Herniated disc therapy is a huge industry in the back care establishment. Intervertebral disc pathologies are some of the most commonly diagnosed of all spinal conditions. Although most herniated discs are not symptomatic, they are still one of the prime conditions on which chronic back pain is often blamed. In deciding on a proper therapy modality for your herniated disc pain, it is important to know certain facts about disc conditions and what to expect from any given treatment.
Statistics clearly support the idea that treatment is not needed for most disc herniations. In fact, some studies report that even when a patient has severe pain, they may recover better by not seeking any professional care. While this may be so, it is always advised to fully understand the nature of your specific spinal disc issue and know whether it falls into the typical range of normal and expected degeneration or the minority of truly problematic concerns. Then, it will be much easier to decide which treatment, if any, is best suited for your specific case requirements.
This discussion helps patients to improve their chances of successful therapeutic outcomes when seeking targeted disc treatment.
Types of Herniated Disc Therapy
There are 2 main types of herniated disc treatment; those which only offer the possibility for symptomatic relief and those which might lead to a true cure for the underlying condition:
Symptomatic back pain treatment is not good medicine, nor proper science. It may perpetuate the pain and suffering, keeping patients captive in long-term care regimens. The typical treatments used to treat herniated disc pain without curing the actual condition include:
Chiropractic (may rarely provide a cure)
Massage
Physical therapy
Pain management drugs
Other therapy options might lead to a cure for the pain by correcting the actual anatomical defect:
Back surgery
Spinal decompression
For full details on all the possible options for finding herniated disc relief, please visit my back pain treatments resource section to read about every one of your professional care options.
Problems with Herniated Disc Therapy
Many patients have disc pain that is treatment-resistant. It defies all efforts to silence it with any number of chosen therapy options. Unfortunately, this is extremely common and is one of the reasons why herniated discs have such a fearsome reputation. The main explanation for this occurrence is a misdiagnosis of the actual cause of pain.
Herniated discs may or may not be painful when they first occur, but are rarely responsible for sourcing chronic back pain conditions. Patients who have unresolved pain syndromes blamed on a herniated disc are usually actually suffering from some other injurious, disease or nonstructural causative process. In these circumstances, the herniated disc exists, but is an innocent and completely coincidental scapegoat for the symptomatic expression.
Therapy Choices for Herniated Discs
The most important factor in deciding on a proper method of treating your herniated discs is achieving an accurate diagnosis. If the disc is not the real cause of the symptoms, then you are wasting your time with any treatment designed to target the scapegoat pathology. This is the reason why so many patients fail in their quest for true disc pain relief. They bounce from one treatment to another, but continue to hold on to an incorrect diagnosis.
If you know for sure that your pain is a direct result of a disc problem, try to find a solution that will work to resolve the anatomical issues causing the pain. Spinal decompression is a good nonsurgical method of care for some disc issues and surgery remains the industry standard for relieving many suspected sources of suffering.
Just remember that the surgical path is fraught with risks and demonstrates a high likelihood of postoperative complications. Even when all goes ideally, disc herniations still demonstrate the absolutely worst curative results, compared to any other spinal abnormality, when treated surgically. Be careful when making your decision!
