Is it possible to push a “slipped” disc, back into place?

Is it possible to push a “slipped” disc, back into place?

This is most frequently asked question to me as an Ayurveda spine specialist and nobody can just justify this question with one sentence. Yes it is possible to push a slipped disc, back into place.

I am Vaidya Pardeep Sharma. Working on Ayurveda treatments for spinal problems. When it comes questions like this. No abrupt yes or no, can justify the whole concept of treatment. You need to be rationale and logical to explain everything. So here we go with concept of pushing back a “slipped”, back into place.

We need to understand the whole scenario, one by one. Most of still doesn’t know that whether something slips really or not.

There are some basic questions on a slipped disc, we need to discuss and these are-

1. What does slip in slipped disc?
2. Why things get worst?
3. Is injury the only reason behind the problem of slip disc?
4. What are the possibilities of bringing back a slipped disc to normal place?
5. Does surgery helps in bringing back the disc to normal?

After all these points we will discuss it again that how Is it possible to push a “slipped” disc, back into place?

What does slip in slipped disc?

Medically there is no disease like – slip disc. Slip disc is a generic word, used as a common man language.

Before we know what is slipped disc, we need to know what is a disc and how does it look?

Disc is a structure like your favourite donut with cream inside. This donut will be a bit bouncy if cream is jelly like. So is the disc. In this condition a donut or a disc can bear the pressure to a limit only.

The pressure, distorts the shape of donut. This we know as disc bulge.

And when this pressure will exceed to a limit. The inner cream or jelly will tear the external layer and will pop out. This is the condition of disc herniation.

Rest are the complications of the same condition.

So here it is not disc or donut- which slipped or moved from its place. This is the inner part cream/jelly or better to say nucleus pulposus in this case which moves from it’s location.

Why things get worsened, with slip disc?

Disc doesn’t have sense of pain.

This might sound weird to many. Basically the pain is a phenomena which occurs due to nerves. And the disc is devoid of any neural things. This might be strange for the people who pin point that I have pain in L4-L5 or L5-S1. they turn the back to the doctor to show the point of pain.

There are two types of pain due to disc issues-

1. Muscular pain , because muscles are sore in the area.
2. Pain due to compression on the nerves.

Muscles are responsible to hold the bones of the spine together. When these muscles are strained, it causes the slip disc. And in most of the cases the low back ache is because of the weak and sore muscles. Involvement of the local disc is minimal in this condition. But most of the times patient feels that this pain is because of the disc problem.

Not very much true!

There is an involvement of the disc in the second type of pain. When bulged disc leaves its space and occupies the area where nervous tissue is- it causes compression on the nerves and it causes pain. This pain radiates from one location to another location, patient says – “my pain is moving“.

So now we know two points very much clear-

1. We know that this is not whole disc which slips, this is the jelly.
2. Now we better understand that the pain is because of two reasons, either due to sore muscles in the area or due to compression on the nerves.

Many people think that this is just the INJURY which can cause problem like spinal disc herniation. Let’s have a look on this concept-

Is injury the only reason behind the problem of slip disc?

The basic answer is “No” for most of the cases.

Generally, every second patient talks about a day or incidence- which caused pain. But most of the times this day or incidence or accident is not the point of initiation of the problem.

“Our spine is like a loaded gun- because of poor posture and bad diet and lifestyle habits. It just needs a trigger to loose its natural condition”

I always tell to my patients.

This is the truth, basically.

I lifted some weight and pain started.

I sneezed heavy and pain started radiating in my leg.

When I drove for 200 kms, my pain started.

I have heard these lines several times in my practice while dealing with the problems of spine. But for me these were never causes. These were points which triggered a complete pathological process and problem aggravated.

There was some cause for the problem, earlier too. But we ignored this. Because of work pressure or because of many other things. Now when body gives up completely. This becomes an emergency and this is the point, where problems start.

So slip disc is not just a condition where we will have a problem due to injury. In case of injury conditions like listhesis, compressive fracture appear and these are the conditions which cannot be solved that easily without surgery.

What are the possibilities of bringing back a slipped disc to normal place?

Before answering this we need to understand the nature of the donut disc along with its jelly.

Disc is a fibro-cartilagenous structure. This is living. Because process of degeneration is only possible with living tissues.

Now there are two conditions as per your MRI which lead to slip disc-

1. Loss of Lordosis/ Straightening of spine
2. Degenerative Changes

Loss of lordosis, resulting in slip disc

As we discussed earlier- this is pressure which bulges the disc. This pressure comes on the disc because of muscular spasm. This muscular spasm straightens the spine which is famously known as loss of lordosis (This link can help you better to understand the lordosis).

Due to loss of lordosis- the length of the spine increases. This brings the bones of spine closer and this exerts pressure on the disc and now the donut de-shapes or ruptures.

Coming to the second condition

Slip Disc due to Degenerative changes in spine

As we grow older our body degenerates. This decay is not directly proportionate to how old we are. But this is proportionate to the wear and tear inside the body. When this wear and tear is on a higher side in the body, it leads us to many problems.

The bones, vertebrae, which are located above and below the disc are cartilages. These cartilages are responsible to give nutrition to the disc. But when due to excessive wear and tear these cartilages are not intact. Modic type II changes appear in the cartilages and nutritional supply to the disc is affected.

Now without nourishment, jelly weakens.

Disc deflates.

And even minimum pressure leads to the rupture of the donut- disc.

Now we have causes and all explanations behind the problems with the disc. Hence, we have some understanding about the disc, we can think of answering our main question-

Is it possible to push a “slipped” disc, back into place?

Science can make stupid things clearer. So we need to make certain points to better understand that how the disc can be pushed back into place in case of slipped disc.

There are certain points which make it possible to do so-

How Is it possible to push a “slipped” disc, back into place?

There are certain reasons behind this possibility. The first list is about the pathological developments.

1. This is not the whole disc which slips.
2. Only jelly displaces due to extra pressure.
3. Lordotic curvature is something which alters with the postures.
4. Early age degenerative changes are always reversible.
5. Disc doesn’t move out of place, because it has a complete support system.

Beside these points, there are certain things which bring possibilities of repair in the disc. These points are associated with the disc itself-

1. Disc is a living tissue.
2. Human body has immense capability of healing.
3. Lordosis which is a cause behind the problem can be rectified.
4. Restoration of sore muscles which cause loss of lordosis is possible through Ayurveda.
5. Ageing is a process, so are degenerative changes. Early Degenerative changes are reversible.
6. Normalisation of the blood supply which is not normal with disc and endplates is something which is possible.

These are the supporting points behind the thought of pushing a slipped disc, back into place. And there is a definitive process for this. This is an effort of 15 years of research from a curious team of Ayurveda. Where we kept on working on different models of Ayurveda.

My three dimensional approach behind treatment of slip disc through Panchakarma is based on these points only.

Queries about Possibilities of push back a disc to normal!

Certainly it is hard to believe that a disc can return back to normal. Here are few answers for the queries about reversal of slip disc to normal. These are the FAQs I came across in last 12 years of my practice.

Does surgery helps in bringing back the disc to normal?

Surgery is all about cutting and removing the peeping out jelly.

Surgery cannot put the disc back into its place. The role of surgery is to fix the pressure from the nerves. And this is also very much temporary. Because surgeons cut and remove the disc and jelly but leave the root cause of the problem as it is. This complicates the whole condition of the spine.

Repetitive surgery is the fate of surgery.

Ayurveda is a safe choice for the treatment of spinal disc problems. And you need to meet the right person for that. Because in name of Ayurveda some unauthentic practices are going on, which bring bad name for Ayurveda and also damage health of patients.

So answer to the question “Is it possible to push a “slipped” disc, back into place?” is – Y E S.

There might be certain conditions where things need to be checked by physicians properly. And as I always say –

Every case is a new case and every line of treatment is a new line of treatment!!