Breakthrough treatment for chronic back pain and sciatica!
This new proprietary treatment approach excels at treating chronic spinal disc problems and sciatic nerve pain. There is reason to hope, even if you have had back problems for years. Treatment progresses through three phases: 1. relieving nerve compression, 2. reducing and eliminating back pain, and 3. fixing the muscular instability to protect the spine from future injury.
Key features of the treatment include active rehabilitation to break the pain cycle, two methods of loading and unloading discs to speed healing, monitoring and improving posture and strengthening the core muscles which support the spine.
Sciatica, bulging discs and pinched nerves
Sciatica and other shooting pain down the leg are often caused by damaged spinal discs said to be disc protrusions/extrusions or bulging/herniated discs. When disc material pushes down on a nerve root, it can cause excruciating pain down the leg. Traction has been used in physical therapy for decades, but applying the traction intermittently has shown to significantly improve outcomes over standard care. This program includes intermittent traction and the therapist is able to target the distribution of forces to relieve pinched nerves more quickly and speed healing. Also, therapists provide manual therapy during traction to reduce pain more quickly. The first goal of treatment is to stop the shooting pain down the leg. Then the focus turns to helping the disc heal and fixing the instability responsible for the injury, which means activating and strengthening the core muscles for long-term benefit.
Degenerative disc disease, osteoarthritis and stenosis
Degenerative disc disease results in narrower discs which can cause other problems such as osteoarthritis of the facet joint and foraminal stenosis. Although degenerative disc disease was long thought to be irreversible, recent peer-reviewed research suggest loading and unloading of discs may result in some degree of regeneration. This program provides loading and unloading of discs while in different postures. At Sequoia, we have seen remarkable recovery of patients with advanced degenerative disc disease, even completely collapsed disc.
Chemical radiculitis, post-surgical and idiopathic pain
Sometimes back pain is idiopathic, meaning the cause of the pain is unclear. One example is a patient who experiences shooting pain down the legs but the MRI does not show anything pinching the nerve. In these cases, doctors often treat the condition as chemical radiculitis. This means one of the discs is leaking inflammatory proteins onto a nerve root and the resulting pain is very similar to a pinched nerve (or maybe a burning sensation down the leg). In other cases, the disc may be leaking but the pain chemicals are not contacting a nerve so the pain is localized to the back. Post-surgical patients sometimes experience idiopathic pain like this. It does not mean the surgery was unnecessary or that the surgery failed. It just means the patient’s back had more than one problem.
This treatment program has shown considerable success with these patients. The theory explaining why this treatment works is this: Vibration increases circulation and nutrition to the disc. Also, loading and unloading the discs increases hydration and nutrition to the disc. These two actions work together to provide the disc with the nutrients it needs to heal and ultimately the leaking stops.
Acute back pain
Sometimes patients with a history of chronic back pain come to the clinic after a new back injury. An acute (recent) injury may have damaged soft tissues, like muscles or ligaments. It is important to calm the acute injury down before providing the chronic back treatment. One of the best ways to calm an acute injury is with Class IV laser therapy.
