Osteopathy can definitely help in the management of degenerative disk disease. As we get older our intervertebral discs lose fluid and degenerate, causing pain due to spinal nerves compression or irritation.
Degenerative disc disease (DDD) describes the natural breakdown of an intervertebral disc of the spine. Despite its name, DDD is not considered a disease, nor is it progressively degenerative. On the contrary, disc degeneration is often the effect of natural daily stresses and minor injuries that cause spinal discs to gradually lose water as the annulus fibrousor the rigid outer shell of a disc weakens. As discs weaken and lose water, they begin to collapse. This can result in pressure being put on the nerves in the spinal column, causing pain and weakness.
Obviously, we are unable to reverse this natural part of ageing but we can help improve patients’ quality of life by reducing their pain caused by disc degeneration. Through various techniques such as, soft tissue therapy, articulation, spinal adjustments (when appropriate) and muscle-energy technique we can help reduce the pressure from spinal nerves and help the body better compensate for degenerative changes.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends manual therapy alongside exercise as a treatment option for lower back pain, with or without sciatic pain.
The authors concluded “in a subgroup of patients with acute nonspecific LBP, spinal manipulation was significantly better than nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac and clinically superior to placebo.
Symptoms of stress may initially present themselves with mysterious aches and pains in your neck, shoulders and as a general feeling of lethargy and of being overwhelmed. You may find it something of a surprise to learn your physical ailments originate from a stressful working life.
One of the most common side effects of stress is poor posture. When a person is stressed, they naturally raise their shoulders or hunch forwards which can result in muscle fatigue and aching.
Sitting for long periods of time at a desk in a stressful work environment can cause nerve compression. This can produce pain, a feeling of pins and needles or weakness in the arms and headaches.
Osteopathy helps to stimulate the body’s natural healing system, prompting it to self-regulate and rebalance the internal functions of the body.
This is achieved by external manipulation techniques that concentrate on parts of the spine responsible for the pain and the specific areas of complaint to reduce muscle tension and soreness and to improve any related symptoms in the digestive and respiratory systems.
In conjunction with specific exercises at home, it is possible to help maintain the body’s balance and keep on top of stress and rebalance your fight or flight response.
At Danny Johnson Personal Training and Rehabilitation, we start by reviewing and correcting your muscular-skeletal imbalances through careful assessment and adjustment. We then leverage this analysis to design bespoke personal training programmes focused around your specific condition and to consolidate and strengthen realignment adjustments to promote overall health and wellbeing.
Find out more about what we do book your free consultation today https://www.dannyjohnsontraining.com/
References
Spine, von Heymann et al..2013 Apr 1;38(7):540-8)