If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Disc Herniation Picture – to an ordinary person the disc herniation picture will seem like Latin and Greek so let’s try to understand a written picture of what disc herniation is all about. In human anatomy the spine or vertebral column consists of 33 vertebrae (bones) that are running along the human back connecting the skull to the pelvis. The vertebrae shield the nerves that come out from the brain and then further pass through the back and into the entire body.

The discs that the spinal column is composed of are like soft pads between hard bones that make up the entire column. These discs are filled with a gelatinous like substance which servers as a shock absorber for the spinal column. The main segments of the spinal column are: Cervical (neck – portion behind skull) spine, thoracic (part of the back behind chest) spine, lumbar (lower back) spine and sacral spine (part connected to the pelvis and does not move). In the lumbar spine the discs are composed of a thick outer right of cartilage (annulus) and an inner gel like substance (nucleus).

Disc Herniation: Pinched nerves, bulging disc, ruptured disc, radiculopathy, (radiculopathy refers to any disease that affects spinal nerves) sciatica and slipped disc are few other terms for herniated disc. As the disc degenerates, it is likely to herniate i.e. to say that the inner core extrudes back into the spinal canal.

The spinal disc becomes less elastic due to degeneration and the probability of a rapture increases. Just as when a disk raptures a portion of it would push outside the normal boundary and start bulging out from between the vertebrae. Due to the spinal nerves that are situated pretty close to the edge of the spinal discs the herniated disc poses a risk.

Symptoms of disc herniation: Considered the most common reason for pain in the neck, lower back, arms and legs. Symptoms also include electric shock like pain, tingling and numbness in the cervical and lumbar region, muscle weakness, loss of bowel or bladder control is to be handled as medical emergency. Sciatica ( is a condition wherein a sharp and shooting pain moves down from buttocks to the back of one leg) is also a very vivid sign of disc herniation.

Factors causing herniated discs: an accident or a repetitive strenuous activity of the back may cause a herniated disc condition, it can also be caused by a sudden strain on the back or it can also develop gradually due to ageing and degeneration of the discs. These past few years have seen more people incurring more sports related injuries and C-Spine (Cervical) injuries have caused disc herniation in both contact sports like football, hockey and wrestling and in non contact sports like skiing, diving, surfing and equestrian events.

Diagnosis and treatments of disc herniation: depending on a patient’s symptoms and condition, patients may be recommended spine x-ray, spine ct, spine MRI, and EMG in order to properly diagnose herniated disc. The non-surgical method of treatment may require rest and activity modification, physical therapy and hot and cold therapy, epidural steroid injections, oral steroid medications and NSAIDs (Non steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs).

Surgical Treatments are recommended and required at times of severe neurological damages that cause the patient to loose function and in conditions where no surgical treatments would prove unfruitful. Depending on the location and size of the disc herniation, surgical methods may include microdisketomy or laminectomy. Arthroscopic surgery is the least invasive surgery that involves the use of an arthroscope (a type of endoscope) for examination and treatment of herniated discs.

Popularity: 4% [?]