The Difference Between A Bulging, Herniated And ADegenerated Discand How To Fix Them

There are three major causes of disc-related back pain. Which one do you suffer from? It isimportant to know and to understand what they are and how to treat them.

A incident such as a car accident or a sports injury can cause damage to your disc. Discs can alsoweaken as they get older.

Either way, the result is most likely severe pain. This is because discs are in such close proximity toa slew of delicate nerves. One slip, bulge, break or squeeze from the adjacent disc and you canexperience pain that will stop you in your tracks, most likely in the form of sciatica pain (the nervethat goes through your buttocks and down your legs).

Heres a summary of everything you ever needed to know about your discs but never knew youneeded to ask:

1. A healthy disc has a fibrous outer shell with a jelly-like, squishy substance in the middle called thenucleus. A disc gets its shock absorbing traits and keeps the vertebrae from rubbing against eachother due to that center substance.

2. A bulging disc is when, most likely through an injury, the disc is over compacted (squished)between the two vertebrae it protects, forcing the nucleus to push against the fibrous shell withsuch force that it actually bulges the wall of the shell.

3. A herniated disc is when the nucleus actually penetrates the fibrous wall spilling out into theinter-vertebra cavity. This is also known as a ruptured disc.

4. An earlier injury may be the partial cause of disc degeneration, but not necessarily. Degenerationis a much slower onset and is due to age, poor health and poor posture. All these combinedgradually wear the disc down. The disc loses its height and elasticity. As it loses height it begins toallow the vertebra to touch and rub. This in itself can be painful and will likely result in osteophyteformations (bone spurs on the outer rim of the vertebrae). Signs of early disc degeneration arereferred to as disc thinning.

No matter your disc ailment, believe it or not there is something you can do. Give your discs theopportunity and they will heal. That opportunity is in the form of added space. All of the aboveailments are caused by either a onetime violent squeeze on the disc or a life time of squeezing fromgravitational effects. Either way the discs natural residing area was compromised forcing it toflatten. With no room to spare in the inter-vertebral disc space, the disc, or parts of it, is forced out.Or in the case of degeneration, cell by cell, over time the disc dissipates.

Give the disc back its original space and the disc will reassume its original shapeand heal! Well,most likely. Extremity of the injury or the advancement of the degeneration may be deterringfactorsas will age and patients overall health.

How do you give a disc more space? Depends on who you ask. A surgical procedure is likely to besuggested by a surgeon should you ask one. In surgery the surgeon would either cut off theherniation or carve into the vertebra to create more room. Or even more extreme, he mayrecommend a spinal fusion of the two vertebrae in question thus totally eliminating the need for thedisc altogether.

A chiropractor will tell you otherwiseparticularly a chiro who specializes in decompression therapy.Modern decompression therapy involves computer guided micro adjustments that can target thespecific disc in question. The adjustments expand or stretch the two vertebrae thus creating moreinter-vertebral disc space. The result is the disc distracts back into its place and begins the healingprocess. Full distraction is accomplished over the course of 15 to 30 sessions. These sessions may beaugmented with a decompression brace.

Exercise and good health are very important and will make a huge difference in not only helpingyour body heal its disc problems, but with preventing injury or degeneration in the first place. This isespecially true with degenerative disc disease. Natural weight-bearing forces can be kept off yourdiscs if you keep your core muscles,(the ones responsible for lower spine support). It is these weight-bearing forces that, over time, wreak havoc on your discs and promote degeneration.

Copyright (c) 2010 Michael W Harris