Dealing With Neck Pain-Is It A Herniated Disc?

Injuries to the back and neck are quite common, regardless of the age of the sufferer. It is almost inevitable that most everyone will experience these pains in their lifetime. Kids are more prone to accidents because of their activity levels as well as the flu, a fever or falling. Adults suffer from herniated discs that can cause severe pain from the spinal area. Many times a injured disc will reveal its location just by the amount of pain it is inflicting.

You can tell if you have a herniated disc from a few symptoms. There will be pain in the neck that can cause headaches and radiate tension throughout the jaw and shoulders. The pain in the neck can go from the lower part of the head down past the shoulders. Sometimes there will be weakness associated with a disc that is bulging out and pressing on a nerve. This can mean tingling and weakness in the arms and legs in bad cases.

To find out for certain that the issues are being caused by a herniated disc, a doctor must be consulted. They will look at the collected symptoms as well as do an examination to see how the whole body is being affected. It is important for the doctor to see if there are nerves being affected by the bulge of the disc. In mild cases a doctor will simply have the patient rest and discontinue any activities that aggravate the condition.

A MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan will reveal the real problem and problem area, allowing the actual disc/s to be examined. This is usually the next diagnostic step if the rest and no activities is not working as well as expected. Inflammation can be controlled with medications or in some cases traction. Neck traction simply allows the space between the joints in the neck to be expanded. This sometimes will bring the necessary relief followed by improvements to the bulging disc and much needed pain management.

However, when all the usual treatments or therapies are failing to produce the expected results for severe symptoms and issues, doctors will resort to procedures such as a discectomy. This procedure is done generally under general anesthesia. This surgery removes part of the disc that is causing the problems. If the disc is pressing on the nerves that are causing the inability to use a arm or leg, this procedure can be a positive life changing event.