"StandUpRight News" by Dr. Donaldson

Spinal X-rays – The Missed Opportunity?

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Herniated Disc Doctor writes:

"I had x-rays and MRIs and they say nothing is wrong except arthritis."

"My doctor says my insurance company tells him I don't need x-rays of my back and that I should just take these drugs and my back pain would go away. Well, it didn’t. My back keeps hurting and all they do is keep giving me drugs. What’s wrong?"

 

Both of these stories point out the missed opportunity of spinal x-rays.

 

Sometimes people come to us with page after page of x-ray, CT and MRI reports and still have never had a good explanation of why they have not gotten any better. On the other hand we see people come to us with long-standing back pain that they can't get rid of and who have never been x-rayed. Some insurance companies refuse to pay for x-rays in the first thirty days, yet Medicare thinks the x-ray is important.

 

So what is the proper use of x-rays for back pain?

Turn Your Bad Back Into a Good Back

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Bad Back Doctor writes:
You didn't start out with a bad back. In fact you didn't start with a back at all, not even a front! You started out round...as just a single cell. So there wasn't a front or a back. 

Everything that is you developed from that one cell. And through the miracle of life, that one cell became two, then four, then eight and on and on and on... until organs formed and you became recognizably human.

Of course you probably don't remember much about when you were one cell. But at some instant you became aware that there was something happening around you that you didn't cause, and likewise, that you could have an effect on your environment that persisted over time.

Spinal Stenosis Requires Special Care

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Spinal Stenosis Doctor writes:

The spinal cord is the lifeline of your body. Messages flow from your body up to your brain and then back down to the body in an amazing communication cycle that allows perfect coordination of all your body parts 100% all the time from birth to death, as long as the cord is working properly. 

The spinal cord snakes from your head to your pelvis through the canal formed by the holes in the back side of your vertebrae.

Usually there is plenty of room inside the canal for the cord to flop around a bit. The spinal fluid circulates nicely around the cord and allows the cord to be cushioned and nourished adequately.

For Your Herniated Disc to Heal Properly Your Treatment Program Must Address Three Types of Tissue

Milwaukee Herniated Disc and Decompression Doctor writes:

To solve the complicated herniated disc and structural pain problems that we see, three types of tissue must be specifically evaluated and repaired. These three are:

1. Passive Spinal Tissues including spinal discs, ligaments, cartilage and bones

2. Active Spinal Tissues including muscle and associated connective tissues

3. Control Tissues including both ingoing and outgoing nerves, the spinal cord and the brain and brainstem

Our corrective procedures are designed to minimize the stresses on all these tissues and to optimize their function to allow your spine to be as close to normal as possible. Only then can you heal properly.

Water and nutrition must be supplied to all tissues of the body. The healthy spinal disc nucleus is 88% water. Degenerative discs are dehydrated and have abnormal function. We must begin with hydrating your body to achieve disc rehydration and reduction of musculoskeletal symptoms.

Muscle spasm prevents motion of the spine which will not allow spinal structural correction. We will reduce these spasms and accompanying adhesions and begin remodeling of scar tissue in old spinal injuries. This will reduce the soft tissue resistance to the structural improvement we need to make.

Alternate loading and unloading cycles are utilized to soften the hard gelatinous discs. This will temporarily remove the elastic energy from the disc so spinal change can occur. This will also aid in disc rehydration. We use a specially designed exercise chair to focus motion directly at the lowest spinal discs.

Spinal axial decompression may be required after the soft tissues have been prepared. Decompression is utilized to create motion throughout the spine. We use the DRX-9000 Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression unit for this procedure for its' safety and comfort features.

The best spinal structural correction can only be accomplished with full spinal movement. This may require alignment of the upper body on top of the lower body using specific spinal adjustments. Most herniated disc treatment programs fail at this step and leave you with less than ideal results.

We may also use head and body weights to allow structural and postural correction of the spine. This helps strengthen the muscles of the spine,restores the normal lordosis and accelerates correction of the spine.

Once these steps have achieved most of the correction, the muscles must be strengthened to allow the curves to stabilize. As the muscles strengthen they will be better able to hold the new corrected curves.

Only then can the postural coordination patterning be programmed into your nerve system so it becomes correct and unconscious. Just like any new habit, it takes time for your body to get fully adapted to these changes.

Call us at (414) 355-0433 to schedule a Complimentary Consultation with Dr. Donaldson to find out if you qualify for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs.

What Is the Theory Behind Non-Surgical Disc Decompression? How Does It Work?

Milwaukee Chiropractor and Back Pain Doctor writes: 

   An experimental study has shown than in non-degenerated, but bulging disks (something your MRI or CT scan would show), decompression can lower the pressure inside the disk.

This negative pressure may then draw or suck the displaced disk material more towards the center of the disk and away from your nerves. For many patients this can mean pain relief because a compressed nerve is a painful nerve.

If the pressure on the nerve is released, it can begin to heal.

The DRX9000™ is designed to assist the body's natural tendency to heal itself because Mother Nature sometimes needs a little help.

If the disk can be moved even a small amount away from the nerve, this can be enough to decrease inflammation and irritation. Once the pressure is off the nerve then the nerve can begin to heal. Isn't that worth a try?

What if you can avoid surgery? Or what if you could avoid another surgery?

Call us at (414) 355-0433 to schedule a Complimentary Consultation with Dr. Donaldson to find out if you or someone you know qualifies for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs.

Unless Hope Leads to Action, There is No Change

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist writes: Constant pain can really get to you. There are two common responses to pain that are particularly damaging and usually make things even worse.

One is trying to ignore the problem and just cover it up with drugs. This has become particularly problematic since the COX-2 inhibitors (Vioxx, Celebrex, and Bextra) were taken off the market for contributing to heart problems. With the decline in the use of these drugs came a nearly equal increase in the use of Narcotic analgesics like Oxycontin and Oxycodone which have become drugs of choice with addictive personalities.

The other response is to limit activities so the pain isn't worsened on the chance that it will go away and the person won't have to put any attention on it.

I have seen people get so resigned to their pain that they decide to just give in and try to avoid the pain. They start to do a bit less each day, watch more television, do fewer of their favorite activities. It's like they gradually shut down their life without realizing it.

One time a lady came in whom I hadn’t seen in a while. I checked her out. She could hardly move and she was having back pain that shot into her leg. Yet she said she was doing "just fine." She couldn’t stand for more than a couple minutes, couldn’t sit long, and on days when she could go to work was so limited that she had delegated nearly every function to someone else.

But she said she was OK. As long as she didn’t do ANYTHING, she was OK. When I asked her what she would do if it got worse, she said it wouldn’t get worse because she just refused to do the activities that aggravated her. And if something started to bother her, she just wouldn’t do it anymore.

Well, eventually just getting up out of bed in the morning is going to aggravate her! So her life will become just lying in bed all day, but she will be "OK."

Not really. Not for long anyway.

Because when you decide to ignore the problem by taking drugs or by limiting your daily life, the pain doesn’t just go away. Gravity never quits. So the force on your spine doesn’t either. Eventually you will either drug yourself and limit your life so much that you have no life or you will have to act to confront the reason the problem is there. These are the only two options really.

Sorry, but I can’t help someone who is OK with giving up. Enjoying life less and less. Waiting for the next bad thing to happen. And just ignoring the real problem. I don’t think that is you.

But if it is OK with you to have no life then just keep on doing what you are doing, then take the drugs, get the shots, and wait until you beg for surgery. Use your cane, when that doesn’t work, get a walker, and then get a wheelchair.

But if you decide that is not for you then you have to take action. No-one else can do it for you but we are here to help.

Call (414)355-0433 to schedule a No-Risk Qualification Exam for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Rehabilitation Programs.

Get Your Life Back With Non-Surgical Spinal Disc Decompression Therapy!

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Spinal Decompression Doctor writes: What choices do you really have to treat your lower back pain?

Surgery? Sometimes helpful, always risky. Injections? Hit or miss usually and of limited use because of the tissue destruction they cause. Most of the standard options you are offered involve a high degree of risk with significant downtime and not much more than a 50% chance of reducing your pain. 

When you become frustrated thinking about the possible complications from surgery and are sick and tired of living in a haze from medications, you're likely to start thinking that you have no other options and must submit to dangerous surgery.

If you're looking for a natural solution for your lower back pain we may have what you've been searching for.  Non-Surgical Spinal Disc Decompression is a medical breakthrough technology with a consistently high success rate.  It is an all natural, non-invasive and drug-free answer for disc related syndromes of the lumbar spine.

Its primary effect is to increase the absorption of fluids, nutrients, and oxygen to the disc and surrounding tissues to stimulate healing and a return to normal function.

By applying a precise, computerized distractive force to your spine, a gentle unloading occurs to your compressed spinal segments. This creates a negative pressure inside your discs, like a suction.  This suction pulls the bulge or herniation back into its correct location causing the disc wall to retract.

This significantly reduces the pressure squeezing and pinching your delicate nerves and surrounding soft tissues. It also separates arthritic joints allowing for more normal movement and better circulation around the spinal cord. Most of the time this helps with canal stenosis that may be shutting down the nerve flow to your legs.

If you've been told there is nothing your doctor can do until you beg for surgery, don't despair. There is hope. Call to see if you are a candidate for our DRX-9000 Non-Surgical Disc Decompression program. It may be the thing that helps you get your life back like it has for so many other Milwaukeeans.

Call Julie at (414) 355-0433 for a free consultation.

Fixing Your Back Shouldn't Hurt

Milwaukee Disc Decompression Doctor writes:

Back pain is bad enough. But to have to endure more pain during the treatment for it? Nope... that's just`too much and it's not acceptable.

No-one wants to have even more pain while undergoing treatment. Back surgery, injections and other invasive procedures all involve more or less tissue damage and more pain. Sometimes the damage from the treatment is enough to cause a new and even worse problem. Then to have to cover up with drugs .... Who needs it? Especially when there is a better way.

Non-surgical Spinal Disc Decompression using the DRX-9000 is a safe, effective, and comfortable new way to handle your disc problem. And not only is it convenient that the DRX-9000 treatment is painless, but it is important that it is painless.

Why is it important? Well, the spinal disc is between two spinal bones. The decompression procedure reverses the forces that squeeze the bones together so the bones actually separate. This brings healing nutrients into the disc and lets the disc heal.

But the bones are moved by muscles. If the muscles are not relaxed during the procedure then they will resist the separation of the bones. This is not only painful but then the force must increase, leading to more pain, leading to more muscle resistance, leading to more force needed, leading to more pain... well, you get the idea.

This is called a positive feedback cycle and is what the old styles of traction and some lower quality decompression tables do. Sometimes the old style solution causes more pain. Not good!

The DRX-9000 works by using a special motor and special computer program that almost tricks the body into letting the disc decompress without triggering off any muscle spasm.

Then the muscles stay relaxed and the disc can unload comfortably. You can even catch a little nap during your decompression session. It's not uncommon to hear snoring coming from someone on the table. Or singing as they sing along with the music.

So don't think that surgery is the only or even the best option for your disc problem until you have checked into whether you qualify for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs using the DRX-9000.

Call us at (414) 355-0433 to schedule a Complimentary Consultation with Dr. Donaldson to find out if you qualify for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs.

Why I Chose the DRX-9000 - The Best Tool for the Job.

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist writes:
Just about any car will get you from here to Chicago. Most of the time the trip is uneventful, maybe a little traffic around the tollbooths and, of course the perennial road construction. But on any given day you may be surprised by something unexpected...bad weather, heavy traffic, or a crazy driver. On that day you are happy that you spent the extra money for the On-Star system, the anti-lock brakes, skid-control system and side airbags. When you choose a car you want to choose one that will be the best for the job.

For the first twenty years of my practice, the three most difficult cases to treat were the serious herniated disc problems, chronic degenerative spinal arthritis and spinal stenosis. While I provided many people with pain relief and the ability to function better, I knew that if we could just reverse the strains on the deepest joints of the spine we could make huge changes in their lives.

But the technology for safe, comfortable and effective disc decompression was just not available. Then a few years ago when I was looking around for equipment to help with serious spinal disc problems I found that the engineers at Axiom Worldwide had solved many of the problems with previous equipment and had developed the technology to help safely solve those  most difficult disc problems.

What Really Happens During Non-Surgical Spinal Disc Decompression?

Milwaukee Chiropractic Orthopedist and Disc Decompression Doctor comments:
We have been using the DRX-9000 from Axiom Worldwide in our Non-Surgical Spinal Disc Decompression programs for almost three years. We have helped dozens of people improve their lives.

The DRX-9000 provides a distractive force to the lumbar discs with the goal of opening up the joints and the discs between the bones of the spine. The vast majority of people who complete the treatment program have had their pain reduced significantly, many times letting them get on with their lives, sometimes saving them from the rest of their life in pain.

With such good results one of the most common questions we are asked is "How does the DRX-9000 work?"

As with all advances in the medical field, the science of what disc decompression actually does lags behind the clinical application. High quality clinical trials are very expensive and take many years to collect good data.

You can bet that if there was huge profit involved in the outcome of the research there would be large drug companies invested in this. Can you imagine the loss of profit to the company that makes Advil if people didn't take it for their back pain anymore?

Despite this, the clinical research is beginning to come in more rapidly now. There are case studies that show disc height improvement, improvements in activities of daily living, and pain relief.

But, how it works is more difficult to determine. Recently there are studies on the effects of distraction on rabbit spines that give us an idea what is happening to the tissue of the disc during the application of the decompression force.

Researchers found that squeezing the disc for 28 days caused more disc cells to die. But after another 28 days with the disc decompressed the changes were reversed and showed signs of regeneration. The flexibility also increased.

The decompression also resulted in rehydration of the the disc and increased numbers of collagen cells.

These studies are more difficult to perform on humans as few people will submit to having their discs tested in the same way as in a rabbit. But the more we learn about how it works in animals the more we can learn about how it is helping humans.

If you have been having back pain, call our office for an appointment to see if you qualify for this procedure. Call (414) 355-0433.