“I have several bulging discs in my spine. Should I be treated by a chiropractor or have surgery?”

Start with the Chiropractor. Start Acupuncture with Moxibustion. Consult Functional Medicine to correct any Vitamin/micronutrient deficiency and borderline anemia.

Of course less can be more. But depending on your X-rays, MRI, and NCS, you might need surgery. Without those major component of diagnosis, I would follow your orthopedist's advice.

Back surgery should always be the last option. Conservative treatment like Chiropractic, spinal decompression and physical therapy should be tried first. Once you have cut, you can never uncut.

Surgery should be the absolute last resort (success rate is about 25%). Try conservative non-invasive care first. Decompression therapy may actually heal the discs and eliminate the pain.

Surgery may be necessary but I recommend trying a conservative approach first. I would seek out a Chiropractor who utilizes the McKenzie Method or Cox Flexion/Distraction Technique for disc related pain. A 3 month treatment plan should be sufficient to get you out of pain and back to tennis.

Surgery always results in scar tissue. this causes further immobiilty, and you will need continual surgeries about every 5-7 years, because the other joints will work harder to compensate. So make sure your gluts and hips are stretched, as that is half the back motion. This will lessen the stress on the discs. Inversion tables will be helpful as well. Athlean X has great videos on you tube for free.

Specific chiropractic adjustments and physical therapy techniques may help. What needs to be determined is the amount of disc bulge/herniation. After this is determined by MRI, the chiropractor can come up with a plan of attack.

Bulging disc are a weakness of the spinal disc which pushes against the fascia of the spinal wall and irritates the spinal nerves thus causing you to use pain. Yes chiropractic can help you with bulging disc by providing a spinal alignment, traction and specific low back home exercise for you to do on a daily basis. By following his procedure it will prevent you from having any type of surgery and chiropractors are specialists in providing relief. We must advise you to refrain from any heavy lifting, quick jumping movements and avoid repetitive bending, pulling and pushing.

Many bulging discs can be treated using non-surgical decompression machines. We use the DRX9000 in our office and have seen great results.

Chiropractor first!

Hi,

I would definitely advise you to go see a chiropractor and get a full evaluation to be able to find the severity of your bulging discs and have the opinion from a chiropractor who is able to treat you and relieve your pain without the need of surgery. If the chiropractor thinks that your case is so severe that you shouldn’t get chiropractic treatment, if you have any contraindication for it or if after a conservative treatment, there is no results, the chiropractor will tell you what to do or refer you to the right specialist.

I want to stress that there is many research out there showing that there are not always a correlation between the severity of the disc herniation and the severity of symptoms and vice versa. Also, remember that MRI results can change over the years with an appropriate chiropractic treatment.

Obviously if you ever feel symptoms of severe numbness in your limbs, lose control of your urination or bowel movements or weakness like if you start tripping, falling and lose strength in either your arms and legs. All those are signs that you may have passed the time for conservative treatment and surgery may be necessary. But this is not common, and generally, it is the best option to start chiropractic treatment with your type of issues as we are the specialists for this type of condition. Make an appointment with your chiropractor ASAP and he/she will be able to treat you with adjustments, manual decompression/ traction, muscle work and give you the appropriate exercises/home care to stabilize your condition and have you be pain free that you can go play tennis again.

Hope this helps,

“Because your well-being matters”

Dr. Jessica Grichy, DC

Always see a Chiropractor before considering this type of surgery

See a chiropractor who believes in integrated medicine. We deal with the musculoskeletal and neuro aspect of the spine.