Expert: Dr. Timothy K. Durnin - 7/23/2007

Question
QUESTION: I am 39 years old, work as a sonographer at a busy hospital and have been out of work now for 2 weeks due to severe pain.  I woke with it.  I have had xrays and an MRI that showed I have a herniated disk and it is pressing on the nerve.  I have had a steroid trigger injection, medrol dosepack and many pain killers which do not give much relief from the pain which goes from my neck across my right shoulder, down my arm (with burning sensation on my skin all down my arm) and numbness in first finger always, and numbness in second finger and thumb off and on.  I have seen an orthopedic doctor who sent me for physical therapy, which I have gone to 3 sessions.  It is helping some but the pain is not being relieved.  (only when they do lower spine manual traction does it completely go away)when I asked the orthopedic about a chiropractor he said they would not touch me with a herniated disk.  Is this true?  I have also been reading about cold laser therapy lately by a local chiropractor, what is your experience with this?  I am a little apprehensive of neck manipulation.  I have been in so much pain that I am getting a little depressed about it ever going away.

Thank you for your time.


ANSWER: Hi Lori,

I am not sure what your ortho is talking about, 90% of my practice is herniated discs. What does he think we do?

Obviously we do more than "crack necks", why else would it take 9 yrs of college? Most, not all, are thoroughly trained in cervical disc decompression. Like the low back, traction(flexion/distraction F/D) is specifically designed to have the highest efficacy for the given area being treated. Straight traction rarely works for the low back, that's why we have special tables that perform F/D. The neck is different however, that responds well to traction.

This problem should already be gone, properly done PT should have decompressed the cervical disc in 2 weeks. To make sure you are getting the proper care, I need to know if the manual traction is being done on your neck, not your low back. This also doesn't make sense, why would they do manual traction to your low back? Did you complain of low back pain?

What you should be getting is towel traction to the neck. The doctor puts a thin mesh towel around the back of the neck under the occiput and pulls with approximately 40-60 lbs of force for 5-10 seconds and ends with a slight thrust. This should result in instant elimination of pain in the arm and fingers. This is repeated several times/day at 3X/week and in two weeks, you should be pain free. If the disc is extruded, then this will dissolve on its own with time, simple herniations are successfully treated by the thousands each day by Chiropractic. I guess the local D.C.'s haven't done much to educate the local orthos or the local D.C.'s are incompetent.
If the later is the case, let me know what area you are in and I will personally find you a qualified D.C. that can handle this.

Sorry you had to go through the wrong treatment.:(

Also, make sure you get an overdoor home traction kit, this usually includes a water bag for weight and a head harness. Doing this for 15 minutes a day speeds up the recovery time, sometimes it is all that is needed.

Let me know if you need more help!

Dr. Timothy Durnin
drs.chiroweb.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dr. Durnin

Thank you so much for getting back to me so soon.

In PT they did the lower back traction because the things they have done on my neck did not stop the pain.  They manually pulled and stretched on my neck, when they did this the first day that I went to PT I had so much pain after that I could not sleep all night. So they tried the lower back and that made the pain go away completely, but right back when they stopped.

I am not sure what the case is with the D.C.'s in the area.  I live in Deltona Florida.  I have a name of a Chiropractor in Deland named Jeremy Gordon.  Would you tell me what I should look for in a competent Chiropractor?  I would love to be able to go back to work and be pain free.

Thank you so much for all of your help and for giving me some hope of getting better, I am too young to feel like this.

Lori

Answer
Hi Lori,

Dr. Gordon isn't in the national registry directory so I can't comment. There is a pair of NCC graduates in De Land, there names are Dr's Hayman and Timko. There number is 386-734-2592. This is the top school so you can be assured of qualifications. NCC isn't the biggest school because it is the most difficult to get in, it also is the research arm of the profession. These two facts are impossible to argue with for those that graduated from other universities or colleges. Other credentials include board certification, years in practice and hospital privileges. For your condition it isn't necessary to have all of these, they just need to come highly recommended. The litmus test will be the 2 weeks, if you are not substantially improved then find another doctor. I know this can be laborious, but 2 weeks isn't long to find out if you are getting what you need.

Let me know if you need further advisement, I can be reached at 708-466-9994

Dr. Durnin