Sciatica From A Herniated Disc
Posted on July 19, 2009
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A herniated disc is a very painful condition, sometimes the pain can be associated with only the back and other times you may get sciatica. This creates an even more debilitating condition.
When the center of a disc called the nucleus pulposis breaks through the outer fibers of the disc referred to as the annulus fibrosis a herniated disc is the result.
Due to the fact that only the outer 1/3 of the disc actually contains pain sensitive fibers damage can accumulate without the person ever really feeling it.
Usually the beginnings of a disc problem come in the form of repetitive stress or activities, trauma or poor sitting posture. Once the outer fibers weaken then migration of the disc material may take some time.
Once the inner nucleus migrates outwards to the point that the outer fibers are contacted the pain sensitive nerve fibers become irritated leading to localized back pain in the beginning.
Usually a short period of relief may follow the initial beginnings of back pain related to a disc injury. As the activities responsible are modified the pain may lessen.
Many people make the false assumption that the pain is gone for good, however the medical literature shows a very different scenario. People are almost always destined to have another bout of back pain within a year, unless proper treatment is applied.
As the pain comes back over and over again, it usually begins to increase in intensity. The pain also begins to migrate into the upper or lower extremity.
As pain moves into the lower extremity the term often used to describe this is called sciatica. This is accurate when the sciatic nerve is affected.
Sciatica can be caused by direct compression on the nerve from the herniated disc or from irritation caused by inflammation around the injured disc.
No matter what the underlying reason for the sciatica pain, the disc has to be treated properly. This means a functional treatment like spinal decompression.
The negative pressures created inside the disc during spinal decompression help to draw in the herniated material so the disc can mend.
Spinal decompression is the best treatment to actually heal a herniated disc relieving sciatica pain.
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