Lumbar Disc Bulge Protursion

Many people ask me if we work with disc bulges and if it is safe to adjust the lumbar spine when an MRI confirmed disc bulge is present.  The answers are yes and yes.  The reasons are simple:  recent published studies of pain free people reveal that MOST people walking around today have lumbar disc bulges!  This illustrates the fact that the disc bulge in symptomatic patients is not necessarily the pain generator and that surgery to remove that bulge isn’t necessarily the answer.  The pain is more likely coming from the way the spine and disc are moving and thus causing the disc bulge to put pressure on the adjacent nerve root.   Our conservative and mechanical approach of anatomotor lumbar traction, mobilization, and stability movement training are the first steps of care in dealing with a symptomatic lumbar disc injury.

We use the following techniques in the care plan for Lumbar Disc Protrusion:

• Intermittent Traction to decompress the disc
• Reverse Hyperextension to strengthen the posterior chain and decompress the spine
• Acupuncture Therapy to control the pain of radicular symptoms and muscle spasm
• Chiropractic manipulation to manipulate the disc material out of contact with the nerve root
• Lumbar stabilization exercises to maintain the progress made long after treatment is concluded.

For more information on Lumbar Disc Herniation / Slipped disc follow this link to the clinic blog