Herniated Disk: Anyone have luck with decompression therapy?

[Black Landlord]

[quote NewtonMP2100]. . .again not a doctor. . .I would get a 2nd opinion. . .

I couldn't even bend down to tie my shoe lace. . .I did physical therapy which included massage, acupunture (with electricity), heat and doing the excercises that were given to me. . .and much better. . .for awhile there it was back to normal but I have skipped the exercises and rest above due to circumstances.

now I get some numbness. . .so will get back to the above. . .


just to clarify my main symptoms were pain radiating up the back of my left leg. . .especially bad when woke up in the morning. . .I was also told surgery is a last resort since success rate is not that high. . .

2nd opinion. . .
FYI never tell a doctor pain is radiating "up"-- you'll get labeled a head case pretty quickly.

[mrlynn]

My wife, who has a similar disk problem, got some help from a chiropractor (not decompression therapy) and exercises recommended by a physical therapist.

These are both options before surgery. As NewtonMP2100 says, get one or more "second opinions".

Number Two Son, who recently trained as an Alexander Technique instructor, says that "decompression therapy" may be only a temporary solution, because the problem may stem from misuse, and without correcting how you use yourself, will recur.

The Alexander Technique is a system of "kinesthetic re-education", not a therapy, which can help in correcting wrong use that leads to many physical problems:

http://www.alexandertech.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Technique

If you're in the Boston area, I can recommend an Alexander teacher (son's teacher).

Some injuries of course may only be corrected surgically, if at all.

/Mr Lynn

[SDGuy]

I must have been one of the lucky ones.

Had a herniated disc 8 years ago - the pain got progressively worse for a few months, to the point where I couldn't stand up in the morning until after ~45 minutes of sitting (I eventually took to sleeping in a sitting position). I was using a cane all day when I did get up.

The insurance company paid for x-rays and physical therapy, but was balking at having a MRI done. After two sessions with the Physical Therapist, he decided that my case was too severe for what he could offer and somehow made the MRI happen.

One look at the MRI by the doctor and I was oked to have surgery done. At that point, I was in so much pain, I figured I might as well.

After the surgery - no pain whatsoever. The recovery period pretty much consisted of being careful not to lift more than 5 lbs or so for two weeks, and slowly building up the muscles afterwards. Now, 8 years later, I'm still pain-free, and definitely in better shape than I was then (I had lapsed on the exercising - I have a feeling being out-of-shape led directly to getting the herniated disc).

But, as others have mentioned, every case is unique. If you aren't in debilitating pain, try to avoid surgery, but don't go see a quack - it is entirely possible to make things worse than they already are.

[Buzz]

"Neck injury?"

amongst a myriad of other things, mostly stemming from sports related injuries.

[DavidS]

We usually talk about a rule of 1/3's with back surgery - one third gets better, one third gets worse, one third stays the same.

I've had several patients avoid surgery and get better using inversion tables. Basically, you strap your feet in to the boots and rotate yourself upside-down. It's basically using gravity to provide the traction. I can't quote scientific research and statistics but just anecdotal evidence that it may help.

[Black Landlord]

[quote DavidS]We usually talk about a rule of 1/3's with back surgery - one third gets better, one third gets worse, one third stays the same.

I've had several patients avoid surgery and get better using inversion tables. Basically, you strap your feet in to the boots and rotate yourself upside-down. It's basically using gravity to provide the traction. I can't quote scientific research and statistics but just anecdotal evidence that it may help.
I've heard a different rule of 3's:
"Most back pain resolves in 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months".
Could certainly explain the success of an inversion table, accupuncture, or many other unproven remedies . . .

[Black Landlord]

[quote SDGuy]If you aren't in debilitating pain, try to avoid surgery
Actually, debilitating pain isn't an indication for surgery, but for more conservative measures, unless it's ongoing to the point where it's destroying one's life.
Typically a rush to surgery would be due to loss of function (muscle weakness, or loss of bowel and bladder control).

[Harbourmaster]

[quote Grumpyguy]My doctor sent me to surgeon and he wants to do surgery immediately on my herniated disk.
Well of course he does!

He is a surgeon and that is how he "fixes" things, and earns a living... DUH!

[Glued]

Grumpyguy, regarding spinal decompression, here's what a local (to me) chiropractor's office is selling: http://www.drreebdrx.com/DECOMPRESSION.htm and a link to the machine that they used to advertise as using to achieve their results, the DRX9000 https://axiomworldwide.com/DRX9000.aspx.

A couple of things regarding the spinal decompression machine:
1) $5000 up front to start the treatments which must be repeated 2 times a week to start (so you had better be fairly close to where the machine is) AND this line of treatment is unlikely to be covered by your health insurance.

2) The chiropractor's site I included above used to vaunt their usage of the DRX9000 all over their website (when I was investigating treaments about 16 months ago). I can no longer find reference to their equipment on the site.

You should take your MRI films to a spine specialist and have them go over the films with you. They would be able to tell you what you're dealing with beyond the herniation. Things like degeneration of the surrounding vertebrae or occlusions into nerve canals.

In my case (which I had posted in your previous herniated disc thread http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/447...msg-447211), a neurosurgeon and an orthopaedic surgeon noted that a large piece of the disc had been torn off the main body and had lodged in a nerve canal. No amount of 'spinal decompression', therapy, or epidurals would have fixed my problem. I went with the neurosurgeon and had the operation at the end of February 2007. The two weeks following the surgery were absolute horror, but my wife tried to wait on me hand and foot while I maintained a reclining position for as long as possible. After that recovery period, I was in heaven. Felt absolutely brand new, to the point that I built a deck that summer, by myself - stupid move. A couple of days of stiffness after that fiasco and things relaxed. I've been pretty much without pain since - so long as I respect my back and don't abuse it.

Other things to keep in mind: heat is used to relax muscles that are in spasm. If your back is 'ceased up' or tight because of muscle twisting or spasm, then use heat to help alleviate the problem. Heat also causes things to expand so if you use heat to treat pain that's being caused by the herniated disc pressing on a nerve you're not helping the situation. In fact, you may be hurting yourself as the heat warms and expands the disc to press further on the nerve and/or allow more of the disc to be exposed to damage caused by the vertebrae pinching. Icing the back helps numb an area and cause contraction of the soft tissue (the disc). Never ice more than twenty minutes at a time.

[Acer]

Surgery is always an option, and it is the most risky. Why not try something less invasive first? You have nothing to lose.

Chiropractory is kind of a fuzzy science. A friend of mine (who was recommended for surgery by the...surgeon!) has had good luck with one chiropractor, but not the other chiro in the same office. After a while of mixed results after going with whoever was in that day, she arranged to only see the one, and that made the difference. She's very glad she did not rush into the surgery.

YMMV, IANAD, etc.