The symptoms of a herniated disc can be very severe and can cause great disability. This article will discuss the most common symptoms associated with a herniated disc in each region of the spine, as well as some tips on what you can do at home to alleviate it.
But before discussing the symptoms, we first need to understand how a herniated disc causes pain. The spinal discs are cushions that separate each set of bones in the back. They are shock absorbers and each one is made up of two main parts: a strong outer shell called an annulus and a soft gelatin center called a core.
If you look closely at the spine, what you will see is that the spinal nerves are located directly behind each disc. These nerves are very important because they control everything in the body.
When a disc herniates, the outer covering of the disc ruptures and the jelly begins to move from the center of the disc into the area where the disc has been damaged. This creates a bulge in the disc, and unfortunately, the disc usually bulges right where the nerve is.
This causes pressure to be applied to the affected nerve, which is actually what causes most of the symptoms associated with a herniated disc.
In fact, an interesting fact about spinal discs is that they do not have the ability to feel pain sensations; in other words, even if the drive is damaged, you can’t feel it. This makes sense when you consider that the discs absorb shock throughout the day; If you could feel this, you would be in pain all day!
So the question is: if this is true, why can this condition cause so much pain? Well, the answer is because the nerves are involved: the aggravated nerve is actually what causes all the symptoms.
With this in mind, let’s discuss the most common herniated disc symptoms that can occur in each region of the spine. Let’s start with the neck and work our way down.
A herniated disc in the cervical spine (neck) will usually cause symptoms such as pain and/or stiffness in the neck, headaches, pain in the shoulder, arm, and hand (which may be experienced as a sharp, burning, shooting, , numbness or tingling). feeling of needles), dizziness, ringing in the ears, blurred vision, thyroid problems (which can lead to weight problems), chest pains and even palpitations (the feeling of your heart pounding in your chest).
This is a perfect example of what I mentioned above – as you can see, these symptoms can involve much more than just neck pain. The reason for this is that these areas of the body are controlled by nerves in the neck, and pressure on a cervical nerve from a herniated disc will cause these parts of the body to not function properly.
The most common herniated disc symptoms for a thoracic (mid back) disc are pain in the mid back, pain in the shoulder, arm, and hand (same as in the neck; the type of pain may vary), pain that travels around the rib cage, chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, pain and tension in the neck, headaches and digestive problems (nerves in the thoracic region of the spine control the gallbladder, which is a very important organ related to digestion).
In the lumbar region (lower back), the most common symptoms are low back pain and weakness, pain down the leg (this pain can be sharp, burning, shooting, tingling, or numb), leg weakness, knee pain, bowel or bladder problems, and sexual organ dysfunction.
So when these symptoms occur, what can you do about it? Unfortunately, most of the treatments that doctors recommend are not as effective as most would like them to be. They may provide temporary relief, but long-term relief is not common with typical treatments.
Most doctors will recommend medications (usually pain relievers and muscle relaxants), pain injections (such as cortisone and epidurals), physical therapy, and surgery (usually as a last resort). The reason these treatments usually don’t provide long-term relief is that they focus primarily on numbing the aggravated nerve.
This may sound good on the surface, but if you don’t address the cause of the problem (the herniated disc), the pain will inevitably return.
After working with thousands of patients with this condition, I have found that there are actually a number of treatments that address the disc itself, and a combination of these treatments is often most effective in delivering results.
In addition to this, there are some things you can do at home to alleviate the symptoms of a herniated disc. The most common mistake I see people with this condition make is that they want to use heat for relief.
This is actually the worst thing you can do – ice is always the best option when experiencing pain. The ice will numb the nerve and reduce swelling in the problem area. Heat, on the other hand, will only aggravate the nerve and cause additional inflammation around the nerve, making the pain last longer than necessary.
When using ice, apply it to the injured disc for 15 minutes and wait at least an hour before applying it again. You will need to repeat the treatment several times to get the best results, and if you are in a lot of pain, expect to use the ice consistently for at least 3 days before you experience significant relief.
If you want to learn more about the most effective treatments you can use to relieve the symptoms of herniated disc, you can visit http://www.HealYourBulgingDisc.com for full details.