Herniated Discs and Visiting a Chiropractor
By Janin Hendry
Your spine is a delicate system that connects to your neck and cervical vertebra and supports your head and brain's weight. Signals run the length of your spinal cord to move your body through your life. When trauma happens, a herniated disc can be a resulting injury.
What Is a Herniated Disc?
A herniated disc occurs when the cushioning between your vertebrae starts to leak out around a disc. When a herniated disc, also called ruptured disk and slipped disk, occurs, you may not know it occurred.
Is It a Herniated Disc?
Because a herniated disc occurs, you may experience numbness or weakness in a part of your body. It is not uncommon to experience no physical change at all. Lower back or neck changes occur when the nerves in your neck start to be pinched. Simple things like coughing or sneezing can cause enough pain to indicate a problem.
Limb pain - A herniated disc in your lower back can cause pain to shoot through your legs or lower body, including your legs and buttocks. A herniated disc in your neck can result in pain that radiates around your shoulders or arms.
Tingling - A pinched nerve in your back can result in tingling or numbness radiating through the damaged disc.
Weakness - Your muscles move your body. A herniated disc can lead to muscle weakness and cause you to have difficulty doing things like walking or moving objects.
What Causes a Herniated Disc?
A herniated disk can be degenerative and develop as a result of general aging. As you age, your back loses its ability to be flexible. As you age, your back is more likely to suffer tears, ruptures, and strain. There are no specific reasons for it to occur, but things make it more likely to occur.
Work - Working a job that places strain on your body makes it more likely to have a herniated disc. Repetitive activities like bending down, sideways, pulling, twisting, and pushing can cause you to damage the discs in your back.
Excess body weight - the more weight your body is carrying, the more likely you will damage your back. The muscles in your back cannot hold your body's weight and move your spine correctly without damage or causing excess stress.
Genetics - Inherited traits can make it more likely you will develop a herniated disc.
Smoking - Smoking is harmful to your body as a whole. You reduce the amount of oxygen circulating in your spine, making it break down more quickly.
How Can a Chiropractor Help You With Herniated Discs?
A chiropractor has training in spinal manipulations. They can help you treat your spine whether you feel the herniated disc or not. The manipulations can help reduce inflammation and relieve pain. You will need to talk with your chiropractor to determine the correct course of treatment.
Final Thoughts
Your spine does more than help you move your limbs. It will age as your age, and taking care of it can extend how you choose to use it.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic Clinic in Jacksonville, N.C.