subject: Alternatives To Surgery For Bulging Spinal Discs [print this page] So you have been told you have a bulging spinal disc....now what? Is a life full of pain meds, muscle relaxants, or gulp...surgery...the only choice you have?
No!
Allow me to introduce Decompression Therapy to you. Decompression therapy takes adavantage of an age old concept-traction, yet it puts a high tech spin on it.
Let's first examine the problem. Your disc, much like the "white part" of the Oreo cookie is being squeezed out and your in an amazing amount of pain ever since that disc contacted that little spinal nerve next to it.
Your body, not wanting you to damage it anymore, has tightented up all the musculature in the area in an effort to keep you from moving and pushing that disc on that spinal nerve.
In short, gravity, time, and plain old "wear and tare" have created a situation in your back that has weakned the disc.
Decompression Therapy, simply put, seaks to "uncompress" the disc and take the weight of your body off of it.
Now when this "zero gravity" occurs, something magical can happen:
1. The disc can be "sucked back in" through a vaccuum effect, and move away from that spinal nerve and 2. The disc can be heal itself through an increased uptake in nutrition (your discs get their nutrition through movement, much like a sponge)
So, how is Decompression Therapy really different then, say from good old traction?
Ahh...here is where the rubber meets the road.
Decompression Therapy is sneaky. It works by slowly increasing the weight (or amount of pull) in a pattern that "goes under the radar" of your bodies ability to detect. This is critical since if your body feels too much, it will fight the treatment. The lower back muscles are so strong that traction done in the old days was pretty much useless because patients felt too much!
Decompression Therapy also uses very special types of "patterned" pulls that pull, then relax, then pull to slowly introduce motion back into the spinal disc.
Modern decompression tables can be found in chiropractic clinics as well as physical therapist offices. The therapy can be done on either the lower back (lumbar) or the neck (cervical).
Most treatments last anywhere from 10-15 minutes and are done on a schedule.
I urge you strongly to consider Decompression Therapy before undergoing any type of surgery.
