April 2019 Healthy News: McHenry Chiropractic Care Improved Muscle Weakness and Vitamin C for Bone Health

Lumbar nerve root compression may produce pain and/or weakness for some spinal stenosis and disc herniation patients. Younger patients are more likely to respond more rapidly to both surgical and non-surgical treatment. (1) That makes sense as the nerve has not been inflamed as long. Disc herniations tend to occur in our 30’s and 50’s. Luckily, only 3% to 6% of those are symptomatic. Spinal stenosis tends to bother us in our 50’s and 60’s. Muscle weakness is found in as many as 30% to 50% of disc herniation patients. 80% of disc herniation patients with weakness demonstrate improvement with 6 weeks of non-operative care, 90% at 12 weeks, 93% at 24 weeks. Surgical patients find that the most clinically significant weakness improvement happened within 6 weeks of spine surgery for a disc herniation. 66% of these patients had no improvement after that. (Ghahreman in 1) Improvement in motor power can occur over the following two years post surgery. Some sensory loss is normal but hardly noticeable. (1) BONUS: The cost of chiropractic care for a lumbar disc herniation only accounted for 2% of all the money spent, so the researchers urged a trial of conservative, non-operative care before choosing back surgery for a herniated disc. (2) Bring your McHenry back pain and related muscle weakness to OrthoIllinois Chiropractic for McHenry conservative care first.

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Dean Greenwood on The Back Doctor’s Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson about a patient with muscle weakness due to a synovial cyst that improved with chiropractic care using the Cox® Technic System.

Keeping bones strong is important, and vitamin C can be a part of the plan! Osteoclasts are bone cells that decay bone tissue. Vitamin C prevents them from doing that. Osteoblasts are cells that bind bone while bone develops. Vitamin C fosters bone regeneration by fostering osteoblast creation. (3) Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of vitamin C. They are packed with antioxidants known to influence bone quality. In a recent study, vitamin C increased the density of the L5 vertebra! (4) That is a benefit your McHenry spine specialist likes to hear! Get your vitamin C daily! Eat, or supplement! Let us talk at your next McHenry chiropractic appointment.

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Schedule your McHenry chiropractic appointment. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic is here to help you reclaim your muscle loss and develop your bones! Thank you for trusting your spine’s health to OrthoIllinois Chiropractic!