Archive for March, 2009


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herniated disc symptoms can be very serious, and can result in quite a bit of disability. This article will talk about the most common symptoms associated with a bulging disc in each region of the back, as well as a few tips for what you can do at home for relief.

But before we talk about the symptoms, we need to first have an idea of how a bulging disc causes pain. The discs of the spine are cushions that separate each set of bones in the back. They are shock-absorbers, and they are each composed of two main parts – a strong outer covering called the annulus, and a soft jelly center called the nucleus.

If you take a close look at the back, what you will see is that the spinal nerves are located directly behind each disc. These nerves are very important, because they control everything in the body.

When a disc bulges, the outer covering of the disc is damaged, and the jelly begins to shift from the center of the disc, into the area where the disc has been damaged. This creates a bulge in the disc, and unfortunately, the disc will usually bulge right where the nerve is located.

This causes pressure to be applied to the affected nerve, which is truly what leads to the majority of the symptoms associated with a bulging disc.

In fact, one interesting fact about the discs of the spine is that they do not have the ability to feel pain sensations – in other words, even if the disc is damaged, you are unable to feel it. This makes sense when you consider that the discs are absorbing shock all day long – if you could feel this, you would be in pain all day!

So, the question is – if this is true, why can this condition cause so much pain? Well, the answer is because the nerves are involved – the aggravated nerve is actually what leads to all of the symptoms.

With this in mind, let’s talk about the most common symptoms of a bulging disc that can occur in each region of the spine. Let’s begin with the neck, and work our way down.

A bulging disc in the cervical spine (neck) will usually cause symptoms such as neck pain and/or stiffness, headaches, shoulder, arm and hand pain (which may be experienced as sharp pain, burning, stabbing, numbness, or a pins and needles sensation), dizziness, ringing in the ears, blurred vision, thyroid problems (which can result in weight problems), chest pains, and even heart palpitations (a feeling that your heart is pumping strongly in your chest).

This is a perfect example of what I was discussing earlier – as you can see, these symptoms can involve much more than neck pain. The reason for this is because these areas of the body are controlled by the nerves in the neck, and pressure on a cervical nerve from a bulging disc will cause these parts of the body to malfunction.

The most common bulging disc symptoms for a thoracic disc (mid-back) are mid-back pain, shoulder, arm and hand pain (same as in the neck – the type of pain can vary), traveling pain around the rib cage, chest pain, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, neck pain and tension, headaches, and digestive problems (the nerves in the thoracic region of the spine control the gall bladder, which is a very important organ involved with digestion).

In the lumbar region (low back), the most common symptoms are low back pain and weakness, pain traveling down the leg (this pain can be a sharp pain, burning, stabbing, pins and needles, or numbness), leg weakness, knee pain, problems with the bowel or bladder, and sexual organ dysfunction.

So, when these symptoms occur, what can you do to relieve them? Unfortunately, most of the treatments doctors typically recommend are not as successful as most would like them to be. They may provide temporary relief, but long term relief is not common with the typical treatments.

Most doctors will prescribe medications (usually pain killers and muscle relaxers), pain injections (such as cortisone and epidurals), physical therapy, and surgery (as a last resort, typically). The reason these treatments do not usually provide long term relief is that they are primarily focused on numbing the aggravated nerve.

This may sound good on the surface, but if you do not address the cause of the problem (the bulging disc), the pain will inevitably return.

After working with thousands of individuals who suffer with this condition, I’ve found that there are actually a number of treatments that do address the disc itself, and a combination of these treatments are usually most effective at providing relief.

In addition to this, there are a few things you can do from home for relief from bulging disc symptoms. The most common mistake I see people make with this condition is that they want to use heat for relief.

This is actually the worst thing you can do – ice is always the best option when you are experiencing pain. Ice will numb the nerve, and reduce the inflammation in the affected area. Heat, on the other hand, will just aggravate the nerve and cause additional swelling around the nerve, which causes the pain to last longer than it needs to.

When using ice, apply it over the injured disc for 15 minutes, and wait at least an hour before you apply it again. You will need to repeat the treatment multiple times for the best results, and if you’re in a lot of pain, expect to use the ice consistently for at least 3 days before you experience considerable relief.

If you would like to learn more about the most successful treatments you can use to alleviate bulging disc symptoms, you can click here (ruptured disc in back symptoms) for the full details.

exercises for a bulging disc can be helpful or harmful, so it’s important that you follow a few simple guidelines for exercising with this condition. This article will cover some simple exercises that you can do for bulging disc healing, but before we can discuss that, we need to briefly discuss how a spinal disc functions so these recommendations make sense.

The spinal discs are cushions that separate each set of bones in the back. Their main purpose is to act as shock-absorbers, which prevents the bones from absorbing this shock and helps you avoid quite a bit of pain.

Each disc is made up of two parts – a strong outer covering called the annulus, and a soft jelly center called the nucleus. This structure essentially resembles a jelly doughnut.

When an individual has a bulging disc, the strong outer covering of the disc tears and the jelly begins to shift out of the center into the area where the disc is injured. This results in a bulge in the disc, which applies pressure to the spinal nerves.

This is actually why this condition is so painful and debilitating – the spinal nerves control everything in the body, so when they have pressure applied to them, not only is it painful, but whatever they control in the body will begin to malfunction.

One of the most difficult things about healing a bulging disc is the fact that the spinal discs do not receive a good amount of blood flow. The body normally depends on the blood to transport oxygen and nutrients to an injured area for faster healing.

However, because the spinal discs do not receive a lot of blood flow, they can be very stubborn and frustrating to heal properly.

This is actually a very important point to bring up when talking about exercises for a bulging disc, because the spinal discs receive their oxygen and nutrients in a very different way. Remember how we were discussing the fact that each spinal disc has a jelly center?

Well, this jelly center is very important, because the disc will actually store oxygen and nutrients in this jelly for proper healing. So, one of the exercises we’ll be discussing will be helping to refresh this oxygen and nutrient supply so you can experience faster healing.

Alright – now that we have that background, it’s time to talk about some specific exercises for a bulging disc you can do. I’m actually going to give you a routine that you can do, which I use in my clinic for the fastest and best results.

The first exercise I will recommend will require the use of a mini-trampoline, which is a small trampoline that’s about 4 feet wide. They’re very inexpensive, and you can find one at most sports stores.

However, you will not be using the trampoline in the way you might imagine – in other words, you will not be jumping on the trampoline. Basically, I’m going to recommend that you simply stand in the center of the trampoline and march in place. This needs to be a very controlled movement, and you want to make sure you keep your head looking straight ahead and your arms at your side when you are marching.

This exercise should be done for 5 minutes every day. The goal of this exercises for a bulging disc is to improve your balance, which strengthens the smallest muscles that surround the spine. When you strengthen these muscles, it not only balances the spine, but it removes pressure from the discs, allowing them to heal more efficiently.

The next exercise I’ll recommend involves the use of a therapy ball, which is one of those large balls you see in health clubs or physical therapy clinics. Basically, you just want to sit on the ball, and gently bounce up and down, keeping your head looking forward and your arms to your side.

This exercise should be done for 5 minutes every day, and it’s best that you do it immediately following the trampoline exercise we just discussed. This exercise is actually the most important one I’ll be discussing today, because this is the one that’s going to help bring new oxygen and nutrients to the injured disc for faster healing.

Basically, when you bounce on the ball, you are pumping every disc in the spine. This pumping action (called imbibition) is actually pumping new oxygen and nutrients into the disc, and pumping toxins from the injury out of the disc.

Finally, we need to discuss stretching and strengthening exercises for a bulging disc. Stretching should also be done every day, but I recommend that you do your stretches immediately following you do the trampoline and ball exercise. These exercises combined will act as an excellent warm-up and prepare your muscles for your daily activity (which reduces the risk that you will re-injure your bulging disc).

Strengthening exercises, on the other hand, should be done just 3 days per week. These exercises are slightly more aggressive, so I don’t recommend you start these until you’ve been doing the stretches for two weeks. The stretches will prepare you for the strengthening exercises, and you should always stretch before strengthening.

In other words, I would recommend that you start with the trampoline exercise, then the ball exercise, then stretch, and finally strengthen. This routine will gradually warm up the area around the bulging disc, which ensures the fastest result.

There isn’t enough room in this article to provide you with specific stretching and strengthening exercises, but if you click here (back exercises for a herniated disc), you can find more information about specific stretches and strengthening exercises, as well as additional information about what you can do for relief.

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