Dr. Fred Woods, Chiropractor | Numbness in Your Feet? Disc Pain, Decompression & That Pop

Host: Joe Brown. Transcript of the published edit. Times are episode time. Auto-transcribed; minor errors possible. This episode is general information only, not medical advice, and not a substitute for care from your own provider. Sudden severe back pain, new leg weakness, or loss of bladder or bowel control needs the ER right away.

0:00Know we let the check engine light come and go like oh it hurt. No, wait, it's better now. I'm good. So, if you've ever had pain shoot down your leg or numbness and tingling in your feet that keeps you up at night, you know how fast it takes over your whole day.

0:14A lot of people think their only options are pills or surgery but Dr. Fred Woods has spent more than 18 years as a chiropractor in Olive Branch, Mississippi helping people with disc problems and nerve pain figure out what's actually going on. So today we're gonna look at and talk about what to look for in a chiropractor, what spinal decompression really is, and when numbness in your feet means it's time to get checked. So stay with welcome to the Top Providers Podcast where you get to meet the doctor before you book. I'm Joe Brown. Today, I'm with Dr. Fred Woods, a chiropractor and the owner of Back On Track Chiropractic in Olive Branch, Mississippi.

0:56Dr. Woods is a Mississippi native and an Ole Miss grad. He earned his Doctor of Chiropractic at Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, He's been caring for patients across the DeSoto County and Memphis area for more than 18 years. So Dr. Woods, thanks for joining us.

1:16Thanks for having me, Joe. Glad to be here.

1:18So what should someone look for in a chiropractor outside of a Google rating?

1:23Well, you know, Google ratings are great. You know, my wife won't even eat at a restaurant without one, but we uh we hope that they're licensed number one for disc conditions they could have a specialty in disc decompression There's lots of different ways and things in chiropractic. It's kind of like calling a doctor a doctor. So I'm an extremity specialist. We do shoulders, knees, feet, all those types of things. Some doctors don't. I use a collaboration of different forms of chiropractic anywhere from treating newborns to you know people my parents' age so and everybody in between. So if you have a disc issue you should probably see a disc specialist in chiropractic Or if you have a foot problem, you should see an extremity specialist, sir […] But there's lots of ways and lots of different chiropractic, For someone who's never been to a chiropractor and is a little nervous, walk them through the first visit.

2:23What actually happens there? Well, in my office, you come in, we usually, hopefully they greet you with a smile and of course we're going to get you a new patient paperwork, take you back to the exam room where I'm going to ask you why you're here, What's what's it like, you know, how long has it been there all the things are the condition but we want to know what caused it. So you could have a slip and fall you know 15 years earlier that rolled your ankle that leads to your hips being out of line and you know messed your back up it's easier whenever you have back pain with it was something that happened in a lower extremity But if somebody comes in with a headache and ask me how their feet are they kind of mad about it Joe But we'll do an exam range of motion orthos neuros, we could do some x-rays if we see fit and see what's going on and then see what we need to do to fix it. Yeah and a lot of people hear herniated disc or bulging disc and panic. So in plain English, what's going on and why does it send pain down the leg?

3:19So the bulging disc is, you know, it used to be a mystery. It was called a sinuvertebral nerve in the disc fibers and they kind of come together to think of them like a mesh.

3:28And so as you bend and twist it opens a hole in that mesh and that's where say the disc material would fall through that mesh. And is rich through those rings where we call any other rings this is in your vertebral nerves and it's an A-delta type pain fiber that's the same ones that are like in your urethral tract so there's a sharp shooting paralyzing type pain and once you fill them it's almost indescribable Joe when you have it You do a lot of spinal decompression, so for someone who's never heard of it, what is it and what does this session actually feel like?

4:01The first session, of course, you want to take into account lots of things and after doing it for multiple years you want to figure out the person, their pain level, you know the acuity of the disc herniation with that is really acute subacute because you may not want to start with just decompression first you might want to you know take a step backwards we'll do some laser we'll do shockwave gentle adjustments, and then, you know, de-inflame a little bit before we start the disc decompression but it's an event so think of everybody thinks it was like traction traction is where it used to pull And stop pull and stop now decompression is more of it. Yo yo is up and down. And the way we do it, we use what's called a Shealy protocol, which is Dr. Norman Shealy came up with it, which is where it has a bell-shaped curve, where it goes up and it has this little curve where the disc material moves inside of you and the rest of the body doesn't, which allows the disc to truly move into its home and heal.

5:03And let's talk about numbness, tingling, or burning in the feet or hands. When should someone take that seriously?

5:11Man, that's a check engine light, and luckily those signs and symptoms usually come and go the problem is is with most guys like myself or are you um you know we let the check engine light come and go like oh it hurt. No, wait, it's better now. I'm good. And we go right back to about 10 years of that. Then it finally goes out to where they couldn't get off the floor and they were no longer good. Those are the ones where they had that complete bust or complete herniation, which we call that a sequestration or a herniation. So it's no longer a bulge, it's actually poking through the material. And if it breaks off or breaks free outside that material then we call it sequestration.

5:52That happens, like I said, most people's pain level goes through the roof and they end up in the ER with back pain. And people are curious and a little scared about the popping. So what's actually happening during the adjustment? And is it safe?

6:06Incredibly safe. You know, my mother used to say the same thing to me, you know, don't pop your knuckles boy, you'll get the arthritis. And unfortunately, that's about the only time mama was wrong. You get, you get the pop, it's a gaseous release of nitrogen gas. And you've worked with a lot of athletes, so what's the common mistake people make after a sports injury?

6:25And how soon should they get looked at? Well the big mistake like person is they say, ah, it hurts. I'll stop it, immobilize it and not use it. Then, you know, it doesn't get better. That's the biggest mistake. After an injury, think of it like a car wreck, as soon as possible.

6:46In fact, as soon as the injury is done, I want to see you within an hour or two, if I can. You know if you're my baby I want to see you 15 20 minutes later we're gonna start doing something from icing stimming lasering light adjusting stuff like that, or maybe even taping and What everyday habits hurts your back the most like phones desk driving or shoes It's kind of like me looking down. It's this thing on the desk right now it's you want to get something up to your level if not just a tad above your eye level so you know think of you sitting at your desk there if you had your eye up a little bit your ergonomics of your sitting posture. It doesn't matter if you're a truck driver or forklift operator or you know desk jockey as we call us who sit at the desk all the time but I'd rather stand than sit.

7:40It's the general long postures that are getting us, it's like sitting is the new smoking and so on and so forth, and ergonomics in general, So bending, twisting, lifting things poorly.

7:54Most people can almost put a finger on the, oh I lifted something stupid and hurt my back.

7:59But what they can't put a finger on is, hey, I've been a stomach sleeper for 12 years, and nobody sleeps with their head face down on the pillow. They're not Darth Vader.

8:07Yeah, they got their head turned all night. Then they come in like this. I don't know what I did. I didn't do nothing, but I can't turn my head back to the left. But yeah, yeah. Simple posture changes.

8:18So it could be stomach sleeping. It'd be sudden with your lumbar spine in a flexed position for a long period of time. A lot of truck drivers out there are sitting in that flexed position, bouncing up and down all day.

8:32You know, you name it. […]

9:06That's great, my last question I have for you, so after more than 18 years as a chiropractor in Olive Branch, what do you want a patient to understand before they walk through your door or give you guys a call?

9:17That's that's the probably a tough question we know we're here to help number one number two Man, when I look at you, I want to look at you like you're my own person or mother, daughter, wife, I want to do what's right for you. We don't want to play any games with your help. If I need to send you out somewhere to get you an MRI, let's do it. If I need to get some lab testing done, heck, let's do that too, Well, for anyone in Olive Branch, Southaven, Hernando, Horn Lake, and across the Memphis area, that's Dr. Fred Woods, a chiropractor and the owner of Back On Track Chiropractic. They're located at 6888 Goodman Road in Olive Branch, Mississippi.

10:00You can call the office at (662) 890-6000 or visit botchiropractic.com and you can find Dr. Woods' profile on topproviders.com.

10:15Woods, thank you for helping people get back on track.

10:18If you found this helpful, subscribe to the Top Providers Podcast where you can meet your next doctor before you book. I'm Joe Brown and thanks for watching.