Health Update: Bulging Disk or Herniated Disk
I Slipped a Disk – What Is That Exactly?
“I was digging a hole in my garden and hit a rock with the shovel. After clearing the dirt from around the rock, I bent over and reached into the hole. I couldn’t get a good grip on the rock and had to twist my body to get my arm under it. As I started to move the rock, I felt something ‘give out’ in my low back and felt immediate low back pain, but it wasn’t terrible. Like a fool, I gave it another try but this time, the pain in my back was really sharp when I twisted to reach under it. Then, it felt like a knife stabbing me when I tried to stand up. Since then, I can’t stand up straight and pain is shooting down my left leg.”
The intervertebral disk is like a shock-absorber located between each vertebra in our spine extending from the tail bone to the upper neck. When healthy, your disks truly do function as shock absorbers. There are two parts to the disk – the inner part (called the nucleus) which is the liquid-like center and the outer part (the annulus), which is tough, laminated and rubber-like whose job is to hold the nucleus in the center of the disk. The annulus has concentric rings which look similar to the rings of an oak tree trunk and the strength of these laminated rings is due to the fibers crisscrossing, creating a self-sealing, secure border for the nucleus center. In spite of this great anatomical structure, our disks degenerate and can crack or tear allowing the more liquid-like nucleus to leak out of the annulus creating the classic “slipped disk” (technically referred to as a herniated or ruptured disk). When the herniated disk presses into the nerve that goes down the leg, pain is felt along its course and can radiate all the way to the foot. There are five vertebrae and disks with a pair of nerves that go into each leg and depending which disk ruptures, pain will follow a different course down the leg, which is why we ask you if you feel the pain more in the back or in the front of the leg. When the disk tears prior to both disk herniation and leg pain, low back pain occurs because the nerve fibers that are normally only located in the outer third of the disk grow into the central portion of the disk, making it generate more pain.
So now for the important question, “…what can I do for it?” When you visit our office, we will ask you about how you injured your back. Often, the cause of a herniated disk can be the accumulation of multiple events over time. It certainly can happen after one major event, like our example of lifting a rock out of a hole, but that is usually the “straw that breaks the camel’s back” and not the sole cause. Many researchers have reported it is rare for a healthy disk to herniate. Rather, disk degeneration with tears already present sets up the situation where a bend plus a twist, “…finishes the job.”
In my 11 years of treating patients with low back pain and sciatica, I have not seen anything like the DRX 9000. Some patients who can barely walk are able to stand up straight and walk normal again after just a few sessions on the DRX 9000. If you have a bulging disk or a herniated disk, you should consider the DRX 9000. Picture this. While you are resting comfortably, feel your pain melting away… as if someone is gently breaking up the muscle knots in your low back…and releasing the stabbing pressure off your low back and legs. This breakthrough treatment called the DRX 9000 targets your ruptured or bulging disk…at a precise angle…repairs your disk…which then releases the painful pressure off your nerve…relieving your low back pain and sciatica. Scientists and engineers designed the DRX 9000 to deliver treatments customized to each patient’s condition. Sensors meticulously monitor the patient’s response to the treatment. Feedback data is analyzed and used to optimize treatment results.
The DRX 9000 quickly gained popularity when the jaw dropping results of its research study was published in two medical journals – Pain Medicine News and Anesthesiology News. After discovering the results of the research, a Mayo Clinic doctor described it as “Impressive.” The promising research data on the DRX 9000 has been presented to doctors at packed medical conferences in San Diego, Genoa (Italy), Athens (Greece), and Hamilton Island (Australia). Picture the genuine excitement of doctors after discovering a new way to help their patients with back pain. Even some back surgeons now recommend that their patients first try the DRX 9000 before they operate on them.
To schedule a FREE Consultation with Dr. Falkenroth, simply call (831) 475-8600.
