Hello everyone, I hope that you had a very nice Christmas and that Santa was good to everyone. For this weeks blog I decided to talk about Disk herniation’s and how chiropractic can very beneficial for its treatment.

A herniated disk refers to a problem with one of the rubbery cushions (disks) between the individual bones (vertebrae) that stack up to make your spine.
A spinal disk is a little like a jelly donut, with a softer center encased within a tougher exterior. Sometimes called a slipped disk or a ruptured disk, a herniated disk occurs when some of the softer “jelly” pushes out through a crack in the tougher exterior.
A herniated disk can irritate nearby nerves and result in pain, numbness or weakness in an arm or leg. On the other hand, many people experience no symptoms from a herniated disk. Most people who have a herniated disk don’t need surgery to correct the problem.

You can have a herniated disk without knowing it — herniated disks sometimes show up on spinal images of people who have no symptoms of a disk problem. But some herniated disks can be painful. The location of your symptoms may vary, depending on where the herniated disk is located along your spine. Most herniated disks occur in your lower back (lumbar spine), although they can also occur in your neck (cervical spine).
The most common signs and symptoms of a herniated disk are:

Arm or leg pain. If your herniated disk is in your lower back, you’ll typically feel the most intense pain in your buttocks, thigh and leg below the knee. It may also involve part of the foot. If your herniated disk is in your neck, the pain will typically be most intense in the shoulder and arm. This pain may shoot into your arm or leg when you cough, sneeze or move your spine into certain positions.
Numbness or tingling. People who have a herniated disk often experience numbness or tingling in the body part served by the affected nerves.
Weakness. Muscles served by the affected nerves tend to weaken. This may cause you to stumble, or impair your ability to lift or hold items.

Chiropractic can be very beneficial to help with disk herniation’s, through certain techniques and by removing the subluxations we can put pressure off the spine and help with the healing process. Now not all disk protrusions are alike and depending on how severe it can be will determine the treatment. It is always good to get evaluated by a Chiropractor to see if it can be beneficial or in the case might need surgery. You would always want to seek more of the holistic approach first rather than going to the surgical route first because it could be easily treated without surgery at times.

I hope that everyone has a very happy New Year and don’t forget to sign up for our event on January 13th, enjoy some organic food on us and listen to some very good information. Also bring some friends and make a night of it, so we look forward to seeing everyone in the New year and may it bring you lots of love and happiness.

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice.” – T.S.Elliot –

Translation in Afrikaans-Vir verlede jaar se woorde behoort aan verlede jaar se taal en volgende jaar se woorde wag op ‘n ander stem.

Dr. R