Bulging Disc Info

Bulging Disc

A bulging disc is an affliction in which the outer layer of an intervertebral disc, known as the annulus fibrosis, bulges out past normal barriers. In most cases, this doesn't cause any issues for the person with the affected disc because it does not extend into a nerve root or the spinal cord. However, if it does end up putting pressure on one of these structures, the symptoms that result can be truly debilitating.

Bulging Disc Causes

When you're suffering from a bulging disc, discovering the cause or causes of your condition is of the utmost importance. Pinpointing the reason for your discomfort can help your doctor provide you with effective treatments, as well as give you a greater understanding of the condition.

Bulging Disc Diagnosis

As the body ages, the cartilaginous tissue in between vertebrae known as spinal discs lose water content, becoming stiffer and more brittle. The outer layer of these discs becomes weaker, and in this state it can give way to pressure by protruding outward. This condition is known as a bulging disc, and it can result in many symptoms.

Bulging Disc Symptoms

A bulging disc is a spinal disc that has a weakened outer wall which protrudes beyond normal parameters. Bulging disc symptoms are actually only found in the minority of cases, since these compromised discs don't extend far enough to cause any issues. In fact, most people with the condition are unaware that anything is amiss. Symptoms only reveal themselves when the bulging disc presses upon a nearby nerve root or the spinal cord, and in this case, they can be debilitating.

Bulging Disc Treatment

A bulging disc treatment aims to relieve the pain and other symptoms caused by the disc pushing upon a nerve root or the spinal cord, by removing the pressure or by dulling the sensation. Only your doctor can prescribe the proper bulging disc treatment regimen for your particular needs, but this regimen may include one or more of the following commonly used methods:

Bulging Disc Surgery

Bulging disc surgery is used to treat the severest cases of the condition; ones that cannot be effectively treated with less invasive techniques and continue to cause life-altering symptoms. The main purpose of the surgery is to physically remove the portion of the disc that is causing symptoms, and/or to dull the sensation so the person can get their life back.

Dealing with a Bulging Disc in the Neck

A bulging disc in the neck can be an extremely painful and debilitating condition. The pain, tingling, numbness, and other symptoms begin in the neck, but can radiate to the shoulders, upper back, arms, and into the hands, making even once-simple activities seem nearly impossible. The condition can have a number of causes, and often the true culprit of the affliction is a combination of factors.

Bulging Disc in the Back

A bulging disc in the back is a condition in which the outer wall or layer of a spinal disc has been compromised and pushes past its normal size, effectively "bulging" out of its normal parameters. In most cases, this goes unnoticed because the expansion is not significant enough to affect nearby nerve structures. However, if it grows too severe, it can push upon the spinal cord or a nearby nerve root, causing significant pain, tingling, numbness, and more symptoms.

Treatment for Bulging Disc Symptoms

Treatment for a bulging disc depends completely upon your condition, the location of the disc, the severity of the bulge, and numerous other factors. The first step in any treatment plan should be meeting with your doctor to discuss your symptoms and possible causes. Once you have thoroughly explored the issues you’re having, and the doctor has performed tests and used diagnostic tools to determine your condition, he or she will likely prescribe a conservative method of treatment to help you manage and minimize your symptoms.

A Bulging Disc in the L5 Vertebra - Symptoms and Treatments

The L5 vertebra is one of five or six vertebrae in a part of the spine known as the lumbar region, or lower back. Because this area bears the most weight and is heavily utilized for twisting and lifting, spinal discs in this section are subject to more wear and tear and consequentially degenerate faster. It should come as no surprise, then, that the lumbar region accounts for the vast majority of bulging and herniated disc cases.

Bulging Disc in Your Neck

If you’re suffering from a bulging disc in your neck, then you’ve probably endured symptoms like headaches and stiffness, as well as tingling, numbness, and pain that start in your neck, go down your shoulders, along your arms, and into your hands and fingers. The symptoms may even have kept you from participating in activities you once loved and made daily life more difficult. Thankfully, you don’t have to suffer forever. There are many conservative treatments to help reduce or eliminate your bulging disc symptoms and help you return to a normal life.

Don’t Let A Bulging Disc in Your Back Decrease Your Quality of Life

If you’re suffering from a bulging disc in your back, then you probably realize how debilitating it can be. Although many don’t result in symptoms, when a bulging disc impinges upon a nearby nerve root, it can cause pain, weakness, numbness, a “pins and needles” feeling, and more life-altering effects. If left untreated, a bulging disc can also result in permanent nerve damage.

Bulging Discs Can Be Treated with Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Surgery at Laser Spine Institut

Although most don’t cause any symptoms, bulging discs can be a painful, life-altering affliction for some people. Thankfully, they usually resolve on their own in time, leaving just a bad memory and a stronger motivation to maintain a healthy lifestyle. For those who experience lasting symptoms, conservative treatments such as physical therapy, stretching, chiropractic care, and others will usually work. Other people find that over-the-counter painkillers, prescription medications, steroid injections, and other management techniques are enough to keep the pain, weakness, tingling, and other symptoms mild enough to live a happy life even if they never go away. 

Bulging Disc Therapy Options from Laser Spine Institute

Bulging disc therapy is an excellent way to manage the painful symptoms that often accompany the condition. In fact, most symptoms of a bulging disc can be managed effectively without the need for invasive back or neck surgery. Only in the most extreme cases is the discussion of surgery even warranted. For most people, conservative treatment over several weeks or months sufficiently manages the pain from a bulging disc. Physical therapy, hot compresses, and over-the-counter medication are all treatment methods that may be used.

Bulging Disc Alternative Treatment Options

Are you suffering from a bulging disc and in search of an alternative to a life of pain?  If so, look no further than the experienced and world-renowned team of spine surgeons at Laser Spine Institute (LSI).  Rather than subject yourself to intrusive open-back surgery, consider instead a minimally invasive spine procedure from LSI.  Using the latest in laser and computer technology, our surgeons are able to pinpoint the source of your discomfort and make the necessary fix with minimal trauma to the surrounding tissue. 

Bulging Disc Causes are as Varied as the Condition’s Symptoms

A number of diverse bulging disc causes can lead to back and neck pain. Something as simple as twisting your neck oddly while playing pick-up basketball can lead to the condition. Other times, degenerative conditions can cause your bulging disc. Fortunately, treatment of a bulging disc is relatively simple. Generally, a combination of stretching exercises, painkillers and heat are effective at reducing pain. However, in extreme cases, bulging disc surgery may be required to alleviate symptoms.

Bulging Disc Surgery Options

Bulging disc surgery is occasionally required for patients who are exhibiting extreme and debilitating symptoms from nerve compression in the spine. Most commonly seen in the lumbar spine (low back) and cervical spine (neck), this condition causes nerve compression when an intervertebral disc becomes swollen and extrudes into the spinal column. Bulging discs sometimes irritate a nearby nerve, causing a variety of potential problems.

What is a Lumbar Bulging Disc?

A lumbar bulging disc is a common spinal condition that can lead to lower back pain and other symptoms.  Because the lumbar spine is particularly flexible and supports much of the body’s weight, it is particularly prone to deterioration. One condition that results from this deterioration is bulging disc. This occurs when the outer walls of an intervertebral disc weakens and thins—leading to protrusion into the spinal column and sometimes nerve compression. It is this nerve compression that results in a patient’s pain.

Bulging Disc Decompression from the Award-Winning Team at Laser Spine Institute

Bulging disc decompression can alleviate the back and neck pain that often accompanies a bulging disc. Often accomplished non-surgically, the goal of decompression is to reduce the pressure that is placed on a nerve from a bulging disc extruding into the spinal column. It is this pressure that causes neck and back pain and other symptoms that are normally associated with that condition. For most patients, bulging disc decompression is accomplished with conservative treatment over the course of several weeks. Depending on the origin, location and severity of the bulging disc, a doctor will usually recommend a number of non-surgical remedies to help relieve the patient’s pain.

Bulging Disc Sciatica Symptoms Can Often Be Treated at Laser Spine Institute

If your lower back has a bulging disc, sciatica pain may be an unfortunate part of your life. That’s because lumbar bulging discs in the right position can compress the sciatic nerve, causing a burning, shooting pain down the back of one of your legs. However, there are treatments for your bulging disc that can relieve your symptoms. 

Bulging Disc Relief At Laser Spine Institute

Bulging disc relief is easily attainable for many people. It’s a simple matter of visiting the physical therapist, performing the right stretches and exercises, and biding their time with the help of over-the-counter medications to dull the pain. But for the rest of bulging disc sufferers, a more aggressive treatment may be needed. If you are in this position and your doctor has recommended surgery, you’ll want to consider Laser Spine Institute (LSI). 

A Bulging Disc in the Back Has Many Treatment Options

When you suffer from the numbness, pain and weakness that sometimes come with a bulging disc in the back, you’ll want to begin your search for relief by considering conservative non-invasive treatments. These can include performing special stretches or exercises prescribed by your doctor, taking over-the-counter medicines, employing hot and cold compresses, attending physical therapy and more.  For the majority of patients, these treatments are successful in relieving pain. 

A Bulging Disc Procedure at Laser Spine Institute Has Many Advantages

If you suffer from a bulging disc and conservative treatments like physical therapy, massage, and medication haven’t improved your condition, a bulging disc procedure from Laser Spine Institute (LSI) may be able to help. We offer a procedure called a percutaneous endoscopic discectomy which can relieve the nerve compression that is causing pain in your back or neck. This is achieved by carefully removing the portion of spinal disc that has bulged out of place and into the spinal canal. 

Bulging Disc Pain Can Often Be Relieved at Laser Spine Institute

Like many back and neck ailments, bulging disc pain is caused by nerve compression.  In the case of a bulging disc, that compression occurs when the outer wall of a disc weakens and the gel-like center presses the wall hard enough to create a bubble that juts into the spinal canal. The bubble presses on nerve tissue, and the result is pain, numbness, tingling and weakness at the site of the affected disc and potentially in other body parts where that nerve travels. If you experience these types of symptoms, you may have tried a variety of conservative treatments—including physical therapy, over-the-counter medications, hot and cold compresses, chiropractic care, and more—with little to no pain relief. If that’s the case, you should consider a procedure at Laser Spine Institute (LSI). 

Bulging Disc Help from Laser Spine Institute

A bulging disc can truly put your life on hold. The pain, which can include numbness, tingling, weakness in the extremities, and other types of discomfort, can force you to stop certain activities because they hurt so badly. Contact sports and even games like golf may be out of the question, and depending on what you do for a living, it may be hard to go to work. While this can be a depressing scenario, it doesn’t have to be. There is help out there for bulging disc sufferers. In fact, a majority of these patients can find relief with conservative treatments that include stretching, hot and cold compresses, and physical therapy. For those who need a little more help, there are prescription pain medications and spinal steroid injections to ease the pain further. Still, if the pain doesn’t subside, there is a procedure at Laser Spine Institute (LSI), a percutaneous endoscopic discectomy, that may be able to eliminate the pain once and for all. 

Bulging Disc Diagnosis—What does it Mean?

You’d been living with back or neck pain for some time, and the numbness, tingling and discomfort sent you to the doctor for help. Now you have a bulging disc diagnosis, and you are wondering what that really means and what you should do next

Cervical Bulging Disc Information & Treatment from Laser Spine Institute

A cervical bulging disc can be caused by a number of factors including age, repeated or improper use, and bad posture. Whatever the case, the result is a weakened spinal disc that allows its gel-like center to press into the spinal canal on to nerves in the neck. The result can be pain, reduced mobility, numbness, tingling and more. Depending on your condition, that pain may also continue down one of your arms. And because a cervical bulging disc affects your neck, it can significantly reduce your ability to perform simple tasks. The result can be missed days of work, giving up on hobbies that you love, and even a reduced capacity to care for your family. 

Bulging Disc Symptoms Can be Reduced and Even Eliminated with Laser Spine Surgery

Bulging disc symptoms can range from mild tingling to throbbing pain that radiates to your fingertips or toes, forcing you to forgo daily activities like work and exercise. That’s because a bulging disc, which has deteriorated from wear and allowed the inner core to extrude into the spinal canal, can press on a nerve. The severity of the pain depends on how hard it’s pressing the nerve, and the pain location depends on where in the spine the affected disc is located. If the bulging disc symptoms are felt in the legs and feet, then the bulging disc is located in the lumbar region, or lower back. This condition can also cause back pain as well as leg weakness. If the bulging disc is located in the cervical section of the spine, near the neck, you may experience pain that radiates into the shoulders, down the arms and into the fingers. All of these bulging disc symptoms can worsen when extra pressure is put on the nerve - this extra pressure can result from seemingly harmless activities like sneezing, coughing, driving or even sitting still. Fortunately, you don’t have to accept this pain as part of normal life. Laser Spine Institute may be able to treat it with a surgery that’s safer than the traditional open back treatment used to treat bulging disc symptoms.

Bulging Disc Treatment at Laser Spine Institute Can Reduce Your Painful Symptoms Quickly

Living with bulging disc symptoms can be more than painful, they can rob you of the activities you enjoy or even a good night’s sleep.  That’s because a bulging disc, also known as a ruptured disc or a slipped disc, has degenerated to the point where tissue from the inner core protrudes into the spinal canal, putting pressure on nerves. When this occurs, pain can radiate all the way to your feet and hands, depending on where in the spine your bulging disc is located. It can make anything from sitting at your desk to gardening unbearably painful if the symptoms are bad enough. If you’re experiencing any of this pain you’ve likely gone in search of bulging disc treatment, but you may have found that the options are more invasive than you’re comfortable with. That’s because traditionally, bulging disc treatments have required open back surgery that often meant cutting through bone and muscle, leaving patients to deal with a long, arduous recovery. Complications, including infection and more back pain, are all part of that package. But today you don’t have to except those risks to return to a pain-free life. Laser Spine Institute has a better bulging disc treatment to offer.

Many Bulging Disc Patients Can Be Helped with LSI’s Laser Surgery

A bulging disc is an injury that often occurs in your 30s or 40s when you are engaging in a strenuous activity. Whether you’re playing a fun game of touch football or are straining your back while moving furniture, a bulging disc happens when the soft cushions, or discs, between your vertebrae become weakened. Sometimes the disc tears and pushes through to the spinal cord, pressing on nerves and causing discomfort. If the bulging disc is in your lower back, it can cause pain, tingling, and numbness in the legs. In the neck, a bulging disc can cause pain that radiates to your shoulders, arms, and fingers.

Bulging Disc Treatment at Laser Spine Institute: A 5-Day Process to Relief

A bulging disc can put direct pressure on the nerves of your spine, sending pain and other uncomfortable sensations to various parts of your body. Depending on the location of your bulging disc, you may experience pain down your back and into your legs, or soreness in your neck, shoulders, and arms. When the symptoms of a bulging disc do not go away on their own in a few months, you may need surgery to treat the condition.

Bulging Disc Laser Surgery by LSI, the Worldwide Leader in Endoscopic Spine Surgery

A bulging disc that is causing you pain can leave you with a host of questions: What if the bulging disc doesn’t heal on its own? What if the pain persists no matter what I try? What if my doctor recommends surgery? Are there less invasive options available?

When a Bulging Disc Requires Surgery, Consider Gentle, Outpatient Surgery at LSI

A bulging disc - which also may be called a ruptured disc or a slipped disc - occurs when one of the small, spongy discs between your vertebrae becomes damaged and breaks open. If the bulging disc presses upon the nerves of your spine, it can be very painful. The location of your pain depends on the location of your bulging disc. If the damaged disc is in your lower back, you will feel pain in your hips and legs; if it is in your neck, you will feel pain in your shoulders and arms.

Disc Protrusion Treatment

The first and most important thing to do is follow controlled physical activity. A short period of bed rest is the primary step. A gradual return to your normal activities is next. Sitting should be avoided, most especially for extended periods of time. When we are seated, we place a great deal of stress and pressure on the lumbar spine.

Exercises For Bulging Discs

With most back injuries rest is usually all that is required for your back to start to feel better. Resting in a comfortable position on a firm mattress will help to take the pressure off of your spine and the muscles around it. One suggestion to relieve some of the back pain from a bulging disc is to place a pillow under your knees while you are resting. If you stay in bed for more than two or three days of bed rest you may be worsening the situation as your back muscle will start to weaken from lack of activity. When returning to a normal life style (although not as active at first) you may still feel pain in your back from your bulging disc but your normal daily activities are good for your muscles, helping them strengthen to give your back more support.

Disc Protrusion Information

There are 24 bones that make up the spinal column. These bones are called vertebrae and are divided into three areas.  The neck (or cervical spine) has seven vertebrae. The second area is the middle back (or thoracic spine) and has 12 vertebrae. The third area is the lower back (or lumbar spine) and has five vertebrae. 

Bulging Lumbar Disc

Being fairly common in young adults and older people, bulging disc can affect just about anyone. Most times they are not a cause for panic and are often discovered by accident while having another medical problem examined. Abnormalities, such as bulging or protruding discs, are seen at high rates on MRIs in patients both with and without back pain. Some discs most likely begin to bulge as a part of both the aging process and the degeneration process of the intervertebral disc. A bulging disc is not necessarily a sign that anything serious is happening to your spine.

Bulging Disc Treatments

A bulging disc is not a cause for panic as they are fairly common in both younger and older people. A bugling or protruding disc is usually see at high rates on MRIs in patients that suffer with back pain and are also found in patients that are not suffering from back pain. Aging process and the degeneration process of the intervertebral disc are the most common reasons why a disc will bulge.

Bulging Disc Therapy

It is important to be aware of the disc’s function in the anatomy of the spine to gain a better understanding of the condition you suffer from and in determining the appropriate treatment.

Bulging Disc Symptoms

The result of inflammation caused by irritation or injury to the disc, the facet joints, the ligaments or the muscles of the back is mechanical type back pain. Disc degeneration is a common cause of mechanical pain. Although mechanical type pain usual starts near the lower spine it may spread to include the buttock and thigh areas. Mechanical type pain will rarely spread below the knee.

Bulging Disc Information

When a disc is bulging this is most not likely where the pain is being felt. To understand this lets look more closely at what a bulging disc is. The disc is a unit that is made up of a tough fibrous material (anulus fibrosus ) composing the outer layer. The inside of this disc is filled with a gel-like material called the nucleus pulposus.

Bulging Disc in Neck

In most cases, bulging discs occur in the lumbar region (lower back). When the disc bulges through a crevice in the spine, it is as a result of shifting out of its normal radius and as stated above, is most often due to age as it most often occurs gradually over time. The spine is supported by nerves, muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Bulging Disc Cause

A bulging disc is a condition related to the spine, most often in the lumbar region (lower back) and occurs when a disc bulges through a crevice in the spine. Discs are soft, circular, gelatinous (jellylike) material that cushions the vertebrae of the spine. A bulging disc occurs when the disc shifts out of its normal radius.