Headaches
Headaches and migraines often make it difficult to perform well at home and on the job, but receiving treatment at a headache relief center may ease the pain and frequency of your headaches. If you’re near Williston, VT, let the hardworking staff at Vizuri Health Center handle your care.
Our team strives to make our office a warm, comfortable place to receive therapy, and we provide our patients with flexible scheduling options. Our friendly staff members are knowledgeable about recent advances in chiropractic medicine, and we provide our patients with customized care plans. We’re also:
- Members of the American Chiropractic Association
- Fully licensed and insured in the State of Vermont
- Vermont Chiropractor of the Year Award
- Certified in Whiplash and Traumatology
When you find yourself looking for a headache relief center in Williston, turn to Vizuri Health Center. Give us a call today to receive answers to your questions or to schedule your first visit with our doctor.
Neck and Low Back Pain
Most people have back pain during their life, many develop chronic low back pain. If you are one of the unfortunate people who experience low back pain (LBP), you are not alone. 80% of adults will experience an episode of sudden lower back pain that can last for weeks. For most people (80-90%) the first episode will go away without medical care in 4-6 weeks.
If it only happened that one time it would not be so bad, but for about half of Americans, the back pain returns again and again, and as I will share later, the episodes can become worse over time. The research tells us that once you have an episode of LBP, you are more likely to have it again and, unfortunately, for some it does not go away. And the pain happens more frequently and each time it seems to last longer. Acute LBP becomes what is known as Chronic Low Back Pain. For some of you the pain simply does not go away. Up to 60% of Americans are in this boat, living with pain daily.
Up to one in three people with chronic LBP become disabled, affecting nearly every aspect of life – work, sleep, social and recreation. One in five people with chronic LBP can develop substantial disability. The number of people who experience LBP is not getting better
LBP is the second most common reason for a doctor’s visits and the third most common surgery. LBP is the most common reason for work disability in the US7 and many people are forced to retire early due to low back pain.
Disc Injuries
Your spine is designed to last a lifetime. The bones, joints, disc, muscles and connective tissue regenerate and adapt to stresses. Only when there is an injury or stress beyond the ability of the body to restore itself to normal does a disc become injured. There are two types of injuries: acute or sudden traumas such as a car accident or fall. The second type of injury is small repetitive injuries that, over time, accumulate so that a disc fails. When a less-than-ideal lifestyle is added to this, healing takes much longer.
Types of Disc Injuries:
Bulged Disc
This type of disc injury is very common – one in seven people walk around with small, bulged discs in their spine with NO symptoms. This means that at some point the disc was injured and began to swell and tear. If the bulge is large enough or in the wrong place, it can put pressure on the spinal cord or the nerve root – this type of disc injury responds very well to conservative care. If a bulge is present in the spine think of it as a warning sign to align and stabilize the spine before it progresses to a more serious disc condition.
Herniated Disc
When the outer fibers of the disc (annulus fibrosis) tear all the way through and the gelatinous nucleus pulposus is pushed out into the tear -the disc is considered “herniated”. The tear itself can cause what is known as discogenic pain – pain arising from the disc. If the herniation is directly onto a nerve root, this puts both physical pressure on the nerve root and the inflammatory chemicals from the disc injury invade the nerve root and cause it to swell as well. With a herniation, there are two causes of pain, direct pressure on nerves and swelling of the nerve.
This is important to understand to successfully treat the herniated disc – it is essential to reduce BOTH the physical pressure on the nerve and to reduce the swelling or inflammation. Must treat both for success
Protruded Disc
When the outer fibers of the disc are torn, and the central disc pushes through and beyond the tear the disc is said to protrude. This is a more serious condition and typically takes longer to heal. The same injury to the nerves applies as in the herniated disc.
Extruded Disc
When the inner nucleus is pushed through the outer fibers and separated from the disc entirely the disc is considered a disc fragment or extruded. This can also be called a sequestered disc. This is the most difficult to manage and may require surgery to remove the fragment.
Spinal Stenosis
Narrowing of any opening is called stenosis, this happens to chronically inflamed arteries, too. In the case of spinal stenosis there is a combination of two factors: thinning of discs and arthritis of the spinal joints, essentially causing bone-on-nerve pressure. The space between the spinal bones or vertebra is called the IVF (intervertebral foramen). There are four sides, if you will, to this opening. On the front side is the disc, top and bottom of the opening are the spinal joints and at the back of the opening is a ligament (ligamentum flavum). When a spinal disc loses water and begins to thin, the IVF narrows top to bottom. At the same time the spinal joints undergo degeneration and begin to develop boney spurs (typically spinal arthritis) further narrowing the opening. As a result of the mechanical stress caused by the disc thinning and the joint arthritis, the ligament thickens. This creates a trifecta resulting in narrowing of the IVF also known as spinal stenosis. Conservative treatment for this is different than a herniated disc. While this condition cannot be “cured”, it can be stabilized and managed.
