[nopain]

The answer of course is Prolotherapy (Okay don't kick me off the boards I'm just teasing to make a point).

Caring Medical in Chicago:

Pain that comes and goes is not originating from a herniated disc. Herniated discs pressing on nerves are severely painful. The person is hunched over, has difficulty moving, and is in obvious distress.

Let's say, for argument's sake, that a person does have a herniated disc pressing on a nerve. The best treatment for this case is Prolotherapy, along with nerve blocks given using plant extracts. In this scenario, the Prolotherapy treatment is given once per month and the nerve blocks are given every week to two weeks, until the nerve pain is resolved. Typically, after three to four nerve blocks, the acute pain is resolved. The more low level chronic pain is helped by the Prolotherapy. This regime has been successful in over 90% (actually closer to 95%) of herniated disc cases at Caring Medical. In the over 45 years the clinic (with Dr. Hemwall) has been treating herniated disc cases, only a handful have needed a surgical procedure.

For all other disc conditions, it is not the disc that is causing the pain. For the person desiring a in-depth explanation as to why this is the case, please read Chapter 17 in the book Prolo Your Sports Injuries Away! entitled, "Prolo Your Back Pain Away!" by Jean-Paul Ouellette, M.D (available by calling Beulah Land Press at 1-800-RX-PROLO or www.beulahlandpress.com.) Dr. Ouellette explains that vertebral instability caused by ligament laxity is the cause of degenerated discs. If a person does not correct the vertebral instability by repairing the ligament laxity, the low back will continue. Epidural cortisone shots, intradiscal electrothermal therapy (IDET), and other anesthesia techniques under fluoroscopy do not repair the ligaments that support the vertebrae. Top

Techniques such as epidural cortisone shots, IDET, and anesthesia-directed nerve blocks are done under fluoroscopy. The cost is enormous, often being in the several thousands of dollars range. We recently saw a patient who stated his IDET procedure cost $6000.00. Prolotherapy to the discs under fluoroscopy (a technique that we do not use) also costs several thousand dollars. All of these procedures do nothing to correct the ligament laxity that is causing the disc degeneration. Prolotherapy is the treatment of choice in this situation.

Epidural cortisone shots do nothing but mask the pain for a week, possibly a month. IDET involves frying or heating up the disc, so, at best, it represents destroying the nerves to the disc. Prolotherapy to the disc sounds great, but in reality, why go through all of the expense of this when all that is needed is Prolotherapy to the lower lumbar vertebrae to repair the ligaments that are causing the degenerated discs?

Hackett-Hemwall Prolotherapy for low back conditions, including degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis, spondylosis, and herniated discs, done at Caring Medical has an over 90% success level. There is no need for someone with low back pain to do these other "high-tech" procedures. Hackett-Hemwall Prolotherapy costs $300-400 per session for a complete lower back treatment. The typical patient requires three to six sessions. It is much more cost effective than these other low back procedures that do not stimulate the repair of the painful areas that are causing the degenerative discs.

One should also realize that many people with low back pain have normal MRI's and those with no back pain have terrible discs on MRI's.

only a handful have needed a surgical procedure.

What it didn't work for everyone?

It's the people that these therapies don't work for that Doctors seem to care less about.

One should also realize that many people with low back pain have normal MRI's and those with no back pain have terrible discs on MRI's.

I might just have to punch the next Doctor that throws this bullshit line in my face. While this may be true, the opposite is also true so it's a bullshit statement. To generalize a patients suffering with a statement like this is poor medicine. I've never heard this out of the mouth of a Doctor who understands the suffering of pain patients, only those who think they have all the answers and are quick to dismiss my suffering. I'm not stupid. I get it. MRI's don't diagnose pain, they just provide an image. Why am I venting today?

If I try a therapy and my back pain goes away does that mean that the therapy "works" and that's what everyone should do? That is exactly what the MD that hit the microphone is implying. Maybe a career in Chiropractic would have been more suited to his methods, as they seem to believe they can cure everything too. - ought oh, my ornery side is coming out.

The point being there are many treatments and many advocates of a treatment. To date there is no "cure" that fits all people. So it's extremely frustrating when supposedly educated people are so close minded. The products on the market today may not be the "fix", but if you shut them down and don't investigate further you won't make any progress.

The first airplane didn't fly!!! Neither did the second or third.

Mark you must be incredibly patient to attend these kind of meetings and get shut down in that manner. My personal frustration levels with those kind of Doctors just make me not want to see any Doctors.

People who have not experienced the disability themselves just "Don't get it". Not treating a problem, is not a solution.

What's the cliche'? "You can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different result".

Fortunately this is one group of Physicians and who knows if there is a backdoor agenda.

How does muscle strengthening repair a herniated disc that has collapsed? If the foundation of a building is rotted away, you can patch the walls all you want, the building is still going to fall. When doctors can pinpoint 100% the cause of pain in every case then they can find the magic cure. Until then I have to believe there is a reason people look outside the US for Medical Care.