Question
I am a 39 year old male and recently went to a chiropractor who took x-rays which showed the disc between one of my last vertebrae (not sure exactly which one) to be half of the thickness of those above it.  I do have some low back pain, which is why I visited in the first place but my question is, is this something that can be treated with regular adjustments or is something more going to be required?  This same practitioner told me I needed to have my "bad neck curve" corrected, so now I am now skeptical of this "bad disc" diagnosis as well.  He had me pretty worried so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Answer
Hi Aaron,

Yes, it is possible that the degenerated disc is the source of your pain, and it is possible that it has nothing at all to do with your pain.  That's why current guidelines advise against taking x-rays on people with simple lower back pain.   Also, there is no way the adjustments are going to re-align your neck curve.   Why was your neck x-rayed if you have lower back pain?      Simply put, back pain treatment will have more to do with freeing up stuck joints with manipulation and ungluing stiff muscles/fascia with soft tissue therapy, exercise strengthening if you have weak areas, and doing stabilization exercises if you have signs of vertebral instability (Google: "Prone Instability Test for back pain."   Did your DC do this test?).      Your treatment might also include advise on posture/ergonomics.    The current thought, based on good evidence, is that the old concepts of bones out of place and altered neck curves are not valid.  The neck curve folks seem to employ this as a means of scaring patients into care.    If you asked the DC if your MD-orthopedist or PT would agree with his assessment, I bet the answer would be, "Well, they don't have any training in spine alignment or chiropractic..." or some such nonsense.    While many MD's and PT's seem ignorant of modern guidelines and treatment methods, that doesn't excuse the DC from pushing faulty diagnosis' and dogmatic treatment protocols, e.g. adjustments to align your neck...      I would suggest finding a more modern practitioner.     Check my previous postings on this site for ways to do so, or off my web site.

'Hope this was helpful.

Dr. G