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A bulging disc injury is a common injury sustained to your spine’s intervertebral disc, and can occur in your lumbar spine (lower back), thoracic spine (upper and mid-back) or your cervical spine (neck). A bulging disc is when the tough, outer portion of your disc becomes injured or worn down over time, becomes decompressed, and bulges out beyond the vertebrae.
A bulging disc can commonly be referred to as a slipped disc or a protruding disc. However, when the disc bulge is significant enough for the disc nucleus to come out of the annulus, it is known as a herniated disc. If the bulge comes in contact or places pressure on a nerve, you can experience the symptoms of a bulging disc, mainly pain and numbing.
In the beginning, a bulging disc may not present symptoms, but can become large enough to compress down on or irritate a surrounding nerve. Most people will experience numbness, tingling and pain down the arm or leg, depending on the location of the bulging disc. The pinched nerve can also cause back pain, spasms, cramping, numbness, or pain in your legs.
A bulging disc injury is also likely when your back pain is aggravated by:
If you think you are experiencing the symptoms of a bulging disc, use our interactive condition assessment tool to start your diagnosis, and see how the experts at the Integrated Spine Institute can help you live a pain-free life.
In some cases, there is an underlying condition that is causing the bulging, and the more quickly you take action to seek a diagnosis and treatment, the better your overall recovery will be.
To treat a bulging disc, it is typically recommended to begin with conservative, non-surgical treatment options. These treatments seek to help the disc repair itself and return to the proper shape, subsequently eliminating any pressure on nearby nerves. Non-surgical treatment for bulging discs include:
If conservative treatments options for bulging discs do not remedy the situation, or if the bulge was deemed beyond the help of non-surgical options, you can look to surgical treatments for the next step.
Common surgeries for bulging discs are:
As with any spinal condition, it’s important not to wait for a bulging disc to turn into something worse. The path to a pain-free life waiting is for you and the experts at the Integrated Spine Institute can help—get started by finding the right treatment for you with our interactive treatment finder below.
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