Hello, Dr. Troy here.
I want to talk today about Annular Tears in spinal discs and how to get relief from that through decompression, through traction of the spinal disc.
WHAT IS AN ANNULAR TEAR?
If you look in between the vertebrae, there are discs. And you have 23 different discs in the spine, in the neck, mid back, low back. The most commonly injured area of discs or annular tears is going to be the lower back. It is about 20% in the neck and about 80% in the low back, depending on who you look at.
But the annular fibers is what holds in the jelly – much like a jelly donut, if you have ever eaten a cream filled jelly donut. The annular fibers are like the donut and the jelly is the “annular” that sits inside.
So, what an annular tear is, is where you tear the outside fibers of the disc and the jelly starts to extrude out through that annular tear. That can put pressure on nerve roots, the spinal cord itself, and can cause a lot of havoc such as very painful sciatica and chronic back pain. The biggest thing with this is that people lose function – they lose their ability to sleep, they lose their ability to work, they lose their quality of life.
HOW TO CORRECT AN ANNULAR TEAR
Some people have faced surgery or cortisone shots or different other types of analgesic type shots. Or they have tried acupuncture, they have tried physical therapy or even traditional chiropractic adjustments.
We just want to help see if we can help people who have annular tears get back on track. One of the best ways to tell and to see if you have that is to do an MRI. We always encourage patients who have one of those to bring it to us so we can go over it together and educate you.
We have found over the years that many doctors do not take the time to show patients their issues on their MRI. And the other thing that weve found is usually were going to see the posterior muscles of the spine, the back muscles are going to be shot. They are going to be infiltrated with fat, just like if you went to a BBQ, you have the best-looking ribeye marbled with fat.
That is not what we want to see on your MRI. And a lot of times doctors miss that. They are not looking for that, they are just looking at the disc. If you do not correct that in addition to decompressing the disc so that you get the fibers to heal and pull them apart, then you are actually kind of missing the boat and the problem is going to come back.
What we have found is that when we do decompression with a rehabilitation protocol,, we can see some amazing results. We just had a guy recently, he was taking eight Vicodin a day, a pain level of an eight. He is now down to a pain level of two just after two weeks of spinal decompression.
He gave me a big hug, he said, Hey, I am walking better, I am taking less medication, I am working better, people noticed the difference in my energy. His attitude is better, and that is really what it is all about, even if you try other therapies that have not worked.
SUMMARY
You know, that is why we get on the radio, we get on YouTube and we say Come get checked out – see if we can help you. We offer our consultation at no charge. We always encourage you to bring your images with you so we can discuss them.
The phone number to call if you are interested in getting checked out, to see if decompression is right for you, is (360) 260-6903. Any of our doctors in our office can help you get back on track if you are suffering from an annular tear in the discs of your spine. But you will not know until you come in and get checked. So, again (360) 260-6903.
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