A disc herniation is a common problem associated with trauma or repetitive injury to the vertebral disc of the spine. The disc is designed to act as a shock absorber of the body through the use of a gel like liquid in the middle of the disc that helps dissapate the force and energy that occurs through axial loading or any type of manual work that requires the use of the spine.
A disc herniation occurs when the gel like portion (The nucleus pulposes) escapes from the disc; this gel like liquid is extremely irritating to any body part it touches, especially nerves and muscles. Disc herniations usually cause tremendous pain, abnormal gait, numberness and/or tingling, possible muscle weakness, and overall poor standard of living.
Most people who suffer from chronic discogenic (Herniation) pain will end up opting for surgery to solve the semmingly never ending cycle of pain. Once the disc herniates it is theorized that the disc can never be as strong as it was, although plenty of research supports that proper treatment can ensure that pain does not reoccur and that one can lead a perfectly normal active life. The most common way to herniate a disc for people is bending over to pick something up from the ground and the most common age for this to occur is between the ages of 21-50.
Proper postural training, flexibility training, and core stabilization will help prevent or treat this problem. One type of cutting edge technology used to treat disc herniations is decompression therapy.
