Spinal decompression is a treatment that release the pressure on the pinched nerves located in your spinal column. This procedure is usually performed when a person suffers from; disk degeneration, herniated disk, sciatica and disk bulging.
A doctor can choose to either to a surgical, or nonsurgical technique. I will explain a little about these diseases and the treatments in the following paragraphs.
Degenerative Disk
Is referring to the changes in the disk in your back. Our disk is made up of two parts the hard outer surface and the jelly like center. When we are born our disks is surrounded by water, which helps them to act like shock absorbers to prevent us from suffering from possible trauma.
As we age, we lose some of that water and that makes the disks brittle which leaves them susceptible to spinal injury like herniated disk, osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis. Because there is little blood flow to the disks, the body’s unable to repair the damage on its own.
The Symptoms of degenerative disk include low back pain when sitting, bending lifting, twisting, but the pain improves when moving around and when lying.
This pain can radiate to the hip, buttocks and thighs. This pain can also be felt in the neck, shoulders and head.Injury can cause the disk to become inflamed, causing an increase in pain. This pain may be continues or intermittently and can last for a few days or a month.
A person may also have weakness, tingling and numbness in their extremities. Over time it can cause foot drop. The ones who are at high risk are, people who played a lot of sports, very active, have had other types of back injury.
People who smoke, who are obese and people who do a lot of lifting. This disease if left untreated can leave a person immobile. If treated early pain management and noninvasive treatments may help a person live a productive life.
Herniated disk
This is where a tear in the annulus fibrosis, a fibrous ring that connects allows the soft middle area of the disk the nucleus pulposus to stick out. The caused for herniated disk include to age, trauma, heavy lifting, back strain, degeneration.
It can be caused from protrusion of the disk. This tearing releases inflammatory chemicals, which causes the pain. Generally the doctor will begin treatment with rest an inflammatory medicine.
If there isn’t an impotent within a few weeks, the doctor might suggest other treatment options. What You Don’t Know About Slipped Disc Condition.
Sciatica
Sciatica or lumbar radiculopathy is a common occurrence. It’s a pain, that’s caused when there is irritation of the sciatica nerve root. It can also be caused by the sciatica being pinched.
The symptoms include pain in the low back and buttock. Usually the pain is one side of the body. It can also cause numbness, prickling and pain in the lower extremities.
It can cause a person to have diffusely with mobility. The treatment depends on the underlining cause and the amount and consistency of pain a person’s feeling. Common Causes Of Sciatica When Walking.
Bulging disk
This occurs when part of the intervertebral disk becomes weak.The center of the disk stretches, causing it to protrude. This disorder usually doesn’t have any symptoms.
Sometimes the disk presses on the nerves, which causes pain in your buttocks, hips, legs, neck, arms and fingers. This generally occurs with age, but things like improper lifting, poor posture, obese, and not exercising can increase the likelihood of it occurring.
Surgical Treatment
There are two types of surgeries they are laminectomy and microdiscectomy. Laminectomy is also known as open decompression. This elective surgery consists of removing a small area of the arc of the vertebrae.
This will relieve the pressure on the pinched nerve. Microdiscectomy consists of the doctor using laser or other surgical instruments and removes a herniated portion of the nucleus pulposus, the soft center portion of the disk.
Non evasive Treatment
This type of therapy uses pressure on the disk to return it to its natural position. In addition, this pressure will cause your body to send essential nutrients to the disk.
A device similar to a harness is attached to the patient’s hips and then attached to the bottom half of the table, the part of the table that moves.
The table will then move back and forth to apply and release the pressure on the spine. The doctor may ask you to face up or face down, depending on the disorder and his professional preference.
The doctor may choose to utilize electrical impulses, cold packs, or warm, moist heat after the spinal decompression. These treatments will generally last approximately 45 minutes a day for the first two weeks.
After that, you will only need to see the doctor three times a week for two weeks, and then for the final two weeks only twice a week. If you follow this routine, you will start to see a small improve after the initial treatment, but you will notice the biggest improvement after the first week.
Who can’t have these treatments?
People with the following spinal disorders should not get this treatment. This includes; Osteoporosis, ankylosing spondylitis, osteopenia, spondylolisthesia. Anyone with Spinal stenosis, spinal tumors, or infection should not have spinal decompression done.
Disorders where the spine is compromised and people who’s had a broken vertebrae, spinal fusion, implants, or unsuccessful back surgeries. People taking blood thinners and pregnant women shouldn’t have this procedure.
Backing it up
Spinal decompression is a procedure that decreases the pressure on your spine, while helping your body heal damaged disks. This procedure can either be done surgically, or non-surgically depending on the severity of the injury.
The only known side effect is brief muscle spasms. If someone experiences pain before, during, or after the treatment, the procedure should be stopped.
There’re things you can do to prevent back injury, they include; don’t smoke, maintain a healthy weight, and use proper posture, proper lifting techniques.
