In some people, disc herniation resolves itself. In others, the disc herniation becomes chronic and must be treated for the patient to have a good quality of life.

Conventional medical responses to disc herniation include rest, pain medications, and in more extreme cases, disc surgery, which is sometimes successful and sometimes not. The surgery involves incisions near the spinal cord, and one small mistake in this area can bring disastrous consequences. Some patients, in addition, might not be in a physical condition amenable to surgery in general. There is a better answer for many patients, and that answer is non-surgical spinal decompression for disc herniation.

What exactly is non-surgical spinal decompression? It’s a new treatment for disc herniation that is producing some very good results. In the last few years, some mechanized procedures have been developed in response to the problems presented by simple traction treatments. Traction treatments often involve levels of force that are difficult both for the patient to tolerate, and for the therapist to control. Non-surgical spinal decompression helps to counteract the forces for the patient, by placing them in a supine position instead of an upright position, and provides the chiropractor or therapist with a more precise control of the force being applied to the spine. In this way, traction applied by computerized means becomes a much gentler treatment for disc herniation.

The risks and inconveniences of spinal fusion surgery for herniated discs is so great, that any and all non-surgical options must be considered and tried first before such an option can be reasonably entertained. More people are undergoing disc surgery than ever before, but good results are not growing in correspondence with the amount of surgery being performed. Non-surgical spinal decompression is one other option that can be considered and tried short of surgery for herniated discs. It is noninvasive and effective in many cases. Experimental data performed so far shows that this procedure produces good results with little to no adverse effects on over half of the patients who underwent such a procedure. While further studies need to be done in the future to provide more empirical data, the current results are very promising.

It is worthwhile to begin treatments for disc herniation with other treatments that are currently covered by insurance. If such treatments fail to improve disc herniation in patients, however, it would be well to keep in mind that treatments such as non-surgical spinal decompression do exist, and would be worthwhile to consider short of the extreme measure of spinal surgery.

When undergoing a treatment of cold laser therapy, the patient can expect a series of many short visits to the chiropractor. Each treatment lasts for just a few minutes, while the laser beam is applied strategically to certain spots to alleviate pain and stimulate healing. Either the patient and the chiropractor or therapist may wear goggles to protect their eyes from the intensity of the laser, or they may be directed to look away to protect their eyes. There is seldom any sensation of heat involved, though occasionally patients may report a sensation of hot or coldness during the procedure. Most patients feel no sensitivity or pain during or after the treatment. While some patients experience some immediate relief of symptoms, others may take up to 6-8 visits before any noticeable improvement is made. A treatment plan of cold laser therapy may include anywhere from 12-25 short visits, depending on the condition being treated and the patient’s particular response to the treatment. After having been studied for many years at many different levels, there have yet to be reported any significant side effects from the laser therapy, properly applied.

There are two kinds of cold lasers approved by the FDA at this time. The 3A level laser penetrates a short way into the skin, and is useful when used with cuts or surgical incisions, arthritis, as well as other conditions relatively close to the surface of the skin. The 3B level cold laser goes deeper into tissue, and is useful to treat joint pain, deep muscle wounds, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other deeper conditions. Overall, this treatment is beneficial for many kinds of pain conditions, such as muscle spasms, back pain, shoulder pain, stiffness, and wound healing.

The practice of chiropractic medicine continues to advance with exciting new tools to help improve patient healing and quality of life. Cold laser therapy is one of those tools that a chiropractor can wield in the patient’s behalf to banish pain and accelerate healing of chronic conditions.

Mostly, there is no known cause of this condition. It tends to affect women a little more than men, and can begin at any age in life. Other life situations or syndromes may trigger the development of scoliosis in some individuals, such as the existence of a structural problem elsewhere in the body, or a problem in the actual formation of the bones or spine. Among older adults, degenerative diseases such as arthritis can lead to a malformation of the spine. A tumor can put pressure on a person’s spine from time to time, causing the person to compensate for the growth of the tumor and the spine begins to curve abnormally.

The major symptom of scoliosis, no matter the cause, is an abnormal curvature of the spine to the side. Other symptoms may arise from this spinal curvature, such as back pain, especially when involved in activities that require excessive movement from the trunk of the body. Misalignment of the shoulders or hip area, or changes in skin texture and tone over the spinal area could also come into play, or there may be no other obvious symptoms, depending on the severity of the condition.

Once a diagnosis is made, there are many avenues of treatment, depending on the severity of the curvature. If the case is mild, then regular observation is the main treatment. Different medications for pain or physical therapy might be recommended. If the scoliosis is more severe, the need for a back brace or corrective spinal surgery will be considered. These treatments can be effective in some people, and not so effective in others. It’s doubtful that a child with scoliosis will grow to adulthood without some kind of side effect when standard medical treatment alone is utilized.

While chiropractic care cannot cure or sometimes even stop the progression of this condition, chiropractic treatment can still provide great support for the scoliosis patient. Spinal health and development can certain be improved through chiropractic treatment, with fewer side effects and difficulties than spinal surgery presents. Chiropractic treatment presents a more holistic view of the patient, which also presents a greater possibility for management of scoliosis in the future. Treatments such as gentle spinal manipulations, effective exercises for spine support, and lifestyle modification through diet and exercise, will create more of a balance in a patient than constant rounds of pain medication and the dubious results and certain discomfort of spinal surgery. When considering your options for scoliosis treatment, it would be well to consider the ways that chiropractic care could be of benefit to the patient’s total well-being.

Normally, the immune system is very effective in keeping the body healthy. It does malfunction on occasion, and these over- or under-reactions of the immune system can essentially produce one of three results. When your immune system in a person becomes ineffective, you have an immune-deficiency disease, such as AIDS. When the immune system overreacts to substances that are harmless to the body, you have an allergy to that substance, such as the case with asthma. In people who have had new organs grafted in, the body can reject that organ as a foreign body, and attack it and kill it. In some circumstances, your immune system mistakes the body tissues themselves for foreign invaders, and then your immune system begins to attack the body itself. Diseases such as this, like lupus or MS, are classified as autoimmune diseases. The symptoms of such diseases are incredibly varied, and each group of symptoms will need to be planned for and treated on an individual basis.

When you go to a medical doctor, his treatment for your immune system gone haywire will consist of mostly immunosuppression through drugs. The response of the immune system will be modulated to cause as little damage as possible to body tissues. In the case of immune deficiency, drugs will also be used, but in the opposite direction – to try and stimulate the immune system to be more active. Conventional medicine holds out little to no hope that these drugs will ever be able to be discontinued, and as with any drug, there will often be significant side effects to contend with. With some drugs, there is a potential for overuse or addiction as well, a side effect that will seriously curtail your quality of life.

Chiropractic treatment for your immune system can be much more effective and curative in nature than standard medical drug therapy. Chiropractic care focuses on the nervous systems of the body, and modulating how those messages of the nervous system are sent and received by the brain. Subltle subluxations in the body can cause big problems if left untreated, and that is exactly what chiropractic care can address. Using chiropractic care in conjunction with medical care can help reduce or modulate the side effects than drug therapy. A chiropractic treatment plan will address more than just the patient’s immune system responses, but the whole person, and can sometimes help bring the body’s systems into balance in a way that conventional medicine alone cannot provide. Being treated by a chiropractor is a wise move when dealing with your immune system and the resulting disorders that can occur.

The most telling symptom of chronic fatigue syndrome is the above referenced feeling that you cannot perform your daily tasks or routine, because you are incapacitated by fatigue, tiredness, and lack of energy. This should not be confused with a period of time in which you are not sleeping enough for whatever situational reason. Instead, physicians use the time table of at least six months of this overwhelming fatigue-without a known reason-to define patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. Other common symptoms to join this main one are: problems sleeping, waking up tired, onset of headaches, sore throat, inability to concentrate, memory loss, joint and muscle pain, and sore neck or armpit glands. Moreover, you may experience any of these symptoms in connection with an activity that you used to be able to do, but now exhausts you.

Though there is much speculation regarding the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, as it is a fairly new syndrome to plague patients, very little is known as to its root. Many physicians consider chronic fatigue attributed to lifestyle factors that gradually wear down the immune system, but no studies prove this as the conclusive cause. In many cases, the condition will begin with symptoms of the flu-showing that the immune system is worn down, and it will graduate to perpetual chronic fatigue symptoms.

As the medical world is fairly unfamiliar with the condition, and while still other physicians regard the syndrome as a made up condition, there is no effective cure or treatment to date for chronic fatigue syndrome. One of the main reasons why many doctors in standard medicine reject the legitimacy of the condition is that there are no conclusive tests that a patient can take to point to the syndrome. This said, if you are suffering from these symptoms, you could be told to change your mental perspective from the standard medical world. Unfortunately, these set of symptoms are an actual condition, and it is just being ignored by standard medicine at this point in time.

For these reasons, many patients suffering had looked into alternative treatment to seek relief from chronic fatigue syndrome, such as chiropractic care. Chiropractic treatment can take a closer look at the dysfunctions that may be happening in the body, and heal them through specialized manipulation techniques, massage, as well as diet, exercise, and supplementation. More than likely, the reason for chronic fatigue syndrome has to do with a variety of poor lifestyle choices. By consulting a chiropractor, these issues can be addressed in a manner that is holistic, non-surgical, and comprehensive.