mother with low back discomfort needs help with chronic pain relief

Bulging, Herniated and Slipped Disc Injury Pain Relief Treatment with Your Centennial Chiropractor

A disc injury in the back could cause back pain, sciatica, numbness and tingling into the legs and feet. While a disc injury in the neck could cause neck pain, migraines and headaches, upper back pain, or numbness and tingling into the arms, hands, and fingers.

The discs that separate the vertebrae, or bones in the spine are round in diameter and flat on the top and bottom.  They act as shock absorbers and cushion the spine.  Disc injuries are commonly misunderstood by health professionals and can be called many different names, such as, slipped disc, bulging disc or disc bulge, herniated disc, pinched nerve, degenerated disc, etc.

For effective, drug-free relief from a disc injury, schedule an appointment today with your Centennial chiropractor Dr. Matt Pennetti.

Different Types of Disc Injury

There is a tough outer membrane on the outside of the disc that attaches to the vertebrae on either side and keeps the inner disc from escaping outside.  The inner disc contains a nucleus, and is a gelatinous substance allowing you to bend and twist your spine.  While bending and twisting is a normal motion for the discs, they’re not meant to endure some specific motions, specifically, flexion or bending forward, as well as flexion and rotation, or bending forward and turning to the side.  If this happens too often, or during a time with high stress load on the spine, a disc injury may occur.  The different types of disc injury include:

  • Protruding or bulging disc—An uneven amount of stress or pressure can lead to bulging or protrusion of the disc.  This may not hurt initially, as many MRI’s reveal bulging discs without the person realizing it’s there.
  • Herniated disc—Also known as a slipped disc.  This is more severe than a protruding disc injury.  It occurs when the outside membrane of the disc splits open, allowing the inner nucleus to pop out.  When this happens, the slipped disc will put pressure on the nerves that lie right outside of the disc. This is commonly referred to as a “pinched nerve”.

Spinal Disc Injury Causes

Several things can cause disc injury, but they generally fall into these categories:

  • Bad Movement Patterns and/or Poor posture – Most disc injuries are not isolated incidents that occur from one moment in time.  It’s more common to have an injury after years of bending, lifting, or moving improperly.  This can happen when gardening, lifting heavy boxes, shoveling snow, or golfing.  Disc injuries can also happen due to years of slouching at the desk, in the car, or developing forward head posture from looking down at the mobile device.  These poor movement patterns and bad posture lead to a protruding disc because of the uneven pressure they create on the disc.  This imbalance pressure eventually leads to the inner disc pushing or slipping out.
  • Traumatic injury – This can be due to a car accident, sports injury, hard fall down the stairs, or other high impact trauma.  In this situation, there is an abnormally high amount of force and pressure in the discs of the spine.  This pressure is what causes the disc to protrude or herniate.
  • Pregnancy – As a baby develops, the mother’s spine and soft tissue nearby begin to change.  This is due to changes in pressure, created by a growing baby, along with hormonal changes in the mom.  These changes can result in a disc injury for the mother, putting an additional stressor on pregnancy and jeopardize a natural birth.

Chiropractic Care Provides Bulging and Herniated Disc Injury Pain Relief

Disc injuries can be very frustrating due to their painful nature and slow healing time.  Many reach for pain medication or painkillers to numb the pain.  However, these drugs do little to correct the real problem, which is a bulging or herniated disc injury.  Back surgery is another option that some utilize.  This approach may help, but it often leaves the sufferer in more pain while also dealing with complications due to the operation.  Neuro-Structural Chiropractic care is a gentle, specific, and effective approach to resolve the underlying core problems that are contributing to the herniated disc and bulging disc injury.

See the Chiropractor Centennial Trusts for Slipped Disc Treatment

Schedule an appointment with Centennial chiropractor Dr. Matt Pennetti for effective, drug-free slipped disc (herniated disc) and bulging disc relief that resolves the underlying core problem: (720) 676-6440.