There are many methods to treat lumbar disc herniation. Generally speaking, it is mainly divided into three steps:
1. Conservative treatment: At present, according to the guidelines, most patients with disc herniation first adopt conservative treatment methods, such as drug treatment, rehabilitation physiotherapy, exercise, local massage, acupuncture, small needle knife and other traditional Chinese medicine treatments. In fact, most patients can be relieved by this non-invasive method, which may have a certain effect on treatment.
2. Nerve block technology: If the patient can't get good relief after conservative treatment for more than three months or longer, or the patient's neurological symptoms are obviously lost, you can choose the second-step therapy such as nerve block technology, which is not a panacea, but an intermediate therapy from conservative treatment to surgical treatment.
3, surgical treatment: if the nerve block technology is ineffective, surgery may be needed. There are many operation methods, which can be roughly divided into two types. One is minimally invasive treatment, and the other is usually a broadsword. Minimally invasive treatment is the mainstream at present, including typical intervertebral foramen mirror technology, intervertebral disc mirror technology, and some working channels such as MED. These are mainly through minimally invasive techniques to decompress the intervertebral disc and relieve symptoms. If intervertebral disc degeneration is complicated with spinal instability, it may be necessary to choose the big knife method. Opening a big knife also includes the need to use pedicle screws and intervertebral fusion technology or even decompression technology to treat disc herniation.
Can massage relieve lumbar disc herniation?
At present, there are still many massage shops on the market. Many patients with low back pain often go to massage shops for massage instead of going to the hospital for help first. In this regard, doctors believe that massage is also one of the methods of conservative treatment. Although this therapy is not recommended in the latest NDSS guidelines in the United States, because there is no evidence in the study that massage can relieve pain, in practical work, it is indeed found that many patients can get symptom relief after massage physiotherapy. But patients still have to go to a regular hospital or find a regular massage clinic for massage. Clinically, we have seen many cases of acute disc herniation and nerve compression caused by massage in informal clinics, which need to be highly valued.
In addition, doctors also advise patients with lumbar disc herniation not to sleep in soft beds, and it may be more comfortable to sleep in hard mattresses or even hard beds. Because sometimes the bed is too soft, the waist is prone to sag, causing the body to lean forward. When bending forward, it means that the intervertebral disc is squeezed from the front, and it is easier to be squeezed to the back, so the patient had better sleep on a hard bed and keep his waist stretched.