If you're suffering from severe bouts of back pain that prevent you from standing or sitting upright, you may blame it on muscle tension. Although muscle tension can cause back pain, so can bulging intervertebral discs (or disks). Bulging discs can cause pain anywhere in the back region. Learn more about bulging discs and how to treat them below.
What Are Bulging Intervertebral Discs?
Intervertebral (spinal) discs are jelly-like structures that sit between each vertebra in your spine. Discs do many unique things, including cushioning the spinal bones against physical shock and stress. Intervertebral discs can bulge out of place if something crushes, fractures, or infects the bones in your spine.
Bulging intervertebral discs can place pressure on the nerves branching out from the spinal column. The nerves branching off into the muscles in your back, neck, hips, and shoulders can become inflamed and tense. The tension may become severe enough to prevent you from sitting, standing, or walking upright.
You don't want to ignore the tension in your back. You want to have a doctor examine your back to see if the tension in your muscles is due to bulging discs, spinal bone injury, or both.
What Are the Treatments for Bulging Intervertebral Discs?
A doctor will most likely use X-rays to examine the muscles, discs, and spinal bones in your back. If your X-rays reveal some type of damage in your spine, a doctor may recommend one or more surgeries, including:
- laminectomy surgery to decompress or remove pressure from your spine
- nerve fusion surgery to remove or repair damaged nerves in your spine
- discectomy surgery to remove or repair the bulging discs in your spine
Depending on the results of your X-rays, you may need a combination of surgical treatments to improve. If you do require multiple surgeries, a doctor will go over what you may expect to occur during and after the treatments.
If you don't have bulging discs or severe spinal damage, a doctor may manage your back problems with:
- physical therapy
- aquatic therapy
- chiropractic therapy
As with surgery, you may need to undergo more than one therapeutic treatment to ease the tension in your back muscles. Each treatment may address specific issues in your back or many.
You may also need to wear a back brace at work or at home to manage your back problems. Back support appliances, such as abdominal braces and lumbar support braces, keep your spine straight so that it heals properly.
Learn more about bulging discs and spinal problems by contacting a doctor today. They can provide additional information regarding back pain treatment.
