Herniated Disc

Herniated disc treatment and symptoms

In medicine, discs are the pads in the spine which serve to cushion the impact of movement between the vertebrae. A herniated disc may occur when the disc begins to degenerate, which is often caused by injury or age. The softer parts of the disc may actually rupture, causing a herniated disc and a great deal of back pain.

Symptoms of a Herniated Disc

Herniated discs may display different symptoms, depending on the location in the back where the herniation has occurred. In some cases, the disc may have no symptoms, but in most cases pressure on the damaged disc can cause shooting pains. In the lower back, the symptoms of a herniated disc can be similar to sciatica, including lower back pain, pain in the legs on standing, and sometimes numbness and tingling in the lower limbs. In rare cases, this can extend to what is called cauda equina syndrome. In other places, damage to the back can cause chronic pain, chest problems, and perhaps surprisingly for a herniated disc, migraine.

Treatment for a Herniated Disc

There are a number of options for herniated disc treatment, depending upon the severity of the problem. Treatments may include bed rest, applying heat or ice, physiotherapy, medication such as muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatories and pain relief medications, or even an injection of cortisone into the affected area. Other non-surgical interventions include electronic and ultrasound therapy. In extreme cases, where these treatments have not helped the herniated disc, surgery may be the only other option. Herniated disc surgery will depend upon the nature of the back problem; not everyone in severe pain at first will need surgery, but some with only mild symptoms may need surgery to correct it.

There are a variety of different surgical measures used in herniated disc surgery, including microdiscectomy, where small parts of the disc are removed, and laminotomy or laminectomy, where varying degrees of bone are removed. However, most doctors are reluctant to proceed with these major surgeries, as once these spine parts are removed, they cannot grow back, and the spine is weakened by their removal.