Sciatica treatment can be a difficult one as there are not only so many factors that can cause sciatica, but it also depends on the severity of the spinal damage that can cause the sciatic pain.
So what do you need to do to get the right treatment?
Well first and foremost, images (e.g. X-Rays, MRIs or CTs) must be done. One of the biggest mistake health care practitioners do is they will perform a physical examination and ask you some questions on your back pain history and then will begin to treat you - WITHOUT ANY IMAGING!
The problem with this is that the above mentioned conditions can ALL lead to sciatica and if your health care practitioner (e.g. chiropractor, massage therapist, M.D., physiotherapist, etc.) does not complete the examination with X-Rays or some other form or imaging, then it's 100% guess work as to what it the source of your sciatic pain is!
So you may undergo treatment for months and months and have absolutely no results. Why? Because your problem was never treated correctly because it was never diagnosed correctly.
So if you are suffering from chronic back or neck pain it is imperative that you have some sort of imaging done.
Now say that you are suffering from a disc herniation or degenerative disc disease and you've had all the appropriate imaging done, have had a thorough exam and you are now undergoing care (e.g. chiropractic, physiotherapy, massage, etc.) and you are still not getting better.
Are these previously mentioned therapies worthless? Are you being taken for a ride?
At The Toronto Spine Clinic because we see such severe and chronic neck and back pain patients, most of of our patients have tried all of the different forms of care... with little or no results.
I tell my patients that the above mentioned therapies are all very good and the reason why you are not getting better is potentially because your problem has now progressed beyond the scope of these disciplines. As such, despite all the good efforts that your health care practitioner is putting forth, your body is simply too far gone to adapt and make the appropriate changes.
It is for this reason that The Toronto Spine Clinic was formed. We opened out of the need to help patients with spinal arthritis, degenerative disc disease and disc herniations get the results they are looking for.
Because we see such complicated and chronic cases of neck and back pain, we provide our patients with THE most advanced and TRUE form of Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression therapy on the market today. As such, when our patients undergo our care they have the highest probability of recovery.
In fact, our treatments are so effect that the TV show The Doctors has profiled our treatment!
Click on the link below to watch a clip on our website.. The Doctors TV Show
If you would like to find out if you are a candidate for our treatment, call 1-855-TSC-DISC 1-855-872-3472) or (905) 850-1007 for your FREE CONSULTATION.
You just found out that the cause of your lower back pain is your Lumbar Disc Herniation... but you're experiencing more than just lower back pain and pain shooting down your legs (i.e. sciatica). Do you just have a herniated disc?!
Besides the lower back pain and the sciatica, you're also experiencing groin pain, bladder and bowel weakness, erectile dysfunction, the muscles in one leg is shrinking and now your foot is starting to slap the floor when you walk!
"What's going on? Do I have more than just a disc herniation in my back??!!"
Well, probably not. But your herniated disc is worsening and your spinal nerves (e.g. sciatic nerve) are becoming more damaged.
The nerves coming off your spinal cord have essentially 2 branches off the same nerve. This is called "Dual Innervation" and this occurs in all parts of your spine... from your neck all the way down to your lower back.
For instance, the nerves stemming from your lower back branch down into your legs but ALSO into the internal components of your body... like your stomach, bladder, colon, reproductive system, etc.
So, if you have a herniated disc that is pressing on the spinal nerve that also supplies your bladder and bowels, then just like your leg is affected, so will your bladder and bowels. Remember, your nerves act just like electrical wires supplying a light. Electrical current is sent from the source to the light to turn it on. However, if there is something that has damaged the wire, the signal/current will not be sent down and so the light won't work.
Just like your sciatic nerve... if the herniated disc has compressed your nerve, the signals won't be sent down and so the leg and any organ that the nerve supplies will dysfunction. Often for men with herniated discs, erectile dysfunction is a common finding. Again, the nerve that supplies the reproductive organ is compromised, the messages are not being sent and so erectile dysfunction then occurs.
However, by addressing and with proper herniated disc therapy the disc material can be brought back into its proper position, pressure is then removed from the sciatic nerve, signals are sent without interference and your symptoms go away.
HOWEVER! You're symptoms MAY NOT go away! The longer you wait to have your herniated disc treated, if you ignore your problem because you have been told that it will go away on its own or if you use the wrong type of therapy, your nerve can become so damaged that you may never have a full recovery and always feel pain.
So, what can be done? Firstly, have your problem checked immediately. Don't wait expecting it to get better on its own. As a doctor that specializes in the rehabilitation of chronic and severe cases of neck and back pain, this is the most common statement we hear all the time..."Oh, I just thought that the pain would go away". Chances are it won't simply just go away and fix itself.
Secondly, if you have a herniated disc you need to have the proper therapy. Therapy that is able to return the herniated disc material back into its proper position and remove the pressure off of your spinal nerves.
This is exactly what we at The Toronto Spine Clinic provide for our patients! Our treatments are specifcially designed to rehabilitate disc herniation and spinal arthritis. In fact, our treatments are so effective that it has been profiled on The Doctors TV show. (see video below)
If you would like to find out if you are a candidate for our breakthrough treatment, please give us a call at 1-(905) 850-1007 to book your FREE consultation or for more information please visit our website at http://www.torontospineclinic.com TODAY!
So why doesn't stretching and exercises help with your back pain? Well, first of all it can, but it depends on the nature of your back pain and the seriousness of it.
However, if you are one of those people that has already tried or are presently doing the exercises that your physiotherapist has assigned to you and are not getting the relief that you want, I will explain to you why it's not working and what can be done to get rid of your back pain once and for all.
First, one of the biggest mistakes done by therapist is when an exercise protocol is given to patients without having enough information on their condition. In fact, all too often, basic x-rays are not even taken.... especially when you have chronic pain. So if x-rays are not taken, how is your therapist to know what is going on in your back that's causing your pain and therefore, how do they know what to prescribe for you in order for you to get better?
Take spinal arthritis or degenerative disc disease as an example. Spinal arthritis or degenerative disc disease (i.e. the decaying of the discs between your spine) can cause a lot of symptoms . Such symptoms include lower back pain, numbness and tingling (sciatica) down your legs, incoordination, weakness in your legs, etc.
As a natural reaction to spinal arthritis or degenerative disc disease, the surrounding spinal muscles, gluteal (butt) muscles and leg musles (e.g. psoas - hip flexor muscle) will go into a protective spasm called "Gaurding".
The muscles start to guard to protect the area of spinal damage due to spinal arthritis or degenerative disc disease and tries to prevent further damage. That is to say, your muscles go into a spasm AFTER your spinal condition has developed.
So what does that mean? It means that if you are performing stretches and exercises to address the muscle spasms due to your spinal arthritis or degenerative disc disease (which is the origin of your pain), chances are your pain will NOT go away. In other words, you are putting the "cart before the horse".
You are having your back treated backwardly!!
Hence, you'll be performing all these exercises and not getting anywhere. Does this make sense?
Obviously, the best course of action is to address the CAUSE of your pain (i.e. spinal arthritis or degenerative disc disease), once this is addressed... then initiate exercises! NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!
Rehabilitate the degenerative discs first, then address the muscles.
So what should be learned here?
Find out exactly what is the root cause of your lower back pain.
Address the root cause first, then perform exercises (if needed).
It is for this reason, we at The Toronto Spine Clinic will not have anyone undergo care until we know exactly what the patient's condition is. Due to the precision of our non-surgical spinal decompression techology, not only do we have to know what is causingyour pain (so we can determine if your a candidate), but also to know at what disc level is causing your symptoms so that we can target and REHABILITATE that problematic disc.
Our non-surgical spinal decompression therapy is the most advanced on the market today and due to the sophistication of our techology, we are able to target the problematic disc so precisely that 80-90% of the treatment forces will be applied to your damaged disc!
Thus, due to this precision, our patients can enjoy rapid rehabilitation of theirs spine and return to an active pain free life.
For more infomation on your specialized treatment for spinal arthritis or degenerative disc disease, please visit our webiste at http://www.torontospineclinic.com.
To book your FREE consultation to find out if you are a candidate for our care, please call us toll-free at 1-855-TSC-DISC (1-855-872-3472) or (905) 850-1007.
Are you experiencing numbness and tingling in one or both of your hands? Weakness and incoordination in them as well? Well, you may be experiencing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!... or are you?! Did you know that symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome may actually be stemming from your neck!
Before I explain this surprising fact, let me tell you about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
As can see from the diagram on the right, the carpal tunnel is not actually within the wrist, as so many people think, it's actually located at the base of the hand. Through this tunnel passes several tendons that attach to your fingers and squeezed amongst those tendons is your Median Nerve. Over top of those structures, you have the Transverse Carpal Ligament that holds everything in place.
It should be noted that the carpal tunnel is quite small and all the tendons and the median nerve are literally squeezed inside.
So through repetitive strain (e.g. via repetitive tasks like typing, screw driving, cutting, etc) or trauma, the carpal tunnel becomes inflamed and the tendons begin to squeeze the median nerve and that's when you experience the symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (e.g. numbness and tingling, weakness and muscle wasting in your hand(s))
So typically, when people experience Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, they will visit their family doctor and your doctor will initially give you a prescription for anti-inflammatory medication or a suggest getting a wrist support and if the symptoms persist, then they will recommend surgery.
So nothing is working and you opt for surgery, but the doctor wants you to get a Nerve Conduction Velocity test (a test that measures the speed at which signals are sent through your nerve. If is slowed then there is impingement of the nerve).
You sit in the specialist office and they hook up the needles in your hand and arm (not a pleasant experience, but one that has to be done). Well, it has been determined that you have a slow signal speed in your nerve, you do have carpal tunnel and consequently you undergo Carpal Tunnel surgery... but it FAILS! You still have the symptoms!
Carpal Tunnel Surgery can fail for 2 main reasons...
1. Post-surgical scar tissue formation - Due to the invasive surgery and the inflammation that develops after, scar tissue is laid down and wraps tightly around your median nerve and creates the same symptoms that you had undergone surgery for.
2. The cause of you carpal tunnel symptoms NEVER stemmed from your hand in the first place!
So let's address point number 2. But before I do, let me give you an analogy. We have all heard of Sciatica (pain shooting down ones leg from a problem stemming from the back). Some people will only experience sciatic pain and not back pain. So would it make sense to operated on your calf or ankle if you experience sciatic pain? Of course it wouldn't! You would naturally address the problem in the back to remove your sciatic pain.
Well, did you know that the same nerve distribution that originates in your back and goes down into your legs is essentially the same as the nerve distribution that stems from your neck and goes down into your hands!
If you notice from the picture on the right, you will see that your nerves starting from your neck travel all the way down your arm and down to your finger tips, much like the nerves in your back go right down to your toes.
So having said that, if you have something pinching your nerve in your neck, would it make sense that you would have a decrease in the speed of your nerve impulse in your hand? Of course it would!
Think of it this way, if you turned on your garden sprinkler and you noticed that little water was coming out, would you throw away the sprinkler and buy a new one? Did you say "Yes"?
Well what if the problem was a blockage at where the hose is attached to the facet? Too late. You already tossed away a perfectly working sprinkler and the problem was with the hose!
Do you get my point?
If you have a history of neck trauma (from a car accident, a fall, poor posture etc.), have a history of neck pain, headaches, dizziness, ringing in your ears (tinnitus)... chances are you have a problem in your neck!
My suggestion... before jumping to the conclusion of the diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, have your neck examined... especially if you have the above mentioned symptoms or history of neck injuries.
Because if you don't, you can have surgery on a healthy wrist and then create symptoms in your wrist due to post-surgical scar formation. You're problem has to be addresses at the source, because if it isn't then not only will your symptoms get worse, but so will the damage in your neck!
If you want an expert opinion on neck pain and to have a complete and thorough examination to determine where your carpal tunnel syndrome is ACTUALLY stemming from, give The Toronto Spine Clinic a call to book your FREE consultation! Our doctor is an expert in neck pain and he can accurately assess where your problem is originating from and determine the PROPER procedure to address your condition.
Call us at (905) 850-1007 or toll-free at 1-855-TSC-DISC (1-855-872-3472) today!
You probably joked (while in pain) that you knew it was going to rain because you started to feel a lot of back or neck pain.
Do you know why damp conditions or rain bring on
back and neck pain... or any other joint pain for that matter?
Well, the reason why this occurs is most likely because you have developed arthritis, degenerative disc disease and/or degenerative joint disease.
Spinal arthritis, degenerative disc disease, and degenerative joint disease are all essentially the same condition. They are all associated with spinal disc and joint decay. In fact, the same arthritis that you may experience in your hands, hips, knees, etc is the same arthritis that you experience in your spine. The major difference is that it is a lot more serious when your arthritis is located in your spine!
The image to the left is an illustration of what spinal arthritis, more specifically degenerative disc disease, looks like. The discs, coloured in blue, are thinning as you make your way up the spine. For instance, the lower disc in this illustration (which is the lowest part of your spine) is a healthy thick disc, but as you make your way up the spine you will see that it progresses to mild degenerative disc disease, to moderate, to advanced - where the disc is just a fraction of its original height.
As your spinal condition progresses and the intervertebral discs begin to decay further, your spinal joints (which remain open and healthy when your spinal discs are thick and healthy) begin to close up and start to rub together. When this occurs, you will begin to experience more and more back pain (or neck pain )
Now, because the joint are now starting to dysfunction, naturally they become prone to the negative effects of external stimuli such as weather changes. When there is dampness in the air, moisture enters the joints and the joint become inflamed, stiff and painful. Of course, with a healthy spine, weather changes do not have an impact on your joints.
So typically your pain comes, many people reach for their pain medication, down a few and wait for them to kick in so that they can start off their day with less discomfort. Problem with this is, as you may already know from reading the Toronto Spine Clinic's previous blogs, is that you haven't fixed the problem, but your medication, you are now able to be more active, but in fact, what you are doing is creating more damage to your back.
So what can you do to help remove your pain?
First and foremost, rehabilitation of your disc is of primary importance. For without fixing the cause of your problem, your pain will never go away. But in the meantime, 3 powerful supplements can be taken to aid in your recovery (and they can all be found at your nearest health food store).
Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate - great for disc and joint recovery. However, there are two major forms, Bovine Trachea (i.e. cow windpipe) and Sea Cucumber. Bovine trachea has a very low absorption rate, whereas Sea Cucumber has a very high one PLUS there is a naturally found potent anti-inflammatory component found within.
Boswellia - a genus of tree that is a very strong anti-inflammatory
Bromelain - also a very strong anti-inflammatory supplement found in pineapples.
Although these are great supplements, The Toronto Spine Clinic in conjunction with Douglas Labs (one of the most reputable natural supplement companies in Canada) has developed one of the most powerful and effective supplement blends for disc, nerve and tissue rehabilitation on the market today. This supplement is exclusive to The Toronto Spine Clinic and cannot be found in any stores. It is called "Advanced Disc Recovery with Nerve Cell MAX"
We at The Toronto Spine Clinic have partnered up with Douglas Labs because we wanted to provide our patient with not only a higher success rate for recovery, but we also wanted to enhance the effects for LASTING results. For a more detailed look at our unique and powerful recovery supplement, please click "HERE".
If you would like to find out if you are a candidate for care at The Toronto Spine Clinic and to get the relief that you are so longing for, call us and book your appointment today!
Your consultation at The Toronto Spine Clinic is FREE and we will perform a comprehensive examination to determine if your condition is suitable for our care or to fill out our Online Patient Intake Form, please click "HERE"
Why is it that you wake up with so much back pain in the morning? Yes, you have a lot of back pain during the day... but your somewhat active, so it's justified to have pain. But at night when your sleeping, you're doing nothing but lying there without straining your back!
Well there are a few reasons why you may be experiencing pain... and without a doubt, if you are above the age of 40, it's one or a combination of two things... spinal arthritis/degenerative disc disease or a disc herniation.
Before we dive into the above, morning back pain can also be due to the way that you sleep! The number one way to wake up with back pain, is by sleeping on your stomach.
Important to note here, that morning neck pain can be due to the above mentioned reasons as well! That is, if you suffer from a disc herniation, spinal arthritis/ degenerative disc disease or you sleep on your stomach, you can almost guarantee that you'll have neck pain in the morning... and if you don't yet, you soon will.
Sleeping on your stomach will lead to morning pain because your pelvis, which is anatomically heavy, will rotate downwards and jam the joints in your back, this will lead to joint damage, inflammation and pain. As for your neck, when lying on your stomach, you will have to torque (twist) out your neck to one side. This twisting of your neck, much like the joints to your lower back, will lead to joint damage, inflammation and pain. (At the end of this blog, I'll tell you the best position to sleep to minimize back pain.)
Now remember, this pain will occur even if you have a healthy spine!
As mentioned above, if you have a history of chronic neck or back pain, chances are you are now suffering with spinal arthritis, degenerative disc disease and/or a disc herniation.
Having spinal arthritis or degenerative disc disease, your spinal discs have started to decay and so the joints are now closing up and rubbing together. Thus, sleeping on your stomach, which already causes the joints to jam, will now create a lot more pressure or jamming of your joints because of the spinal arthritis!
If you have a disc herniation in your neck or back, sleeping on your stomach can cause that disc herniation to pop out further and therefore cause more pain and sciatica (note: you can also experience sciatica with spinal arthritis).
"But I Don't Sleep On My Stomach and I Still Wake Up With Morning Pain!"
At the Toronto Spine Clinic, we hear this all the time. Unfortunately, when you wake up every morning in pain, it's not a matter of sleeping position.... it's now a matter of not moving when you sleep.
Confused?
When you experience degenerative disc disease or spinal arthritis, your discs are decaying or becoming thinner. So, as your discs become thinner, the joint spaces in your back get smaller and smaller. So when lying down sleeping, you are not moving very much and so the blood flow to the area decreases, the area gets colder, the muscles start to tighten and because the muscles start to tighten, it causes your already tight joints to close up even more. When this happens, as mentioned above, your joints are further damaged, you develop inflammation and pain.
Ever notice, that when you are finally able to get out of bed and move around a bit, the pain starts to lessen? Well, the reason why this happens is because you are now warming up the area... blood in being flushed in, the muscles are loosening up and so the joints are opening up. When your joints open up, the pressure is removed and so the pain lessens.
Unfortunately, this is not lasting because the more active you are, the more damage you create to your spine and the worse your problem becomes!
What needs occur in order to remove your pain is rehabilitating your disc... which is the origin of your problem! If you are able to increase the height of your degenerated disc, you are able to open up your spinal joints, remove the pressure off of your joints and ultimately remove your pain!
Here at the Toronto Spine Clinic, we specialize in the treatment of severe and chronic neck and back pain. In fact, all that is treated here at our clinic is spinal arthritis, degenerative disc disease, disc herniations and failed back surgery.
As you can see from the video below, by using our highly sophisticated non-surgical technology, we are able to rehabilitate your degenerative disc such that your joint no longer rub together and if you are experiencing sciatic pain due to bony pressure on your sciatic nerve, by rehabilitating your disc, we can also remove the pressure off of your nerve.
By addressing the direct cause of your condition, we are not just able to remove your pain but we are able to provide LASTING results.
So as you can see from the video, our treatments are very target specific. In fact, 89-90% of the treatment forces will be applied directly to your problematic disc. Therefore, by having the ability to be so precise, your body can quickly be rehabilitated!
Some patients are concerned that the treatments are painful, especially since their are already in tremendous pain before starting care. Because there is an advanced computerized patient monitoring system built within our technology, the treatments are very gentle and patient typically have instant relief in pain when their treatments start. In fact, treatments are so gentle, that patients often fall asleep while under care!
If you would like to find out if you are a candidate for our treatments, call us today and book your FREE consultation.
Call us at (905) 850-1007 or toll-free at 1-855-TSC-DISC (1-855-872-3472).
You thought we forget to tell you the best way to sleep to minimize your pain didn't ya?
First... you need to have a medium firm matress.
Secondly... when sleeping on your back, place a pillow either under your knees or under your thighs. When sleeping on your side, but a pillow not only between your knees, but also a small one along your waist (i.e. the side that is lying on the bed)
You always want to keep your spine in an aligned position and this is achieved by placing pillows in the above mentioned areas!
Surgical Spinal Decompression is the one that everyone fears. It is the one that your medical doctor will often either tell you that it is too dangerous to perform on your neck or back (which may be caused by a disc herniation, spinal arthritis, degenerative disc disease and/or facet syndrome) and so they advise against it.
As such, your medical doctor advises you to try all other treatment before undergoing surgery for your neck and/or back pain.
Why would your medical doctor advise you against having spinal surgery if he/she thinks that you need it?
Well, the reason is because spinal surgery has such a high failure rate. In fact, the failure rate is so high that a new diagnostic category was developed in the medical field... "Failed Back Surgery Syndrome".
Understand the significance of this new category...there is no other equivalent term for ANY other medical procedure! That's how risky spinal surgery is.
People who are suffering with disc herniations, spinal arthritis, degenerative disc disease and/or facet syndrome are often in significant amount of pain, their quality of life has almost vanished in front their eyes and perform every task with the thought of how their back or neck pain is going to be affected. Consequently and justifiably, their major focus is to get out of pain and get out of pain fast!
Consequently, more often than not, people will go to their medical doctor or to the emergency room for prescription pain medication to immediately remove their pain. As mentioned in our previous blog posting, medication does NOT remove the problem, it only takes away the pain and actually makes your condition worse because you have not addressed the cause of your pain.
Many of the patients that we see have had a surgical consult (or two) and have opted out or have been advised to seek other treatments first. So these patients do.
In fact, 80% of the patients that come into our clinic, The Toronto Spine Clinic, have already seen a chiropractor, physiotherapist, acupuncturist and a massage therapist... and with little or no relief in their pain and symptoms.
Patients that we see are often upset that they have spent all this time and money with these various treatments and they think that they have been duped of their money or that these treatments are "junk" treatments.
We understand our patients' frustration, but what I tell all of our patients is that all of these types of therapies are very good, but their condition has fallen beyond the scope of these disciplines. As such, despite all efforts, their condition cannot be resolved.
However, these are the typical patient that come to The Toronto Spine Clinic of our advanced treatment protocol.
Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression therapy has the ability to rehabilitate your damaged disc in such a fashion as to not only remove your pain, but to provide lasting results.
How is Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression therapy able to achieve this?
Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression therapy is able to address the exact cause of your pain AND by using a strict comprehensive approach that is unique to The Toronto Spine Clinic, we are able to remove your disc herniation and rehydrate your degenerative disc (i.e. "plump" it up) so that the spinal vertebrae and or herniated disc are no longer pressing on your nerves and remove the pressure off the joints... thus removing your pain at its source.
Here are two videos that describe our treatments.
DISC HERNIATION TREATMENT AT THE TORONTO SPINE CLINIC
DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE TREATMENT AT THE TORONTO SPINE CLINIC
In addition to our Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression therapy, while under care, you are provided with our advanced disc and nerve tissue rehabilitation supplement called "Advanced Disc Recovery with Nerve Cell MAX" which is a [powerful all-natural supplement that has the ability to enhance healing for a both quicker and more thorough healing of your damaged disc(s) and spinal nerves.
In addition, while under care, you will be very closely monitored to ensure that you are not only healing appropriately, but as your body begins to heal, targeted soft tissue (i.e. muscle) trigger point therapy will be performed to break down scar tissue adhesions that have developed due to your spinal complaint.
Lastly, lesion specific exercises will also be given at specific times throughout care to increase spinal flexibility and stability.
As such, our treatments are customized to every patient. By customizing a patient's treatment protocol to their exact specifications, we are able to provide our patients with the highest probability of recovery.
So if you have tried various treatments and have not received the results that you had hoped for or you want come directly to our clinic and avoid wasting time, please give our clinic a call.
If you would like to find out if you are a candidate for our care and to book your FREE consultation, please give our office a call at 1 (905) 850-1007 or toll-free at 1-855-TSC-DISC (1-855-872-3472).
You can also fill out your on-line patient intake from by clicking "HERE"
The Toronto Spine Clinic
6175 Hwy 7, Unit 3 (corner of Hwy 7 & Hwy 27)
Woodbridge, On L4H-0K9
email: contactus@torontospineclinic.com
