It seems like recently we’ve had a large number of patients come into the office with a “disc problem” in their spine, usually the low back area. But is it really the problem, or a sign of something more serious?
Generally speaking, the disc doesn’t just go “bad” or bulge out of nowhere. Most of the time people lose the normal curves of the spine and all the weight is compressed onto the disc instead of the posterior aspect of the spine. What you probably didn’t know that usually (but not always), this is just a compensation from the neck. This is why so many people have ongoing battles with low back problems. Everyone focuses on the low back because that’s where the pain is. But often times this is just the weakest part of the spine on that patient.
Think of it like 2 people holding a rope tight. You can’t pull one end of the rope without affecting the other. The spine is the same way. A neck problem will compensate and work it’s way down, often changing the biomechanics of the spine a creating a “disc problem”. If you’re someone who’s suffered with ongoing low back problems and haven’t had the changes you’d expect, the answer might lie in evaluating the motion of your neck on video x-ray.
The example below shows an out of state patient with extreme low back pain and sciatica which showed immediate improvement once the neck was unlocked (click link below)
Sciatica and low back pain correction