What the disc finding means, which symptoms need a physician today, and how conservative care is chosen at this office.
The disc
Discs sit between the vertebrae. The outside is a tougher, rubbery layer. The center is softer. They allow the spine to move, keep space between the bones, and take load. Degenerative disc disease is not as much a disease as a name for the changes that show up as those discs age: less fluid, less height, less flexibility, and tears in the outer layer.
Those changes can lead to a herniated disc, a bulging disc, spinal stenosis, or osteoarthritis, or to nothing you can feel. Symptoms may sit at the disc or travel when a nerve is crowded, including numbness in an arm or a leg. The scan does not tell us which of those you are living with.
Disc care here includes herniated disc care. Pain that stays in the low back or runs down the leg as sciatica is also covered, from the nerve-pattern side, on the back pain care.
Words on the report
Reports use these words loosely. Here is the distinction we use when we read one with you.
The disc loses fluid, gets shorter, and flexes less. Tears in the tougher outer layer are common with age. A scan can show this in a person who has no pain at all.
The disc extends past its usual border in a broad way. It may crowd a nerve, or it may sit there without explaining the pain you feel today.
Inner disc material pushes out through a weak spot in the outer layer. A herniated disc is more focal than a bulge. People also say slipped or ruptured. The words are not interchangeable, and the film has to be read with the exam.
Degeneration can narrow the space around a nerve (spinal stenosis) or show up with osteoarthritis. Those are related findings, not a second disease you automatically have.
Why discs change
Spines degenerate as a normal part of getting older. Other factors that show up in the history:
A herniated disc after one lift or a fall is a different story from a disc that has dried out for years. Both can hurt, and both can be painless. Smoking and higher body weight are on the list because the office already names them as contributors, not as a lecture. Hot or cold packs and anti-inflammatory medication are common things people have already tried. Surgery is sometimes the right next conversation when nerve function is changing. Chiropractic care does not replace that conversation.
Same-day medical care
Those findings need a physician or an emergency department. Cauda equina symptoms, the groin and bowel or bladder group, are an emergency. Do not wait for a chiropractic opening.
Reading the film
Bring the report and the images if you have them. The visit still starts with what you can do: walking, sitting, lifting your arm or your foot, and where the pain actually travels. A herniated disc on the left does not explain a right-leg problem. A degenerative label at a level that matches a dead nerve finding is a different visit from a degenerative label in a person who is stiff and strong.
Dr. Levitt’s exam is the same standard as the rest of the practice. History, hands-on testing, and x-rays when they would change the plan. He has been in practice since 1987 and at 6200 Excelsior Blvd, Suite 201, Saint Louis Park, since 1999. Technique choice, if an adjustment is appropriate, is among Diversified, Zone Therapy, and Torque Release, and it is biased toward the gentler option when a disc is irritable. You hear which one and why before it happens.
An adjustment is not surgical decompression, and it is not a promise to pull herniated material back into the disc. If someone offered you that outcome, it was not a description of this visit.
Conservative care
When the exam says it is safe, the plan uses services already on the site.
An adjustment is a specific contact on a joint that is restricted. The aim is motion at that joint, which can reduce the guarding around a painful level. It is withheld when weakness is progressing or the history is a red flag. Read the adjustments for the three techniques.
Cold laser is a non-heat light held on the painful region for seconds to minutes, and it is dropped if it changes nothing. Targeted ice is for a hot flare. Exercise between visits is endurance, strength, and flexibility you can repeat at home. One stretch is not handed to every herniated disc. See cold laser, ice, and exercise.
Orthotics are uncommon for an isolated herniation. They come up when the feet keep reloading the spine. Your primary physician stays involved, and we do not stop medication they prescribed.
A realistic pace
The useful scoreboard is walking, sleep, and whether limb symptoms are shrinking, not a follow-up scan. Some people feel more capable over a series of visits. Some need a different clinician. We will not keep adjusting a worsening nerve to fill the schedule.
Activity inside a range that does not increase nerve pain is usually better than strict rest. A rounded, loaded lift is the habit most likely to flare a lumbar disc. “Never bend again” is not a plan.
Call 952-920-7535 or request a visit if you want the exam. If you already have a surgical date for a progressive deficit, keep that date and bring the notes if you still want a second description of the conservative side.
Common questions
Short answers for the report you are holding. They are not a personal diagnosis.
The name overstates it. It is the label for discs that have dried out and become less flexible with age. It is not an infection, and a scan can show it in someone with no pain. Pain depends on whether a nerve or a joint is actually irritated.
A bulge is a broad extension of the disc. A herniation is inner material pushed through a more local weakness. Both can bother a nerve, and either can be an incidental finding. The distinction matters to a surgeon. It does not, by itself, pick the treatment.
Sometimes, when the exam shows a mechanical problem that is safe to treat. Adjustments address joints that are not moving well. They do not push disc material back in, and they are not used when a nerve problem is worsening. Cold laser, ice, and exercise are the other tools here.
Bring the report. The useful question is whether the finding matches where you hurt and how strong the limb still is. Age-related disc changes are common. A new foot drop, groin numbness, or a bowel or bladder change is not a wait-and-see result.
Do not expect the MRI to rewind. The goal is pain, motion, and what you can do in a day. Some herniations become less dramatic. Many degenerative changes stay on the film. We will not promise either outcome.
When nerve function is getting worse, bowel or bladder control changes, conservative care is not changing a significant nerve finding, or a procedure is already scheduled for a reason we will not debate. We do not stop medication another physician prescribed.
Related pages
Sciatica as a leg pattern is covered with back pain. Disc findings are explained here.
Address
6200 Excelsior Blvd, Suite 201
Saint Louis Park, MN 55416
Phone
952-920-7535Hours
