Question
Dear Dr. Durnin,

I am 23 years old, white female, 140 lbs 5'8" tall. I have had back pain on and off the last couple of years. I ride Dressage horses and this puts a lot of compression on my lower back. I got off a horse on April 8th 2007 and immediately felt some pain and stiffness. By the next day I could barely move. I had an MRI which showed a disc bulging into my spinal cord at L4 and L5 causing an indentation to the sac surrounding the cord. I have pain in my legs and buttocks, primarily on the left side where the pain radiates all the way down to my ankle. I did a short run of Prednisone and have been taking Norco for the pain. I am also in physical therapy. The pain is excruciating at times making it difficult to work and sitting down is particularly uncomfortable. Do you think its is reasonable to think about a discectomy? What kind of damage could this do to my spinal cord? Are there any other treatments other than PT and oral steroids I can talk to my doctor about? I have been referred to an orthopedic surgeon and would like to know that right questions to ask him. I am to young to have degenerative discs and I am ready to fix this problem for good. Thanks for your time.

Ally

Answer
Hi Ally,

Lucky for you that you don't even need to entertain the thought of surgery. For two decades, spinal decompression has worked in over 90% of patients with herniated discs.

Forget the steroids and physical therapy, that will only ensure you destroy what's left of your disc.

Call around your local area and get a Chiropractor that uses flexion/distraction therapy or has a spinal decompression table. No need for anything else, in one week you will have a 50% reduction of pain and in 6 weeks, your disc will be back to normal without surgery.

Research Cox Flexion/Distraction therapy online as well as VAX-D and other non-invasive techniques and you will shoot yourself for not doing it sooner.

Do yourself a favor and find a D.C. that does F/D, you won't regret it!

Dr. Timothy Durnin
drs.chiroweb.com