Disc Bulge / Disc Injuries / Sciatica
Bulging disc injuries are a common spine injury that commonly sustained in the spines intervertebral disc. It can occur in your lower back, upper and mid-back or your neck.
A bulging disc is commonly referred to as a slipped disc or a protruding disc. However, when the disc bulge is significant enough, it is known as a herniated disc
Where Does The Pain Come From?
The pain is usually originated from the part of the disc touching the nerve that runs down to the leg. The bulging disc comes in contact with the nerve that runs down the leg causing inflammation. Pain caused by this is sometimes mistaken as sciatica.
How Does The Disc Come In Contact With The Nerve?
There are many reasons why bulging discs occur but the most common cause is too much pressure on the spine causing the disc to simply give way. As a result, the inner disc material protrudes outside of the disc, or it pushes into the outer layers of the disc which creates a bulging disc in the back or neck. This often causes painful symptoms that can be resolved with chiropractic care.
What Causes Pressure On A Vertebral Disc?
- Heavy lifting (irrespective of lifting posture)
- Bending/seating with sustained poor posture
- Past injuries
Bulging Disc vs Herniated Disc
What’s the difference between a Bulging Disc and a Herniated Disc?
Discs act as cushions between the vertebrae in your spine. They are composed of an outer layer of tough cartilage that surrounds softer cartilage in the center. It may help to think of them as miniature jelly doughnuts, exactly the right size to fit between your vertebrae.
Spinal discs show signs of wear and tear with age. Over time, discs dehydrate and their cartilage stiffens. These changes can cause the outer layer of the discs to bulge out evenly all the way around its circumference, and this is when you have a bulging or herniated disc.
Bulging and herniated discs don’t always occur around the entire perimeter of the disc, but at least a quarter if not half of the circumference of the discs is usually affected. Only the outer layer of tough cartilage is involved.
On the other hand, a herniated disc occurs when a crack in the tough outer layer of cartilage allows some of the softer inner cartilage to protrude out of the disc. Herniated discs are also called ruptured discs or slipped discs, although the whole spinal disc does not rupture or slip. Only the small area of the crack is affected.
Compared to a bulging disc, a herniated disc is more likely to cause pain because it generally protrudes farther and is more likely to irritate nerve roots. The irritation experienced with herniated discs can be from compression of the nerve causing painful inflammation of the nerve root.
If an advanced imaging scan indicates that you have a herniated disc, that disc might not be the cause of your back pain. Many people have an MRI scan of their herniated discs and have no back pain at all.
Our chiropractor specialist Dr. Farrugia has years of experience working with patients who suffer from pain related to disc bulge or lumbar disc herniation injury. Over his 12 years of practice, he has come across different types of disc bulge severity and utilizes a flexion-distraction chiropractic table to cure the patient’s disc symptoms with effective chiropractic care.
Patients with disc herniations can be extremely challenging to treat unless the correct protocol is followed. If you suffer from disc herniation pain for a long time, it is advisable to seek immediate medical help.
How Can I Treat a Disc Bulge / Disc Injury?
At Perth Chiro Centre, we offer Flexion Distraction Chiropractic Tables to achieve great chiropractic treatment results for bulging discs. These types of tables are specifically made to distract the entire spine. Doing so can take away spine pressure in the lower back via spine manipulation, resulting in pain relief.
We are one of the few clinics in Perth who uses these expensive treatment tables in an effort to get the best results for our patients. As a result we are the premier chiropractor for bulging disk treatment in Perth.
To look more into lower back disc bulge treatment options at Perth Chiro Centre – CLICK HERE NOW!