The Four Developmental Stages Of A Herniated Disc

Herniated disc is a condition that affects your spine or backbone. It happens when there is a leak from the nucleus pulposus which is the inner part of your spine. When this protrusion happens to be within touching distance of a nerve, then you start to experience spinal pain.

The herniated disc or bulging disc as it is sometimes called, aside from a sudden accident or injury, does not happen on the spot. It gradually develops over time because of the usual aging process. However, it will not happen to everyone who gets to be over 50 years or so. This condition would also depend on your lifestyle, diet and nutrition, and whether you smoke or not. It would be interesting to note that sneezing or coughing could cause your disc to bulge, although it would probably be a very strong sneeze or cough to produce such a condition.

Understanding herniated disc means knowing the stages of development that starts of course from Disc Degeneration to Prolapsed stage, developing to the Extrusion and then Sequestration stage.

When a bulging disc is in the Disc Degenerative stage, the nucleus pulposus is at a weakened stage. This means that the spine is vulnerable to cracks. During the Prolapse stage, the disc starts to change in form, and a slight bulge appears. The Extrusion stage is when the nucleus pulposus breaks through the barrier of the wall but is not quite yet outside the disc. The last stage, Sequestration, happens when this gel like substance moves outside of the disc.

Some people have become accustomed to calling this situation a slipped disc, even if the disc technically did not move at all. Nevertheless, the slipped disc name caught on, and has become widely accepted among the general public.

Herniated disc treatment usually starts only when a diagnosis is made. Unfortunately with this condition, you can not always tell if it exists if you base it on spinal pain. Many times, people find out they have a herniated disc by accident. This is not a bad thing because the average herniated disc treatment is not very complicated. One’s body can heal itself, and you never even knew you had this.

In case you are diagnosed with this condition, the key to healing is avoiding heavy lifting, too much strain on your spine, or smoking and unhealthy lifestyle habits. Most importantly, you should try to keep your normal routine (without the strenuous physical activities) as much as possible. A herniated disc can get to a point though where the pain is unbearable, which means that surgery will have to be done. Still, this is not the norm, and one should try pain medication first.