Parking Available

Disc herniation or bulging can be an extremely painful condition. Symptoms can be extreme immediately, or they can gradually increase with time. This condition is likely to recur once it had happened. There are two layers of the disc that can be damaged. Firstly, you may have some bulging and tearing of the tough, cartilaginous outer layer of the disc (called the annulus fibrosis) that can put pressure on a nearby nerve. On a more severe level, the inner layer that is made of a jelly-like substance (called nucleus pulposus) may leak through small cracks in the outer layer and press on the nerve as well. 

Pressure on a nerve root, from either disc material, while exiting the spinal cord can cause symptoms such as pain, numbness, tingling, or even muscle weakness into arms or legs depending on the disc that is affected. There are a number of orthopedic and neurological tests to determine if this, is indeed, the problem. Conservative care, such as chiropractic, may (and should be!) be performed in most instances, with the exception of a few extreme cases which we are trained to identify.

To Come

Nerve entrapment occurs when there is a physical interference with the normal positioning and functioning of a nerve. Symptoms of this include numbness/tingling in limbs, radiating pain, difficulty standing upright, and localized muscle weaknesses. This commonly happens due to disc herniations, bony degeneration, muscle compression and a variety of other physical barriers. We work to relieve the nerve after creating an environment where the physical pressure had been reduced or repositioned.  Therapies we would use include flexion distraction technique for nerves close to the spine, or percussive therapy for nerves located in an extremity.