WHAT DOES A BULGING DISC MEAN FOR YOU?

February 18, 2021 Nicholas Lancaster

What Does a Bulging Disc Mean For You?

The good news about bulging discs is that they are far more common than you think, and many times they do not require treatment. The bad news about bulging discs is that they can cause pain, muscle weakness, muscle spasms, a “pins and needles” sensation, and numbness if the disc bulge interferes with a spinal nerve root or the spinal cord itself. If you think you might have a bulging disc, see your doctor, explain your symptoms, and ask about the most effective treatment options available to you. Your doctor likely will prescribe conservative, nonsurgical treatment, like physical therapy, pain or anti-inflammatory medicine, and spinal injections. Sometimes, even those methods are not enough to treat a bulging disc, and you may wish to look into surgery as an option.

The Symptoms of a Bulging Disc

The most commonly seen symptoms of a bulging disc are pain, numbness, tingling, muscle weakness, muscle spasms, and general discomfort. How, though, do these symptoms occur? When discs bulge, they may bulge into nerve roots, the spinal cord, and other parts of the spinal column. When nerve roots or the spinal cord are pressured or compressed by a bulging disc, pain signals are sent to nerve receptors and endings. Because almost all nerve endings throughout the body trace back to the spinal cord or a nerve root in the spinal column, pain from a bulging disc can be transmitted to almost anywhere in the body.

Why Do the Symptoms of a Bulging Disc Vary So Much?

The spinal column is comprised of 33 bones called vertebrae that span from the neck down to the tailbone. The vertebrae are divided into five sections, and each corresponds to a different section of the body. The neck is home to cervical vertebrae, the upper back is home to thoracic vertebrae, the lower back is home to lumbar vertebrae, the pelvic area is home to sacral vertebrae (which are fused), and just below the sacral vertebrae are the coccygeal vertebrae (or tailbone, which also is made up of fused vertebrae). Each section of the spinal column contains nerve roots that branch off the spinal cord and travel throughout specific areas of the body, and thus, bulging discs in different sections of the spine can cause symptoms in different locations. For instance, a bulging disc between cervical vertebrae may send symptoms into the neck, arms, or fingers, while a bulging disc between two lower lumbar vertebrae may irritate the sciatic nerve and send sciatica symptoms of pain, numbness, or tingling into the buttocks, legs, or feet.

What is Sciatica and Can it Be Caused by a Bulging Disc?

Sciatica is not a medical condition but is actually the set of symptoms that are caused by the compression of the sciatic nerve. The symptoms of sciatica include pain, numbness, tingling, muscle weakness, muscle spasms, and other discomfort felt below the waist. Sciatica results when the sciatic nerve or a nerve near the sciatic nerve is irritated or compressed. A bulging disc is not the only cause of sciatica, but a disc bulge certainly can be a cause if it presses on the sciatic nerve.

The sciatic nerve rests along the lower lumbar and upper sacral vertebrae and is the root of most nerves in the lower body. The discs along the sciatic nerve receive more stress than other discs in the spine because they act as more of a focal point for supporting the weight and movement of the upper body. The additional stress these discs receive makes them more susceptible to bulging. When these particular discs bulge, it is very possible that they can press on and irritate the sciatic nerve, which can send the symptoms down into the lower body.

Understanding the Bulging Disc Diagnosis Process

If you have been experiencing unexplained pain, numbness, weakness, spasms, or tingling in the neck, back, or extremities, see your doctor to receive a proper diagnosis. There is a good chance your pain may be a result of a bulging disc, but there is also a chance that something else could be causing your troubles. Your doctor will be able to tell you if it is, indeed, a bulging disc causing your symptoms, but keep in mind that diagnosing a bulging disc can be a slightly longer process than determining if an arm is broken or why sinus cavities are congested.

What to Expect at Your Doctor’s Office

Your doctor typically will start by asking about your medical history. You may then undergo a physical exam and a neurological exam. After these three steps have been completed, your doctor should be able to determine if you have a bulging disc. If your doctor is still unsure about the diagnosis or the exact location of the bulging disc, he or she may want to conduct an X-ray, MRI, or CT scan to gain a better picture of your spine. These advanced images of your bulging disc will help your doctor tremendously in the process and should help lead to a proper diagnosis.

What to Do When Diagnosed with a Bulging Disc

Upon finding out you’ve been diagnosed with a bulging disc, your doctor will be right there to tell you about the ways to treat the problem. Your doctor will probably suggest a few forms of conservative treatment, like muscle relaxants, physical therapy, and pain and anti-inflammatory medications. If you have tried conservative treatments and see no improvement, you may want to ask your doctor about surgery. The truth about spine surgery is that it is generally used as an elected, last-resort treatment method if nonsurgical treatment fails to help with the pain, numbness, or tingling after several months. Less than 10 percent of people with bulging discs are candidates for spine surgery, but those who elect to have surgery should research the surgical approaches that are available for their condition and get several medical opinions before making a final decision.

Nonsurgical and Surgical Treatment for a Bulging Disc

When you are diagnosed with a bulging disc in your neck or back, your doctor will explain the treatment options available to you. There are a variety of conservative, nonsurgical treatment methods that are recommended to be tried first. These consist of physical therapy, hot/cold treatment, epidural spinal injections, pain and anti-inflammatory medications, and more.

If these conservative treatments have been tried with little or no avail, you may want to consider surgery as an option. Surgery is typically only available to about five or ten percent of people with non-life threatening back problems, and it is used as an elected last resort when conservative treatments don’t seem to work. Spine surgeries can be effective, but they also come with some risks that you should talk to your doctor about. Also, do some home research about the differences between traditional open back surgery and endoscopic surgery, and learn about the risks, recovery times, and success rates of each surgical method.

Traditional Open Back Surgical Methods for Bulging Discs

Traditional open-back surgeries require highly invasive techniques to treat bulging discs. Large incisions are made to expose the spinal column in order to allow for access to and treatment of the bulging disc. Open back surgeries can vary from removing small amounts of discs, to removing entire discs and fusing two or more vertebral bodies together, to even removing entire vertebral bodies. Your doctor or a spine surgeon will be able to explain the surgical procedure they recommend to treat your bulging disc. Make sure to ask the doctor about any risks involved with the surgery, as well as the projected recovery time.

Endoscopic Surgery

A newer alternative to traditional, open back surgery is endoscopic surgery. For bulging discs, this minimally invasive, outpatient procedure targets the exact spot along the spine where the disc is bulging to get right to the source of the problem. An incision of less than an inch in diameter is made into the back or neck, and a scope, laser, and other medical instruments are used to treat the bulging disc. Pieces of the disc may be vaporized and removed in order to restore the disc to a non-bulging state. Research these types of procedures and get multiple medical opinions to see if you could be a candidate for endoscopic surgery.

At AOMSI diagnostics, we provide the most accurate spinal imaging available in the healthcare marketplace. This imaging has been proven in peer-reviewed medical journals to be the most accurate, reliable, and specific spinal imaging when compared to traditional spinal imaging modalities. Often times we are able to expedite pre-authorizations for surgery or even overturn denials for spinal surgery after the VMA study is presented to insurance.