These may include:. Take the recommended dosage. Extended bed rest is not recommended for back pain, though taking it easy for a few hours at a time is fine. Otherwise, try to walk around a bit throughout the day and stick to normal daily activities as much as possible, even if it hurts a little. When your pain starts to subside, gentle exercise and stretches can help you return to normal activities, including work.
But make sure to get instructions from your doctor or see a physical therapist to show you safe exercises and stretches for back pain. Spinal manipulation chiropractic , massage, and acupuncture may help relieve pain and discomfort while your back is healing.
Make sure the person who provides these services is a licensed professional. Tell them about your ruptured disc so that they can properly treat your condition. Many people at this stage start thinking about surgery. Injections can provide relief for up to a few months, but the relief will wear off. There are limits on how many injections you can safely have in a given year. Deciding to move forward with surgery is an individual decision.
Your doctor should explain all the pros and cons so that you can make an informed decision that fits your lifestyle. The most common surgery is called diskectomy. In many cases, it can be done as an outpatient procedure. Disc surgery is not guaranteed to work, and the pain might get worse. The disc may rupture again later, or a different disc may fail.
Most disc pain substantially improves within a month. If you have a herniated cervical disc, you may feel pain that radiates down your arm and possibly into your hand. You may also feel pain on or near your shoulder blade, and neck pain when turning your head or bending your neck. Sometimes you may have muscle spasms meaning the muscles tighten uncontrollably. Sometimes the pain is accompanied by numbness and tingling in your arm. You may also have muscle weakness in your biceps, triceps, and handgrip.
You may have first noticed pain when you woke up, without any traumatic event that might have caused injury. Some patients find relief by holding their arm in an elevated position behind their head because this position relieves pressure on the nerve. Discs can bulge or herniate because of injury and improper lifting or can occur spontaneously.
Aging plays an important role. As you get older, your discs dry out and become harder. The tough fibrous outer wall of the disc may weaken.
The gel-like nucleus may bulge or rupture through a tear in the disc wall, causing pain when it touches a nerve. Genetics, smoking, and a number of occupational and recreational activities lead to early disc degeneration. Herniated discs are most common in people in their 30s and 40s, although middle aged and older people are slightly more at risk if they're involved in strenuous physical activity. When you first experience pain, consult your family doctor.
Your doctor will take a complete medical history to understand your symptoms, any prior injuries or conditions, and determine if any lifestyle habits are causing the pain. Next a physical exam is performed to determine the source of the pain and test for any muscle weakness or numbness. Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI scan is a noninvasive test that uses a magnetic field and radiofrequency waves to give a detailed view of the soft tissues of your spine Fig. Unlike an X-ray, nerves and discs are clearly visible.
It may or may not be performed with a dye contrast agent injected into your bloodstream. An MRI can detect which disc is damaged and if there is any nerve compression. It can also detect bony overgrowth, spinal cord tumors, or abscesses. Myelogram is a specialized X-ray where dye is injected into the spinal canal through a spinal tap. An X-ray fluoroscope then records the images formed by the dye.
The dye used in a myelogram shows up white on the X-ray, allowing the physician to view the spinal cord and canal in detail. Bulging discs usually affect multiple discs. This condition develops over time and can cause other disc degeneration-related issues, like lumbar stenosis narrowing of spinal canal.
Fortunately, there is a spectrum of treatment options. Short-term treatment can mean taking anti-inflammatory medications, especially during flare-ups. Steroid injections may be considered if there is significant nerve pain. Long-term treatment usually involves a self-directed exercise program that you start with a physical therapist and then transition to doing at home. If your bulging discs have caused lumbar stenosis and the symptoms are affecting your quality of life, surgery called lumbar decompression is an option.
The procedure is very patient-specific based on the type and level of stenosis, but, in general, it involves decompressing the spinal canal so that the nerves are no longer compressed. This, in turn, relieves the pain. Smith: Pain from a herniated disc comes on abruptly and usually affects one individual nerve root. Herniated discs are sometimes caused by an acute injury. A herniated disk refers to a problem with one of the rubbery cushions disks that sit between the individual bones vertebrae that stack to make your spine.
A spinal disk has a soft, jellylike center nucleus encased in a tougher, rubbery exterior annulus. Sometimes called a slipped disk or a ruptured disk, a herniated disk occurs when some of the nucleus pushes out through a tear in the annulus. A herniated disk, which can occur in any part of the spine, can irritate a nearby nerve. Depending on where the herniated disk is, it can result in pain, numbness or weakness in an arm or leg.
Many people have no symptoms from a herniated disk. Surgery is usually not necessary to relieve the problem. Most herniated disks occur in the lower back, although they can also occur in the neck. Signs and symptoms depend on where the disk is situated and whether the disk is pressing on a nerve. They usually affect one side of the body.
You can have a herniated disk without symptoms.
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