Slipped disc occurs when the discs which are like a soft cushion between the vertebraes bulges out from the spinal bone. The discs are the gel or rubber like material, placed between each bone of spine. This can comes out from any injury or aging and can cause pain. If it gives pressure to the nerve, it will be more painful.
The term Slipped disc is also known as Herniated disc, ruptured disc or prolapsed disc. Most of the times it gets better with rest or with some gentle exercise or from painkillers. Usually, the slipped disc occurs in the lower back or the lumber part of the spine.
Many people don’t recognize that they have herniated disc. The larger the size of the bulged out discs, the more will be the symptoms.
The prolapsed disc symptoms may include following:
The reasons for herniated disc are:
Usually prolapsed disc gets better with the following:
During the physical examination, your orthopaedic doctor will ask you to lie flat on your back. He might move your legs or arms in different direction to check the tenderness and the pain of the area. The doctor may also ask:
The doctor may also ask you to go for some medical test. The result can show the affected nerve or other conditions that need to be scrutinised.
For more information, other lab tests or imaging scan are:
The treatment options of a herniated disc or slipped disc are as following:
A physical therapist can teach you some exercises to strengthen muscles and bone. It also can improve the symptoms of a herniated disc. Physical therapy can include:
Even after trying out various therapies and medications, if the pain still doesn’t subside, then does the Orthopaedic surgeon recommend a surgical procedure to remove the herniated disc.
Doctor may give you the brief about the surgery options available. He will only recommend the surgery which will be suitable for you. All aspects need to be considered like your age and overall health conditions before the surgeon recommends a surgery.
Although, surgery reduces the pain for a large percentage of the number of patients, however the result of the surgery varies from individual to individual. Doctor will also tell you about the risk related to the surgery.
Your spine surgeon will recommend surgery only in the condition if:
The rear part of the vertebrae is called lamina. During laminectomy, surgeon creates the space by removing lamina to reduce the pressure on the nerves and canal.
The pressure could be caused by overgrowth bone or bone spur. Bone spur can occur because of the spine arthritis or aging process.
Doctor consider Laminectomy only if other treatments are not reducing the pain and worsen the symptoms.
Discectomy is the surgical procedure wherein the protruding disc between the vertabraes touching the nerve or spinal cord is removed to relieve one from the excruciating pain.
In this disc surgery the surgeon makes a small incision to conduct the same procedure of removal of the disc. The incision is a very tiny one with the newer methods and instruments in place. Its also called microdiscectomy.
In some cases the entire disc need to be removed and replaced with the synthetic bone substitute. Vertebrae are joined together with some metal hardware.
Doctor will suggest going for an artificial disc surgery if there is any need of removing the disc completely. During the surgery, he implants the artificial disc to imitate function of spine disc. This is a replacement disc made of either plastic or metal.
Spinal fusion joints two vertebrae into single with the help of screw and rods. This artificial joint supports spinal structure. Once they get joined together, the mobility however of that joint gets restricted.
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