Chiropractic care is an alternative treatment option you may want to consider for degenerative disc disease, or DDD.

The first steps a chiropractor will take to treat degenerative disc disease involves carefully diagnosing a disc-related complication. Back pain is a main symptom of DDD and 3 main causes are looked at by the chiropractor.

• Degeneration in the spinal joints might be disturbing the mechanisms of the spine.
• Thinning and degenerative discs might be bulging and putting pressure on spinal nerves.
• Spinal stenosis can cause back pain and leg pain.

Diagnosing Degenerative Disc Disease

At your first exam, you’ll go throughout your past medical history with the chiropractor and he/she will discover areas of restricted joint motion, disc injury, muscle spasms and ligament injury by performing a few easy tests.

Your chiropractor will even look at how you walk as well as your entire posture and movement capabilities. Those details will help them understand your body mechanics and how your spine moves.

You may also need an imaging test, like an x-ray or MRI.

After the assessment, the chiropractor will diagnose your condition and create a treatment strategy to reduce back pain and other symptoms of DDD.

Chiropractic Treatments for DDD

The goal of chiropractic care for DDD would be to enhance joint mechanics by reducing inflammation and improving spinal motion. The chiropractor could also focus on enhancing the function of the intervertebral discs—but that if you do not have disc degeneration that is innovative.

To help treat your degenerative disc disease symptoms, your chiropractor may use spinal manipulation, also called spinal adjustment. There are multiple kinds of spinal manipulation. Some common ones are:

• Particular spinal manipulation: Your chiropractor will identify the joints which might be restricted or those that reveal unusual motion. He/she will work to restore movement to the joints using a gentle thrusting technique.
• flexion-distraction technique: This kind of spinal manipulation uses a gentle, non-thrusting technique; it’s normally used to treat spinal stenosis and herniated discs.
• Device-assisted manipulation: This technique works on the handheld device. Without thrusting directly to the spine, the chiropractor applies mild force.

Manual therapy can also be utilized to greatly help treat degenerative disc disease symptoms. Examples of manual therapy techniques are:

• trigger point treatment: Tight painful points are identified by the chiropractor and gets direct pressure on those points to alleviate stress.
• manual joint stretching and resistance techniques: Your chiropractor may use any of these methods to relieve pain and also other DDD symptoms.
• Curative massage: Massage might reduce muscle tension.
• instrument-assisted soft tissue therapy: An example of this type of manual therapy is the Graston technique, which uses an instrument to reduce pain and other symptoms.

In addition to spinal manipulation and manual therapy techniques, your chiropractor may use other kinds of therapy to help reduce inflammation caused by degenerative disc disease. Examples are:

• interferential electrical stimulation: A low frequency electrical current can be used to stimulate your muscles to lessen inflammation.
• ultrasound: Ultrasound will help reduce pain, stiffness, and muscle spasms by sending sound waves deep into your muscle tissues. This creates a mild heat that improves circulation.

Your chiropractor could also urge therapeutic exercises, which may help augment your other treatments. With chiropractic care, prevention is essential, and remedial exercises can prevent your DDD symptoms.

Benefits of Chiropractic for Degenerative Disc Disease

Your chiropractor will work hard to treat your degenerative disc disease and address your DDD symptoms all. But chiropractors treat the “whole individual”—not only your symptoms that are particular. Your chiropractor may prepare you on stress management, nutrition, and lifestyle goals in addition to treating your degenerative disc disorder symptoms.

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 . 

By Dr. Alex Jimenez

Additional Topics: What is Chiropractic?

Chiropractic care is an well-known, alternative treatment option utilized to prevent, diagnose and treat a variety of injuries and conditions associated with the spine, primarily subluxations or spinal misalignments. Chiropractic focuses on restoring and maintaining the overall health and wellness of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. Through the use of spinal adjustments and manual manipulations, a chiropractor, or doctor of chiropractic, can carefully re-align the spine, improving a patient’s strength, mobility and flexibility.

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