Disc Injuries and Massage
Chronic neck or back pain may have many different causes. While an acute injury creates an obvious origin of pain, chronic pain can be caused from improper posture, imbalanced musculature and long-term wear & tear on vertebral discs.
Levels of Disc Dysfunction
The image provided is an excellent example of different levels of disc dysfunction. Over time, our discs can start to wear out and offer less support to our spine. The discs can thin, bulge or completely herniate causing compression on our nerves, muscle spasms and chronic pain.
As quoted by Eric Dalton, PhD: “As components of the spinal anatomy begin to degrade over time… bone loss, disc degeneration, and facet joint osteoarthritis place excess stress on the aging vertebrae. The body responds by growing bony nodules called osteophytes, or bone spurs, to compensate for diminished spinal stability. While the word “spur” often leads people to imagine something sharp or pointed digging into a nerve or other tissue, bone spurs are actually smooth and sometimes ‘crusty’ growths that can be mobilized through movement.”
Massage Therapy can Help!
By applying specific soft-tissue modalities to decompress discs along with mobilization techniques to maintain proper joint movements, our massage therapy treatments can help prevent facet jamming and nerve root impingement. This work can reduce chronic pain patterns and help prevent ongoing disc degeneration by facilitating re-hydration of discs and decreasing muscle spasms. Combined with basic strengthening routines, even pain from a herniated disc can decrease significantly from appropriate massage therapy & soft-tissue treatments.
Our Commitment: Education
We encourage you to review our blog article, Lower Back Pain from a Lumbar Disc Injury. In this article is an amazing video 3D animation of the spine with a demonstration on how a disc bulge or herniation can originate.
If you have Back Pain or Neck Pain, we have created web pages specifically for those injuries or pain patterns.
And if you want to know more about the Massage Therapy Techniques we utilize in our practice, we have information on each of those techniques so you can better understand modalities such as myofascial release, trigger point therapy and muscle energy techniques, along with many others.