What Therapy Options Are There For Patients Apart From Spinal Decompression?
Herniated disc injuries are some of the most debilitating, painful, stubborn, no-good injuries the health care industry faces. The typical herniated disc patient goes decades with no relief due to the following progression of events. But, we have a solution that is getting your neighbors' pain free, back to work, and back to living the way they used to.
Back pain is the number 2 reason patients go to their doctor, behind the common cold and flu.
If you suffer from a herniated disc (or discs) this is the typical progression of events we have witnessed after talking to 1000's of patients on the phone and treating 100's.
1. You herniate a disc. You get in a car accident, twist wrong getting out of bed, slip and fall, or get a work or sports-related injury. Symptoms may include: low back pain, neck pain, Sciatica, burning in the buttocks, shooting pain into arms, legs, feet and/or hands, restricted range of motion, possible paralysis, numbness and/or tingling, among others. 2. At-home Care. You try to stretch, rest, and take some over-the-counter pain killers. They don't work. 3. Primary Care MD. You go to your family physician (typically a medical doctor). They provide prescription drugs which kind of work for the pain, but you realize you are not addressing the real issue. And the drugs have unwanted side-effects, and you've heard of the possibility of addiction, or you are currently experiencing withdrawal symptoms and you are scared. So you stop taking drugs and go back to your doctor. 4. Neurologist. They recommend injections of anti-inflammatory medication. The shot works for about 2-4 months. Then, it wears off. Plus, it comes back worse because the drug masked the pain so you overworked the injured spot. You go back for another shot. They warn you they will only give you three because the medication degenerates the tissues. After two, it stops working anyway and you go back to your doctor. 5. Physical Therapy. They recommend physical therapy. Physical therapy just feels like you are working out an injury, so it often aggravates the site, and does not work. We've had one patient say that physical therapy worked for him, and again, it was to manage the pain using back stretches, but it did not resolve the problem. 6. Chiropractic and Massage. You break down and decide to try massage therapy and chiropractic. You quickly realize that you like them both and receive lots of benefits from them, but you realize that massaging a muscle will not heal a disc injury and the chiropractic is working, but not resolving the issue. Your budget is a bit squeezed, so you stop going. 7. Surgery. The injury is impacting your life and work. You consider surgery. However, you soon realize that surgery has a wildly high fail rate and a questionable success rate. If it succeeds, you will likely be back under the lights and knife within two years for a follow-up surgery. The reason is that the body was never made to need a few less parts, and once you immobilize the spine, the bones on either side of the fusion degenerate and require fusing. Plus, the cost can vary from free (at the VA hospital) to $350,000 (as with one of our patients) between physical therapy and the surgery. Plus, recovery is intense and lost work makes a free VA surgery cost you way more than you ever imagined. Recovery is typically much more difficult than expected, if you recover. We have many patients who say, "If they ever would have told me how long it would take me to recover, how many follow-up surgeries I'd need and what a pain it would be, I would have never done it." 8. Exploratory Surgery. You then consider exploratory surgery but realize it starts at $20,000 and who knows what the results will be. 9. Spinal Decompression Therapy. You then break down, call us at (719) 475-8676 and we get you pain free for a fraction of the cost, hassle and time. Plus, you get back to your life and work:)