal system.
What are the signs of a herniated disc in your back?
- Muscle spasms
- Distorted posture in your lower back and pelvis
- Different leg lengths
- Pain
- Numbness and tingling
- Burning or cramping in the buttocks, legs, ankles, feet, calves, and feet
What is the best exercise for a bulging disc?
Isometric stabilization exercises, like Superman and McKenzie lumbar extensions, are great ways to reinforce proper spinal alignment.
$49 New Patient Disc Injury Pain Special
Comprehensive Consultation
Complete Physical Examination
All Necessary Digital X-rays
Report of Findings
