What Can Cause A Herniated Disc?

Many patients that go to their doctors complaining of back pain, leg pain, or weakness in the muscles, are often surprised to find out that they really have a herniated disc. Imagine that for a moment. You go in seeking back pain relief, only to find out that the source of their chronic back pain is really something they never even considered before now. When this disc problems occurs, it is because this natural cushion between the bones of the spine has been torn or displaced, creating a very painful condition.

When you are young, that disc is very elastic and soft, but as we age, it becomes more fixed and hard. This makes it more vulnerable to injury, and even in thirty-year-olds it can begin to show signs of being worn away. This is when a herniated disc is created. As it loses elasticity, the disc can become ruptured, and a portion of it will push outside of its normal boundary, and get lodged between the vertebrae of the spine. When this happens, the spinal nerve can become pinched in the process, causing numbness and intermittent or chronic back pain. There is not a whole lot of room between the disc and the bones of the spine, so a compressed nerve can become quite a common occurrence.

Herniated Disc Causes

These injured discs can be caused by accidents such as a fall or through repetitive straining of the spine itself. Even if you manage to live a life without serious traumatic injury to any part of your body, you can still develop a herniated disc, thanks to simple aging.

Herniated Disc Symptoms

When the spinal cord or spinal nerves become pinched or compressed through the pressure caused by an injured disc, none of the nerves will work properly. This means that if signals get passed along the nerves at all, they will be abnormal, and may cause all kinds of symptoms to occur.

The most common symptoms of this source of chronic back pain are:

• Electric Shock Pain: The pressure on the spinal nerve can cause abnormal pulses of sensation to occur along the spine. These are commonly described as a feeling of electric shocks, radiating out from where the nerve is pinched. If it is in the cervical or neck area, the shocks will travel down your arms. If it is in the lower back or lumbar area, the shocks will travel down your legs.

• Tingling and Numbness: feelings of pins and needles radiating throughout the back and into the arms and legs are quite common complaints when there has been injury to a disc in the spine. The alternating numbness and tingling radiates in the same manner as the electric shocks do.

• Muscle Weakness: because the injured disc is pressing on and irritating the most central nerve array in the body, the signals that normally travel to the muscles will be interrupted. These interruptions can cause the muscles to appear weaker than they really are, and their true strength can be tested by examining reflexes by a doctor.

• Bowel or Bladder Problems: this condition is a rare symptom of having a ruptured or injured disc. If you have any problems urinating or voiding your bowels, please see a doctor immediately. This is an emergency situation that is caused by continuing problems with nerve compression, and can lead to unnecessary infections and a host of other medical conditions that can be easily avoided with prompt care.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Herniated Disc

Your physician can determine whether you have a herniated disc through a series of preliminary examinations, like testing sensation in different parts of the body, muscle strength, and reflexes. Further testing through the use of an MRI will confirm the presence of the injured disc over any other complications in the spinal area, due to injury or aging.

Treatment of this condition is determined by the symptoms, the age of the patient and the normal activity level. Treatment normally begins conservatively and can become more aggressive if symptoms persist. Treatment often begins with rest, modification of activity, therapeutic applications of ice and heat, physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medications. Surgery is always a last consideration for the repair of a herniated disc.