Johnson Chiropractic Explains Degenerative Disc Disease and How Nutrition Helps
Usual questions of Richmond back pain sufferers at Johnson Chiropractic include: “What is Richmond degenerative disease?” (Johnson Chiropractic can describe degenerative disc disease at the drop of a hat!) and “Will nutrition help?” (“Yes!”)
WHAT IS DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE?
Degenerative disc disease comes many times from normal, age-related changes that take place in the discs of the spine that trigger pain. The spinal discs function like shock absorbers between the vertebral bones of your spine. As discs degenerate, they don’t do their job very well. A discs’ health depends on the health of surrounding structures as much as its own health. The cartilage endplates play a huge role in the health of the disc. Unhealthy endplates do, also, as they may contribute to degenerative disc disease.
HOW CHIROPRACTIC CARE AND NUTRITION HELP DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE
Chiropractic care at Johnson Chiropractic approaches disc health from both the inside and outside. The disc requires some special nutritional elements to keep it healthy and strong, ready to preserve the mobility of the spine. It requires glucose, glycosaminoglycan, calcium, magnesium, chondroitin sulfate, and more. It obtains these nutrients through the cartilaginous endplates that surround it above and below (70%) and from the sides of the disc (30%). The cartilage endplates of the disc that abut the vertebral bodies of the spine provide a major path for nutrients to get into the disc. Permeability of the cartilage endplate rises as it ages and degenerates. Degeneration of the cartilage endplate is linked to the beginning of cell starvation and death of the disc due to poor nutrition. Degeneration of the cartilage endplate may well be responsible for mechanical load-induced dehydration of the disc’s nucleus pulposus and decreased levels of glucose in the nucleus pulposus (inner gel of the disc)-annulus fibrosus (outer bands of the disc) connection area. (Read more about disc nutrition with glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate.) (1) The endplates are crucial to the disc’s health. When the endplates are damaged by degenerative changes, they can’t perform their job of transporting nutrients into the disc. One study stresses this issue by explaining that severe inhibition in the endplate nutritional pathways likely leads to intervertebral disc disruption. (2) Additionally, a good night’s rest may be good for more than beauty! Lying down even for a short time permits an increase in the cervical spine and thoracic intervertebral discs’ hydration volume. (3) Johnson Chiropractic cares for the disc from the inside with nutrition and the outside with sleep recommendations as well as spinal manipulation.
Richmond CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT HELPS DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE
While lying down unloads the spine, dynamic loading of the spine helps, too. How? It comes back to those cartilage endplates yet again. The ability of the cartilage endplates The more porous and healthy the endplates are, the more flow of nutrients is allowed. The less porous, less hydrated, more degenerated the endplates are, the less flow of nutrients is permitted. Recent research today describes the benefits of dynamic loading (as opposed to static loading) on nutrient transport into the disc via cartilage endplates. (4) Chiropractic spinal manipulation is dynamic treatment of the spine. The protocols of Cox® Technic focus on individual segments of the spine to enhance motion where disc degeneration may be present. It’s gentle, relieving care delivered every day at Johnson Chiropractic!
CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Sylvia Hrefna from Iceland on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she discusses her relieving care with Cox® Technic of a patient with disc degeneration in her cervical spine, the second of two cases in this podcast.
