Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation Found Effective and Less Expensive Than Epidural during Treatment of Herniated Disc Diagnosis

Herniated discs have burdened a number of clients that have visited our Holtsville office. Fortunately, Dr. Cohen has assisted many of them rebound swiftly and more completely. Herniated discs, or "slipped discs", can be treated with a handful of remedies.

If you are experiencing discomfort caused by a herniated disc, then you may be querying which selection may work best for you. To support you in finding an answer to that question, let's review two of the most frequently used treatment options: chiropractic/manipulative therapy and epidural.

A Study Analyzed Results from Spinal Manipulative Therapy (SMT) and Nerve Root Injections (NRI)

A body of researchers studied 102 participants, every one of them had chronically herniated discs confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Every participant picked had already received three months of treatment through alternatively accessible treatment options without achieving significant improvement.

The group of individuals was divided into two subdivision. The first half of the participants underwent high-velocity, low-amplitude spinal manipulation treatment (chiropractic treatments). The remaining half of people in the study were provided nerve root injections (epidural).

The conductors of the study collected ratings about the pain levels of every cohort before the treatment administered in the course of the research. Then, 30 days after care, participants reported their disc herniation discomfort on the same scoring system as before. The change in the two reports was applied to measure how effective the treatment was for improving discomfort.

What did the researchers determine about spinal adjustments against epidurals?

Just over 76% of the people in the study who were treated with chiropractic treatments scored a reduction in their pain. In the other half, not quite 63 percent of the participants who were administered epidurals recorded a minimization in discomfort. The data suggest that chiropractic adjustments may be more effective when caring for to resolve herniated disc pain.

And, that is not everything. Beyond granting a greater amount of patients some much needed pain relief, researchers also discovered that spinal manipulation was lower in cost. Nerve root injection treatments were roughly $730 per a single patient. Chiropractic treatment cost approximately $560 for an equal timespan. This amount of savings may surely help with anyone’s health care expenses. Spending less can make it easier to look for care of your disc herniation pain without added stress.

If you are interested in a better probability of effectiveness and fewer costs associated with your herniated disc treatment, give Dr. Cohen a call today at (631) 360-7999 to schedule an appointment.

Reference

Peterson, CK et al. (2013, May). Symptomatic magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed lumbar disk herniation patients: a comparative effectiveness prospective observational study of 2 age-and sex-matched cohorts treated with either high-velocity, low-amplitude spinal manipulative therapy or image-guided lumbar nerve root injections. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 36(4), 218-225, doi:10.1016/j.jmpt.2013.04.005