Moriarty Chiropractic Explains Degenerative Disc Disease and How Nutrition Helps

Common questions we hear from Nashua back pain sufferers at Moriarty Chiropractic sound something like this: “What is Nashua degenerative disease?” (Moriarty 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 oftentimes from normal, age-related changes that take place in the discs of the spine that trigger pain. The spinal discs act like shock absorbers between the vertebral bones of your spine. As discs degenerate, they don’t do their job as 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 Moriarty 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 via 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 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 reduced 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 harmed by degenerative changes, they can’t do 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) Further, a good night’s rest may be beneficial for more than beauty! resting recumbent even for a short time allows an increase in the cervical spine and thoracic intervertebral discs’ hydration volume. (3) Moriarty Chiropractic treats the disc from the inside with nutrition and the outside with sleep recommendations and spinal manipulation.

Nashua CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT HELPS DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE

While lying down unloads the spine, dynamic loading of the spine is beneficial, 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 allowed. Recent 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 every day at Moriarty Chiropractic!

CONTACT Moriarty 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.