| C5/C6 herniation about 10 years ago. Did the standard range of NSAIDS and PT. Useless and wound up needing prescription pain meds to get+stay asleep. Declined steriod injection because I wanted to debug. What fixed it (on first treatment though I did 8 sessions) was the DRX9000 traction machine. The VAX-D probably would have worked too. Had to go to a physiatrist who insisted on doing homeopathy/BS saline injections so he could bill insurance. Though I had a cervical issue, these machines at their core are designed for spinal and the cervical treatment is an extension, I believe. What they do is slowly stretch you for 20-30 mins as you watch TV. No relapse in the last 10 years though I've been careful about posture, use 4 wheel roll-along luggage, and sleep with fewer pillows - generally try to keep my head more aligned. I was about a month away from doing ablation to have the goo sucked out of the offending disc. That probably would have worked, but I am related to a number of doctors, all of whom recommended staying away from surgery except as very last resort, especially near the spine. Interestingly, internationally they have silicon and other disc replacement techniques as well whereas in the US generally treatment still tends to be NSAIDs+PT, then steroid shot, then fusion despite the collateral stress that can ensue from that on adjacent vertebrae. Post 'fix' MRI looks almost the same as 'pre', which is interesting and gets to the micro tolerances involved. 2 non-standard treatment notes: Tried Chiropractic as 1st treatment on common friend recommendation but never again. The practitioner started yanking before xray even though it was pretty clear (I now know) from my specific pain sites what was going on. An interesting question to ask a potential Chiro is "what diseases can and can't be cured with Chiropractic?" Interestingly, along the way, I went once to an accupuncturist recommended by my Tae Kwon Do master and with 4 pins all symptoms went away instantly - for a few hours. Successive treatments had much less effect so I only went twice. Good luck with your recovery! In the grand scheme of things it was minor vs. other medical stuff, but I was unhappy about pain meds (and fingers starting to get numb after many months) so it seemed a huge deal at the time. Big lesson for me was - with the human body, even more than the internet (but true for both), the amazing thing is not that they break but that they ever work well in the first place. Happy to discuss my course if anyone is caught up in this, but I have no formal medical background and my case probably differs from everyone else's. Email avi at freedman dot net |