Anything like that depends on the individual case.  For what it's worth, I've
been told to avoid chiropractic for herniated discs and to go with physical
therapy instead.  The last time I had slipped discs my primary care doc was
an osteopath.  She wouldn't touch my neck saying it was to dangerous to
adjust it under the circumstances.  Physical therapy and the lovely traction
they gave me there did wonders.  It took some time, but the improvement was
steady and has held.  Glorious relief!

I would say that the question has not been properly phrased.  One does not
seek treatment for a herniated disk; many of us have herniated disks with no
pain or other symptoms. We seek treatment for pain, numbness and weakness.

These symptoms are rarely caused directly by a herniated disk. Despite this,
many patients attribute their symptoms to a herniated disk. Often an MRI
will show a minor herniation, and the patient will become obsessed over this
minor imperfection. I have been through this myself.

There are cases where a severe disk herniation impinges on a nerve,
sometimes to the point of causing muscle weakness. A good MRI report will
say "No thecal involvement" (the nerves aren't involved), a bad one will
indicated something else.

My first piece of advice is, don't pursue surgery unless the MRI reports
definite nerve compromise.

My second piece of advice is, do consider reconstructive therapy performed
by a competent doctor of orthopedic medicine. Most back pain comes from weak
or sprained ligaments. Have you ever sprained an ankle? It hurts a lot.
That is pain from a sprained ligament.  The same thing can happen in the
spine.  Also, as we get older, particularly if we are inactive, our
ligaments get weaker, and this can lead to chronic problems in the spine.

Reconstructive ligament therapy is the only mode of treatment that directly
addresses this problem.  The treatment involves injection of a "proliferant"
solution into the ligament--usually at the junction between ligament and
bone. The proliferant causes an inflammation at the injection site.  The
patient's body responds to this inflammation in the standard way.  It heals
and strengthens the ligament tissue. With repeated injections, and with a
good exercise routine that puts the ligament to repeated, non-strenuous use,
the ligament gets stronger and tighter.

In a double-blind clinical study performed by Milne Ongley, Robert Klein,
Thomas Dorman, Bjorn Eek, and Statistician Lawrence Huber, a set os 81
patients with chronic lower back pain were divided into groups of 40 and 41.
One group received Ongley's treatment regime for chronice low back pain:

1. Initial manipulation facilitated with intravenous valium
2. Weekly treatments with proliferants for 8 weeks
3. Continued flexion exercises, including 50 'toe-touches" done three times
a day.

The placebo group received a fake manipulation, and fake proliferants, but
did the exercises.

88% of the experimental group (35 out of 40) reported reductions in
disability scores of 50% or more, 6 months after treatment ended. Only 15
out of the 41 patients in the placebo group reported similar improvement.

I should note that this study excluded patients with various medical
conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes. One interesting cause for
exclusion was "unresolved litigation."

My favorite practitioner of orthopedic medicine is Milne Ongley.  You can
read more about him at http://ongleyonline.com.

David Wagner
A patient