What Has Happened To My Disc In My Back?

Thank you for joining us for today’s livestream where we talked about disc bulges. How you can injure them so we can help you understand why your injury has occurred. We’ll also explain what you can do from home to help the problem and get you on the road to recovery.

A normal healthy disc has two main parts, a fluid-filled centre and a collection of ligaments around the side. It’s the fluid that gives the disc height, which helps to resist compression. The nerves at the back of the disc travel through a hole, which has plenty of space in a healthy disc. So you won’t be experiencing pain. We don’t really have a need to know what’s going on in that area as it’s taking care of itself. In a disc bulge, we often don’t realise a problem is occurring until it starts to bulge far enough that it starts to compress on nearby nerves.

Quite a lot of damage needs to happen before that disc fails, which is why rehabilitation can take time to resolve. As we start to do forward bending exercises or we’re not aware we’re damaging the spine daily through poor habits, more and more compression is applied to the disc. When this progresses, herniation occurs. At this point, there’s a lot of inflammation and you may be suffering from severe symptoms. The disc material has essentially come out of the disc, which can’t be put back – unlike a disc bulge/slip. This would be a bit like popping a water balloon. In the case of degeneration, various complications can occur here where bony spurs can occur, permanent dehydration can occur.