Diagnosing a Disc Injury

Injury to a disc – 23 of them cushion the bones of the spine – can cause symptoms ranging from pain to tingling, numbness and weakness.  If the problem is in the neck, the symptoms may be felt in the shoulders, arms and hands.  If the problem is in the lower spine, the symptoms may more likely be felt in the buttocks, legs, feet and toes.  Any of these symptoms should send you for a chiropractic exam.

In trying to diagnose the problem, your chiropractor will test the reflexes, sensation and strength in the arms and/or legs.  The chiropractor may also try to stimulate or replicate the pain by testing specific discs.  Use of magnetic resonance imaging, commonly referred to as an MRI, is a common diagnostic tool.  No one of these tools may be definitive in establishing the cause of the problem.  It takes the training of a chiropractor to determine from the gathered information the root of the problem.

The good news is that once the diagnosis is made, most disc injuries will resolve or at least improve with conservation treatment that may be as simple as the supplication office, advice on posture and movement, or spinal adjustment.