Low Back Pain Treatment In Oviedo, FL

Let’s Learn About You and Your Condition

Your first visit on the road to low back pain relief involves a comprehensive consultation, physical examination, and, if needed, onsite digital X-rays. We want to understand your lower back pain in detail, how it’s affecting your daily life, and how it’s preventing you from enjoying things you love to do. We do not treat low back pain. We treat PEOPLE with low back pain. Getting to know you and how your pain impacts your life helps create a bridge of understanding between the doctor and their patients – a relationship often diminished in our fast-paced world.

Patients report being amazed at how much we can tell by simply looking at your posture, how you carry your body weight, how you rise from a sitting position, how you move around, and by touching each level of your spine. Years of poor habits and intermittent traumas accumulate in our bodies over a lifetime. We have delivered over 500,000 spinal corrective adjustments at Synergy, so our ability to see abnormal posture and pain patterns, muscle spasms and swelling, and poor movements or flexibility reveals your story. They provide an accurate baseline as we help your body reactivate its innate healing power.

Corrective Chiropractic Care in Oviedo, FL

We are laser-focused on helping you correct the underlying cause of your low back pain. We use specific chiropractic adjustment techniques to correct the exact areas of spinal injury and weakness—the right actions at the right times equal success. We’ve got your back!

Synergy means combining approaches that provide a greater outcome than the individual tactics used alone. While corrective chiropractic adjustments are the cornerstone of our care, they do not fully address the soft and connective tissues involved in the cause of your lower back pain. Dr. Janowitz has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours researching, studying, traveling, and training to bring the best technology to help heal tissue to the residents of Central Florida and beyond.

We offer one of the most comprehensive non-surgical, non-drug approaches in Florida to solve your low back pain using some of the most advanced technologies, including:

• Chiropractic adjusting tables that allow for comfortable, efficient, and effective techniques
• On-site digital X-ray suite and access to advanced imaging such as MRI
• Core stability exercise and rehabilitation equipment used in the office and at home to reinforce your correction
• Non-surgical spinal decompression for disc injuries
• Acoustic Wave Therapy, or shockwave, to address scar tissue and deep muscle spasms
• WinBack TECAR therapy to heal tissue gently and reduce pain and inflammation
• Deep Tissue Laser to promote cellular healing and calm inflammation
• Advanced strengthening equipment using the ARX to safely strengthen your spine and body in the quickest period of time

Spinal Decompression in Oviedo, FL

Low back pain has several causes that, if left uncorrected, can actually cause more spinal damage. A simple muscle strain can lead to abnormal compensation and movement patterns, further damaging your spinal discs. At Synergy Oviedo Chiropractic, we have been providing non-surgical decompression therapy for our low back pain patients over the past 20 years. This is an area of focus and excellence in our practice.

Discs are cartilage shock absorbers in between each vertebra. They consist of harder cartilage rings surrounding a thick jelly material inside. The discs create space for the nerves to exit your spine and travel to all of your muscles and organs. When a disc is damaged, it can become thinner, shrinking that exit space (neural foramen) and increasing the likelihood of nerve irritation. Worse, the disc can become injured and weakened, leading to a disc bulge or herniation. This accelerates further foramen shrinkage and stresses your pressure-sensitive nerves, leading to low back pain, numbness or tingling in your buttock, hips, or legs, burning, or weakness.

One approach alone will NOT fix a low back pain problem complicated by a disc injury. Your approach requires Synergy. We have a time-tested approach for success in dealing with low back pain caused by disc injury. This complicated problem often requires:

• Chiropractic adjustments to restore alignment and joint movement (biomechanics)
• Physical therapy to strengthen and stabilize the muscles surrounding the spine and discs
• Non-surgical spinal decompression therapy to gently correct disc placement and relieve nerve pressure
• Other technologies, such as WinBack Therapy or Lasers, are often used to “heal and seal” the disc

Acoustic Wave Therapy (aka Shockwave)

Acoustic Wave Therapy involves the use of high-pressure sound waves that penetrate deeper into the body and has been shown to effectively treat:

Scar tissue – created in response to occasional traumas that accumulate over time. Scar tissue traps nerves and causes abnormal movement patterns that lead to pain and injury. Acoustic Wave Therapy breaks up this scar tissue.

Deep Muscle Trigger Points and Spasms – occur when irritated muscles contract in focused areas, causing knots in your muscles, which can lead to pain and poor movement. Some trigger points are deeper than others, and our Shockwave Therapy machine, along with our time-tested techniques, can help clear out these often decade-long spasms.

Reset The Healing Process – chronic low back pain alters how our body functions, often inhibiting healing that usually occurs with a new injury. Acoustic Wave Therapy offers a controlled way to restart the healing process, like hitting your computer’s reset button.

At Synergy Oviedo Chiropractic, we have invested in the specific equipment and manufacturers that invented the shockwave technology, which is supported by numerous scientific studies. Dr. Janowitz is honored to be one of the first six physicians in the United States to educate and train other providers on this breakthrough technology.

Bulged Lumbar Discs

Anatomy of a Disc
Think of your spine like a stack of marshmallows between two crackers. The discs in your spine act as cushions, preventing the bones from rubbing together. Each disc has a gel-like center (the nucleus) and a tough outer layer (the annulus), much like a jelly-filled donut. When healthy, these discs allow for smooth, flexible movement and ensure that the space for the exiting nerves is free and clear of nerve pressure.

Causes of a Bulging Disc
A disc bulge occurs when the disc’s outer layer weakens, and the inner jelly pushes out against the annulus but doesn’t completely rupture. It’s like when you squeeze a jelly donut, and the filling starts to bulge against the surface but doesn’t break through. This pressure irritates adjacent nerves, often leading to low back pain.

Bulged discs occur when abnormal stress is applied to the bones above or below the disc. This can be caused by poor posture, repetitive stress, heavy lifting, or even sitting too long without proper support. Like a worn-out tire, these discs can lose their structure over time.

Symptoms of a bulged disc include:

• Pain
• Tingling
• Numbness
• Radiating pain down the legs
• Muscle spasms
• Reduced flexibility

People often confuse “tight muscles” with a disc problem, so it’s essential to get your spine checked by a chiropractor.

Best Treatment for Bulged Disc
Chiropractic care, through spinal decompression and adjustments, helps alleviate nerve pressure and repositions the disc naturally. Unlike drugs or surgery, which may mask symptoms, chiropractic addresses the root cause, promoting healing from within while treating the cause of your lower back pain problems.

Herniated Lumbar Discs

Difference from a Bulged Disc
A herniated disc is more severe than a bulge. Imagine that same jelly donut, but this time, the jelly has completely leaked out, irritating nearby nerves. In a herniated disc, the inner gel fully escapes through a tear in the outer layer. Herniated discs are serious spinal problems that require a proper, comprehensive chiropractic approach.

Symptoms of a Herniated Disc
The pain from a herniated disc is often sharper and more intense than a bulge and can cause shooting pain down the legs (sciatica). Weakness in your legs or difficulty standing up may also occur. In addition to the physical obstruction and pressure directly on your spinal nerves, the herniated jelly material also creates chemical irritation. This is why doctors try to treat these with anti-inflammatory medications, like steroid dose packs or epidural steroid injections. The problem is that those medications are only treating the “chemical irritation” component, but not the actual disc material compressing your nerves and causing your low back pain.

Best Treatment for Herniated Discs
Specific corrective chiropractic adjustments and non-surgical spinal decompression are highly effective. By realigning the spine, chiropractic care helps relieve pressure on the disc and nerves, allowing the body to heal naturally without surgery. We often combine this treatment with physical therapy as well as other advanced modern technology in our Synergy approach to disc care.

Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD)

Degenerative disc disease is the gradual wear and tear of spinal discs over time, similar to how a tire wears out over time. This can be accelerated when the spine is out of alignment, like a car out of alignment. The tires, and discs in this comparison, wear unevenly and pre-maturely. Although disc degeneration globally is part of the aging process, when we see localized areas of degeneration, we know that it is often the result of an alignment problem that was not corrected.

As discs lose hydration and elasticity, they become thinner, less effective shock absorbers, and more prone to injury, like a cracked or flattened cushion. The smaller the disc height, the smaller the hole for the exiting nerve root, making it more prone to pinching and pain.

Age, genetics, smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle can increase your risk. Think of it like a car tire; the more miles you put on it, the more wear and tear it experiences. Again, traumas, some sudden or some over time, can cause the disc to degenerate and weaken faster than the normal aging process.

DDD can cause chronic pain, stiffness, and reduced flexibility. It may also lead to other issues, like disc bulges or herniations.

Chiropractic adjustments promote spinal mobility and reduce stress on degenerated discs, allowing for improved movement and reduced low back pain. Combined with lifestyle advice, chiropractic care, and corrective exercises, it provides a sustainable approach to managing DDD.

Spinal Stenosis

Spinal stenosis occurs when the spinal canal narrows, compressing the nerves within, much like how a garden hose gets pinched, restricting the water flow. This narrowing is often due to aging or arthritis.

Symptoms include:

• Numbness
• Weakness
• Cramping
• Pain in your lower back or legs, especially when standing or walking

Rest can alleviate symptoms, while prolonged standing or walking makes them worse. Imagine trying to walk on a crowded sidewalk; the more pressure, the harder it is to move.

Chiropractic adjustments combined with Spinal Decompression can often help by gently decompressing the spine, creating more space for nerves. This natural approach, combined with strengthening exercises, offers relief without surgery.

Muscle Strain

A muscle strain is like an overstretched rubber band. Small tears occur when a muscle is pulled beyond its limit, leading to pain and stiffness.

Lifting heavy objects, sudden movements, or poor posture over time can cause muscle strains. Imagine pulling too hard on a string—it will fray or snap.

Muscle strains typically heal with rest, ice, and chiropractic adjustments that improve spinal alignment, allowing the muscle to recover properly without excessive tension. We also use advanced technologies such as WinBack TECAR therapy.

Muscle strains are sometimes secondary to spinal misalignments or disc issues, so a thorough chiropractic evaluation is essential.

Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction (SI Joint Pain)

The sacroiliac (SI) joint connects your spine to your pelvis, like a hinge on a door. It’s responsible for transferring weight from your upper body to your legs.

When the SI joint becomes misaligned or inflamed, it can cause lower back pain and pain in the hips and legs. It’s like a rusty hinge that doesn’t move smoothly, causing discomfort.

Chiropractic adjustments help realign the SI joint, reducing inflammation and restoring proper movement. This drug-free approach is often more effective than masking pain with medication. We offer several different types of chiropractic approaches to both detect and correct SI Joint issues.

Facet Joint Dysfunction

Facet joints are small joints between each vertebra, allowing your spine to twist and bend. When functioning properly, they keep the spine flexible.

When facet joints become irritated or misaligned, they can pinch the nerves, causing stiffness and pain and limiting mobility.

Chiropractic care can restore alignment to the facet joints, relieving pressure and restoring normal movement without the need for invasive treatments.