Common questions of
Plainville back pain sufferers at Layden Chiropractic include: “What is Plainville degenerative disease?”
(Layden Chiropractic can describe degenerative disc disease at the drop of a hat!)
and “Can nutrition help?” (“Yes!”)
WHAT IS DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE?
Degenerative disc disease comes oftentimes from typical, age-related changes that take
place in the discs of the spine that produce pain. The spinal
discs act like shock absorbers between the vertebral bones of
your spine. As discs degenerate, they do not do their job very
well. A discs’ health stems from 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 Layden Chiropractic manages
disc health from both the inside and outside. The disc requires
some special nutritional elements to maintain its health and strength, ready to preserve the mobility
of the spine. It needs glucose, glycosaminoglycan,
calcium, magnesium, chondroitin sulfate, and more. It gets
these nutrients through the cartilaginous endplates that border
it on top and bottom (70%) and from the sides of the disc
(30%). The cartilage endplates of the disc that are adjacent to the
vertebral bodies of the spine provide a major path for nutrients to get into
the disc. Permeability of the cartilage endplate
increases 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 describing how severe inhibition in the endplate
nutritional pathways likely leads to intervertebral disc disruption. (2) Further,
a good night’s rest may be good for more than beauty! resting recumbent even for a short time permits an
increase in the cervical spine and thoracic intervertebral discs’ hydration volume.
(3) Layden Chiropractic treats the disc from the inside with
nutrition and the outside with sleep recommendations and spinal manipulation.
Plainville CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT HELPS DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE
While resting recumbent unloads the spine,
dynamic loading of the spine helps, too. How? It comes
back to those cartilage endplates yet again. Cartilage
endplates’ ability to allow flow of nutrients depends on its porosity. The
more porous and healthy the endplates are, the more flow of nutrients is permitted. The less
porous, less hydrated, more degenerated the endplates are, the less flow of
nutrients is allowed. New research today presents 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 concentrate
on individual segments of the spine to increase motion where disc
degeneration may exist. It’s gentle, relieving
care delivered daily at Layden Chiropractic!
CONTACT Layden Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Sylvia Hrefna from Iceland on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as she presents her relieving care with Cox®
Technic of a patient with disc degeneration in her cervical spine, the second
of two cases in this podcast.