Your SCANS Says Abnormality, But Is That The Cause of Pain?
Ross HAUSER, M.D.
 

There is an epidemic of people suffering from chronic pain. We believe part of the reason is incorrect diagnosis. For instance, very seldom do we find that arthritis itself, is the cause of the pain in sufferers. It is estimated that 15% of the U.S. population has arthritis, with prevalence being about 50% over the age of 65 and only 5% under the age of 44.

Part of the problem is that medical technology has taken over the role of the medical touch. It used to be that doctors would touch patients to make a diagnosis, especially in regards to pain. Today it's very common for people in pain to get an extensive array of tests to show some abnormality. The problem is that often the abnormality is NOT causing the problem.

Did you know that up to 50% of asymptotic people have abnormalities on MRI scans, including herniated discs. The most important thing a doctor could do for you, when you go in for an office visit, is to reproduce your pain. Yep, that's right, that doctor or chiropractor ought to be poking around until you they can make it hurt! We believe, in our practice, if you can reproduce someone's pain in the office, then the pain can be relieved.

Generally chronic pain stems from the soft tissue structures of the body, such as ligaments and tendons. It is reasonable, if you have not had a trial of chiropractic manipulation, to give this a try. Vertebral subluxation or improper positioning of the vertebrae can cause pain. Any physician or chiropractor who is skilled in manipulation can provide you relief and this may be a good place to start.

You should also make sure that you have proper nutrition, as this will be necessary to help the soft tissues heal and the manipulation to hold. For an unknown reason, some folks are slow to heal when they injure tissue. You may not know it, but everybody is injuring tissue all the time. Just our daily activities of working, running around, or mowing the grass causes some injury of soft tissues. Our muscles get strained and ligaments and tendons become weak over time. We use Prolotherapy to encourage these to heal.

Prolotherapy injections, (Watch where do Prolotherapy injections go and do they hurt?)  start the healing cascade so ligaments and tendons begin to grow. This is in contrast to cortisone injections, which relieve pain (often temporarily), but ultimately weaken the tissue.

Prolotherapy injections are given generally every four to six weeks until the pain subsides. The average person needs three to four treatments.