Nanaimo Chiropractor discusses slipped discs

Hi there, I’m Dr. J, Chiropractor at Pure Chiropractic. The topic for this article is the slipped disc. The first thing you should know about slipped discs is how ridiculous the name is. It gives you the impression the entire disc comes firing out the side of the spine, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. The disc is so firmly attached to the bones of the spine that if you tried to pull it away from the vertebrae you’d break the bone first.

Now, here’s what you need to know. The centre of the disc is a fluid filled ball called the nucleus. You can think of it like a water balloon. It absorbs the impacts like the shock absorbers of your car. Surrounding this water balloon are annular rings, so named because they look like the yearly rings of a tree. The job of the annular rings is to hold that nucleus, that water balloon, in place.

Occasionally, the annular rings get tears in them. These tears can be perfectly painless. This goes by many different names, including:

Spondylosis

Osteoarthritis

Degenerative disc disease

If we get enough of those tears, what’s going to happen? Think about a water balloon. If I have a water balloon in my hands and squeeze it, it’s going to poke out through any gap it can. That’s exactly what will happen to the nucleus of the disc. It will squeeze out through the tears. That bulge of nucleus is what a slipped disc is. I think you can see why slipped disc such a bad term. The better term is disc herniation. And I think you can also now see that disc herniations don’t just come out of nowhere, they take time to develop, usually years.

Now, the question that should be running through your mind is “Where do we get those tears in the disc?” Many people would understandably assume that it is all down to age, but these degenerative changes are seen in teenagers. And also, we see examples almost daily where someone will have only one disc degenerated and the rest look perfect. Their discs are the same age, so why aren’t they degenerated the same amount?

The answer is, trauma will immobilise the joint and harms the joints ability to get nutrition. This will lead to the degenerative damage and tearing of the annular rings. This can be a single big trauma, like a car crash or many little traumas that build up over time, like poor posture. This is where Chiropractic can help. Through chiropractic treatment, we are arable to free up those locked joints and improve the supply of nutrition to the disc. This will slow or stop the degenerative process. If the disc has already herniated, chiropractic care can help get you well again.

So that’s disc herniations in a nutshell. Remember, never use that rubbish term “slipped disc.” Check back for more educational hubs from me. I’m Dr.J helping you get back to health!

Dr. Jason Hare is an alumnus of Palmer College of Chiropractic. After graduating he was invited to stay on at the University to teach anatomy at the Chiropractic school. After doing this for 2 years, Dr. Hare moved to London, UK where he worked in for 8 years. Although London was a wonderful opportunity, Dr. Hare opted to return to Canada. He has since established his own practice in the Vancouver Island community of Nanaimo.