From Chronic Pain to Healing: What Your Auburn Chiropractor Wants You to Know About Recent Discoveries
If you suffer with chronic low back pain, you know how trying it can be when treatments only deliver short term relief. Although there's still much to learn, evolving research is shedding light on the reasons behind disc degeneration and investigating potential therapies that might provide better results in the future. Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. is keeping close tabs on all of this to help our Auburn back pain patients best.
Understanding Your Disc Health: The Hydration Factor
The discs in your spine function like shock absorbers between your back bones, and they're mostly composed of water-filled substances called proteoglycans. When discs become dehydrated over the years, their shock-absorbing capacity lessens, causing pain and accelerating deterioration. While staying hydrated won't heal disc problems, it may assit your discs' natural function—though we still need more research to clearly establish this relationship. We can talk more at your next Auburn chiropractic visit about ways to hydrate your discs.
Early Promise: Lab-Grown Disc Components
Chopra and his research group (1) have demonstrated progress in manufacturing "biomimetic proteoglycans"—synthetic copies of your disc's essential materials. In laboratory studies, these engineered molecules can simulate some properties of healthy disc tissue. However, these studies are just beginning, and it may take time to determine if this treatment will be both safe and effective for people|this research is still in early stages, and it will likely be some time before we know if this approach can safely and effectively help human patients like our Auburn back pain patients.
Why Decompression Techniques May Help
Exploring Natural Pain Pathways
Some of the most preliminary research by Melrose and colleagues (3) is examining whether compounds from natural sources, including venoms (wow!), could be developed into targeted pain treatments. This research remains in initial development and centers on learning about pain pathways rather than developing ready-to-use treatments. It may be many years before we see practical applications, if any emerge at all. Fasincating!
What This Means for Your Current Treatment
While these research developments are encouraging, they don't alter your immediate treatment options. What these findings indicate is:
- Lifestyle factors like hydration and movement patterns may be more significant than we previously grasped.
- Current treatments your chiropractor uses may have stronger scientific support than before.
- Future treatment options are being researched, though timeline and real-life applicabililty remain uncertain.
- Managing expectations is critical—breakthrough treatments take time to develop and prove safe.
The reality is that back pain treatment is still challenging, and while research is advancing our understanding, most of these discoveries take time. Your best approach remains working with your Auburn chiropractor at Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. who knows current evidence-based treatments like Cox® Technic while staying informed about emerging research.
CONTACT Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C.
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox, on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes how The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management addresses disc degeneration and the back pain that accompanies it.
