Degenerated Discs
Degenerated Disc- A state of dehydration and/or deterioration of the intervertebral disc.
The Discs Of The Spine
The intervertebral disc is a soft jelly-like material that separates 2 spinal vertebra. It acts as a cushion to absorb impact to the spine and allows your body to perfrom complex movements suchs as bending, and twisting. The disc also helps protect the delicate nerves from becoming trapped or pinched by the surrounding structures.
The disc is a water containing tissue that does not receive any vascular blood supply after age 25. Because of a lack of blood supply it becomes more difficult to replenish and rehydrate nutrients to the disc as we age. The spinal fluid that surrounds the spinal cord is known as CSF. This fluid helps to keep the spinal cord and the discs hydrated. CSF contains water, oxygen, nutrients and immune system components. If the disc become damaged due to over-use, injury, or disease then the fluid can be depleted at a faster rate leading to a degeneration of the disc.
Normal, healthy discs are “fed” and oxygenated by the constant recycling of the disc fluid that occurs with spinal joint movement, i.e. walking. This joint motion “sucks” in fluid filled with oxygen and nutrients and “pumps out” waste fluid. This process of fluid diffusion is greatly affected by internal disc pressure (intradiscal pressure).
Functions Of The Disc
The spinal discs are designed to absorb shock and maintain spinal flexibility by acting as cushions during body movement. The discs act similar to shock absorbers in a car. The pressure within the discs keeps the bones of the spine separated preventing them from rubbing against one another during high-impact activities like running and jumping. Unfortunately, this constant internal disc pressure also pushes the fluid out of the disc consistently every day. This makes it difficult for the body to “suck” in new, healthy disc fluid with its much-needed oxygen and nutrients.
As you age, the discs can lose flexibility, elasticity, and shock absorbing characteristics. They also become thinner as they dehydrate. When all that happens, the discs change from a supple state that allows fluid movement to a stiff and rigid state that restricts your movement and causes pain.
The discs of the neck and low back are the most commonly affected by degenerative disc disease.
Degenerative Disc Disease Can Happen At Any Age
Generally it becomes more common as we age. Disease of the spinal discs can take many forms. Significant disc damage can lead to a Disc Bulge, become a tear called a Disc Herniation or the inner gelatinous material of the disc can leak out in the case of a Ruptured Disc. The “jelly center” of the disc can also dry out over time which is referred to as Degenerative Disc Disease. All forms of disc injury can eventually impinge on the nerves exiting the spine (“Pinched Nerve”) which can create numbness, tingling, burning or sharp pain down the arms or legs. Sharp pain originating from the back and “shooting” down the legs is often referred to as Sciatica.
Degenerative Disc Disease Causes
- Greater than normal compression of the disc due to repetivite activity. Could be from heavy lifting, playing sports, driving heavy equipment, work, prolonged sitting, etc.
- Decreased Hydration happens when more fluid is pushed out of the disc than is sucked back into the disc. This slowly causes the disc to lose its water content and the disc becomes thinned, and loses its ability to provide its shock absorbing capability.
Symptoms Of Degenerative Disc Disease
The main cause of symptoms in degenerative disc disease is the thinning of the disc. Although the disc itself does not directly cause pain, when the disc loses its height it begins to put stress on the surrounding muscles and connective tissues. This puts stress on the joints in the spine which can lead to stiffness and pain often increasing with motion or activity. This can also lead to a condition known as Facet Syndrome.
Disc Degeneration can also place pressure on the exiting spinal nerve. This can cause painful burning, tingling and numbness in the arms if the problem is in your neck and in the legs if the problem is in your low back. There is an opening where the disc is located called the foramen. When the disc thins the opening becomes smaller, this condition is called "foraminal stenosis" or "lateral canal stenosis". This compresses the nerve and the nerve function decreases. Here is an example, say you went out to wash your car. When you backed out of the garage you accidentally parked your car on the garden hose. When you went to turn on the water no water flowed. The tire is pinching the hose (like the bone is pinching the nerve) and there is a decrese in the flow of water (nerve electrical energy). When this happen in the spine it is commonly called a "pinched" nerve.
Decreased nerve function is a serious condition. You should know that your entire body is controlled by your nervous system. That's right every single cell. If the messages to these cells gets interrupted or damaged in any way then the organs and muscles that these nerves control could begin to experience loss of function or disease. This is more serious than just having a degenerated disc.
The DRX9000 Is Effective in Treating Degenerated Discs
It used to be that the only treatment for a degenerated disc was to fuse it with bone from the hip which eliminated the damaged disc. This surgery has a poor success rate and many patients have to have further surgeries within a few years to repair the damaging effects of this surgery. Now there is new technology which can help you avoid this potentially harmful surgery. It is called non-surgical spinal decompression.
Prior to the advances of spinal decompression there was few options to treat a degenereated disc without surgery.
The DRX9000 Spinal Decompression system relieves the effects of degenerated discs by helping to restore the health to the disc. This is accomplished by drawing water, oxygen and nutrients back into the disc by reducing the pressure inside the disc. As the vertebra above and below the disc are separated fluid is drawn back inside the disc. Over time the process of spinal decompression can replace the lost fluid, relieve the pressure on the nerve, restore mobility and function to the spine, and get you back to living a more normal productive life.
The DRX9000 is a computer controlled device that is used in the treatment of neck and low back degenerated discs. The DRX9000 incorporates an advanced treatment technique that slowly separates the bones of the spine while preventing protective muscle spasm from hindering the treatment. This decompression motion cycles between brief moments of separation and relaxation, known as oscillation, creating the pumping action necessary to re-hydrate the disc. The decompression is targeted to a specific disc level unlike outdated “traction” techniques that merely “pulled” the entire spine.
The DRX 9000 is a comfortable treatment that will gently restore the health and vitality to degenerated discs without drugs and without surgery. Most patients report relief within the first few weeks of treatment with many patients reducing their dependency on pain medications.
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