First of all, Chiropractic can alot of the time relieve symptoms of degenerative disc disease BUT it does not cure or reverse the condition.
Now there is some truth to chiropractic care preventing DDD.
If you've ever seen a spine model you see that 2 vertebrae surround the disc. As a person bends and twists throughout the day the disc gets pumped(called imbibition) between the vertebrae. This pumping allows old fluid to leave the disc and new fluid to enter.
Now imagine a vertebra "stuck" or misaligned. There is now NO motion to the disc and 5-10 years later the disc has dehydrated and thinned(loss of healthy fluid). The next step is the body starts to worry about the weakened disc so it lays down more bone and you start to see bone spurs(osteophytes) around the disc. This is a slow process (10-20 years to see small spurs) but lets the physician "date" how long you've had a problem.
So letting a chiropractor restore motion to a misaligned vertebra will help maintain the health of the disc, thus preventing DDD.
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First of all, Chiropractic can alot of the time relieve symptoms of degenerative disc disease BUT it does not cure or reverse the condition.
November 19, 2008 - 8:37pmNow there is some truth to chiropractic care preventing DDD.
If you've ever seen a spine model you see that 2 vertebrae surround the disc. As a person bends and twists throughout the day the disc gets pumped(called imbibition) between the vertebrae. This pumping allows old fluid to leave the disc and new fluid to enter.
Now imagine a vertebra "stuck" or misaligned. There is now NO motion to the disc and 5-10 years later the disc has dehydrated and thinned(loss of healthy fluid). The next step is the body starts to worry about the weakened disc so it lays down more bone and you start to see bone spurs(osteophytes) around the disc. This is a slow process (10-20 years to see small spurs) but lets the physician "date" how long you've had a problem.
So letting a chiropractor restore motion to a misaligned vertebra will help maintain the health of the disc, thus preventing DDD.
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