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INTRODUCTION:

Back and neck pain are extremely common health complaints, affecting over 80% of people at some point in their lives. Many back and neck problems are relatively minor and easily resolved, but some are associated with chronic pain and disability. Problems with the spinal discs, the soft tissue "shock absorbers" between the spinal bones are among the leading causes for chronic back and neck pain, as well as for radiating pain in the legs and arms.

The purpose of this book is to inform the reader on how disc problems arise, how to prevent them, and ways to alleviate most cases of disc pain, both through self-care measures and professional treatment. It is the author's intention to keep this book as simple and easy to use as possible, so that the average person is able to easily understand and implement the information and strategies described.

Besides alleviating acute pain, it is extremely important to treat disc problems as soon as possible for another reason. You see, unlike most other parts of your body, discs don’t have a blood supply. They get the fluid and nutrients they need to stay healthy by means of a process called imbibition - the pumping action of the disc that normally occurs with movement. When a disc gets damaged, the pump no longer works properly and the disc is starved of fluid and nutrients. Now, what happens when any living tissue is deprived of fluid and nutrients? The tissue dies!

In the case of the discs, this death of tissue is called degenerative disc disease - and the longer the disc is deprived of fluid and nutrients, the more of the tissue dies and decays. Essentially, the disc dries out and shrivels up! The spinal bones that are separated by the decaying disc get closer and closer together, causing the spinal joint surfaces to be compressed and grind together. This causes abnormal wear and tear on the joints that causes the body to lay down additional bone. This additional bone forms spurs and ridges that can close off the openings through which the spinal cord and nerves must pass (this is called spinal and neural stenosis).

As the bone growth and disc bulging continues to narrow the openings for the spinal cord and nerves, neurological damage begins to occur, leading to increased pain, numbness, weakness, and possibly even paralysis of some muscles. At this point, surgery becomes the only treatment option and in some cases surgery may not be an option because it is too risky for some patients. Even when surgery can be done, sometimes the neurological damage is permanent and the surgery doesn’t help. Many people who degenerate to this point become partially or totally disabled.

The purpose of this book is to assist you in better understanding disc problems and to provide you with ways to effectively reduce disc-related symptoms and to prevent or even reverse disc degeneration and its results.