Herniated Intervertebral Disc - What It Is, What Causes It, And What You Can Do For Relief

A bulging disc / herniated disc can be one of the most difficult spinal conditions to heal, and can cause quite a bit of pain and dysfunction. Fortunately, there are some good treatments available, even for the person suffering with the most severe herniated disc pain.

This article will discuss what a bulging disc / herniated disc is, as well as the causes, symptoms, and treatments available for relief. But before we discuss these details, we need to have a basic understanding of what a spinal disc is, as well as how it functions.

The discs of the spine are like shock absorbers that separate each set of vertebrae in the spine. They are very important, because they separate the vertebrae and prevent them from rubbing together when you move (which would be very painful). They also absorb shock so the vertebrae don’t break when force is applied to the spine.

Each spinal disc is composed of a strong outer covering called the annulus, and a soft jelly center called the nucleus. When a person suffers from a bulging disc / herniated disc, the outer layer of the disc tears, and the jelly begins to shift through where the disc is damaged. This will create a bulge in the disc.

If you look closely at the spine, you will see that the nerves of the spine are located directly behind each spinal disc. This is an important point to understand when we begin to discuss the symptoms associated with bulging discs, because the nerves are truly what cause most of these symptoms.

In fact, the discs of the spine are actually designed to not feel pain. I realize that this may sound strange at first, but if you think about it, this actually makes sense when you consider their function of shock absorption. If the discs could cause you to feel pain directly, you would be hurting all day long, with every movement you make.

So, if this is true, why does this condition cause so much pain? The reason is because of the nerves – when the disc bulges, it tends to bulge where the nerve is located, and will apply pressure on the affected nerve.

You have to understand that the nerves of the spine control everything in the body, so this condition will not only cause pain, but also malfunctioning of whatever parts of the body the nerve controls.

For example, if you have a bulging disc / herniated disc in your neck, not only will you experience neck pain, but you may also develop problems with your arms and hands, chest pains, heart problems, headaches, and even blurred vision and ringing in the ears.

Bulging Discs In Back in the middle back will result in mid back pain, radiating pain around the rib cage, chest pains, and even digestive problems (because the nerves in the middle back control the gall bladder and liver, which are important for digestion).

In the lower back, a bulging disc / herniated disc will cause low back pain, pain radiating into the legs, weakness in the legs and an inability to walk, as well as problems with your bowel and bladder.

In fact, these other symptoms associated with the spinal nerves tend to be even more aggravating than the back pain associated with a bulging disc / herniated disc because they really affect a person’s normal daily activities.

The cause of bulging discs in back is usually an injury of some sort. Whether it be a car accident, or lifting something heavy, these are the types of injuries that may cause this problem to develop.

There are other factors that cause this problem as well. Heredity plays a role, so if you have a family member (or members) who have developed a spinal condition, you may have a genetic predisposition to develop a bulging disc / herniated disc.

Your lifestyle also plays a role in the development of bulging discs in back. Smokers, for examples, tend to have a higher likelihood of developing a bulging disc / herniated disc because toxins will break down the strong wall of the disc. Poor diet also plays a role, as well as a lack of exercise.

The treatments available for bulging discs in back are often somewhat disappointing, unfortunately. Most doctors will begin by recommending medications (usually pain relievers and muscle relaxers), pain injections (such as cortisone and epidurals), physical therapy, and surgery as a last resort.

These treatments will tend to only provide temporary relief, at best. The reason for this is because they are primarily focused on numbing the affected nerve. Although this may sound good on the surface, because the nerve is what causes you to experience the symptoms, if you don’t address the cause of the problem (which is the bulging disc / herniated disc), the pain will return.

Some may say, “Well, wait a minute – doesn’t surgery address the disc?” And the answer would be, not really. The surgeries that are available for bulging discs in back will either remove the bulging area of the disc, or remove the [spin]spinal disc|disc[spin] completely and fuse the vertebrae above and below together.

In the first case, the disc will typically bulge again after a short period, because even if they remove this area of the disc, the disc does not heal with the surgery and the problem will tend to re-occur after a period of time. A spinal fusion is even worse – this causes the discs above and below this area to work harder than they normally do, and the problem will then spread to other areas of the spine.

There are other treatment options available that are more effective, however most physicians are not familiar with them. In fact, it is really a combination of treatments that I have found to be most effective with this problem.

If you would like to learn more about the most effective treatments for a bulging disc / herniated disc, as well as the combination of those treatments that I recommend for the best results, you can click here (bulging disc / herniated disc) to get all the details.

Did you find this article helpful? Here are some other related articles and resources you may also find useful:

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