Treatment for Herniated Discs
Having a herniated disc is very common due to the many things that can cause a herniated disc. You may play sports as a kid and put extraneous weight on your back and as you age the symptoms show. You also may have gotten in a car accident that caused your herniated disc. No matter the cause, there are over 3 million cases of herniated discs a year. Luckily there are many ways to treat a herniated disc.
Do Herniated Discs Heal on their Own?
Do herniated discs heal on their own? Unfortunately a herniated disc cannot heal itself. You may not notice anything different in the beginning, but herniated disc symptoms can get worse over time.
Your reaction will also depend on your own tolerance for pain. Some with a herniated disc may be able to live with the pain and do every day things and some may not be able to handle the pain. In any case, we do recommend seeking the appropriate medical care for your spine.
Since herniated discs won’t heal on their own, we’re going to take a look at the best ways to treat herniated discs in order to avoid spinal surgery. This page will cover treatment options for herniated discs in the neck as well as the back. In the end, if the conservative and/or non-invasive treatments do not work, spinal surgery may be your only choice.
How Do You Treat Herniated Discs in the Lower Back?
Treatment for herniated discs in your back varies depending on which part of the spine is affected and the degree of herniation present. There are many treatment options ranging from more conservative corrective care to surgical procedures.
Please note that this page is meant to be a resource and that we still highly recommend consulting with a physician to ensure you chose the most appropriate course of treatment for your herniated disc. A physician will take the necessary imaging or nerve tests based on your symptoms. Some more severe cases may need immediate surgical attention while milder cases may only require positive lifestyle changes.
Conservative Treatment Options for Herniated Discs
So you’ve seen your primary physician and you don’t require spinal surgery for your herniated disc. That’s good news, so now what? Typically a combination of medication and specific therapies are used to simultaneously reduce your pain and correct the herniation.
These types of treatments help strengthen muscles around the spine and loosen the compression to remove the pressure from the affected disc. When combined with positive lifestyle choices like exercise and stretching, they can also help prevent future incidents and additional back pain.
Medication Taken For Herniated Discs
Usually, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and analgesics (pain relievers) are administered to reduce pain and other symptoms such as burning sensations, numbness and muscle weakness. These types of medication can be purchased over-the-counter at your local pharmacy in Florida.
A herniated disc can often cause inflammation in the surrounding spinal nerves, so NSAIDs can be effective at alleviating these excruciating symptoms. Please note that you won’t be advised to take these if you have a medical history of cardiovascular or gastrointestinal conditions.
If over-the-counter medications aren’t able to relieve the pain, then you may be prescribed some stronger narcotics for your symptoms. Typically codeine or an oxycodone-acetaminophen combination are prescribed to treat herniated disc symptoms in the lower back. Just be mindful that these drugs are not recommended for long term use due to their highly addictive properties.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy decompresses the spine and strengthens the surrounding muscles, which alleviates the pressure causing the pain. Typically physical therapists will combine specific passive and active techniques to treat patients with a herniated disc in their lower back.
The following are examples of passive therapy:
- Hot and cold Therapy
- Hydrotherapy
- Iontophoresis
- Deep Tissue Massage
- TENS Units for Electrotherapy
Passive physical therapy helps realign and decompress the spine resulting in less pressure on the discs between individual vertebrae.
Active physical therapy alleviates future compression by strengthening the core muscles around the spine that aid in supporting the weight carried there. As the name implies, this form of therapy involves physical activity. It can be performed alone or using specific equipment for assistance.
The following are examples of active therapy:
- Core strengthening exercises
- Stability exercises
- Flexibility stretches
Should You See a Chiropractor?
Chiropractic care is often recommended as a treatment for herniated discs in the lower back.. It is typically hands-on therapy and spinal adjustment lies at the core of chiropractic care. Please be sure to thoroughly research a potential chiropractor before receiving treatment, especially for a herniated disc in the neck.
What About Acupuncture?
This treatment is mostly known for moderate pain and is effective in modest herniated disc situations. It uses the technique of inserting needles in the body that to fuel specific points in the body. It is a traditional Chinese medicine.
Does Yoga Help Alleviate Pain From a Herniated Disc?
For some people, yoga is effective at treating localized pain from a herniated disc. The combination of breathing exercises, meditation techniques and physical activity can have a variety of positive benefits.
While all of these conservative treatments helped in alleviating painful symptoms from herniated discs, we do recommend talking to your physician before working with an acupuncturist, chiropractor or taking any type of herbal medication.
Sleeping Tips for a Herniated Disc
If you have a herniated disc, then you should consider sleeping on your side with your legs curled up (essentially in what we’d call the fetal position). The best sleeping positions are ones that allow the spine to maintain its natural curvature. So sleeping on your stomach is NOT recommended.
If you typically don’t sleep in this position, our back pain experts recommend holding a pillow between your knees. This helps reduce the tension on your hips while you sleep. When sleeping in this position, you want to start by lying down on your back and then gently rolling over onto your side. Next you’re going to tuck your knees up into your chest and gently curve your upper body towards your knees.
If you are nervous about this sleeping position, that’s okay. You can also try sleeping on your back. You can use extra pillows under lower back and knees for added comfort, but be careful as this will keep your spine flatter.
Spinal Surgery for Herniated Discs
When conservative treatment methods fail or the herniated disc is severe enough, spinal surgery may be required. Typically, open back surgery is the recommended course of action, but there are other minimally invasive surgeries that result in less pain and and a quicker recovery.
Based on the patient’s circumstances and the gravity of the herniation, the surgeon will choose which procedure is best suited for their situation. There are two common procedures involved:
- Discectomy – procedure that removes partially if not all of the herniated disc removing pressure on the spinal cord or nearby inflamed nerves. After which, the vertebra is fused together for stability with the use of implants.
- Laminectomy – procedure that partially removes laminae (thin plates of bone that are in a shape of an arch around the spinal cord to protect it) to relieve the compressed nerve by enlarging the spinal canal.
The aforementioned procedures can be done in different kinds of surgery.
Open Spine Surgery
The first and more traditional way to perform the procedures is via open spine surgery. This surgery involves large incisions in the abdomen, neck or back. The incision is about six to eight inches that cuts through muscles and tissues that surround the spine to get to the infected area of the spinal column. Then, it involves the removal of the disc often partially. Rarely, in some cases is the disc fully removed. After which, the vertebrae are then fused together with stabilizing metal implants or bone grafts.
The recovery process following open spine surgery can take several months. Due to the nature of the operation, there is a higher risk for infection, excessive bleeding, impacted muscles and failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).
FBSS is the continuing occurrence or worsening of symptoms after the surgery and may even require further surgery.
The upside of this procedure is that it has been tested for so many years. Professionals will have high level of expertise because of much greater experience in this kind of surgery. It’s much easier for doctors to have a clear visual on the structure of the spine. Also, only one large incision is needed so the surgeon can perform multiple operations on the spine. Hence, this is procedure is much more suitable for those with multiple spine problems that need operation.
Minimally Invasive Surgery
This is an outpatient procedure. Unlike the open spine surgery it only makes a small incision in the neck or back. Then, multiple tubes are inserted careful not to affect the muscle and tissues but to softly push them aside. These tubes serve as funnel through which surgical tools and a camera are used to access the herniated disc. Unlike the open back surgery, the surgeon’s visual of the spine structure comes through the camera. In order to relieve the affected nerve or the spinal cord, the affecting substance and sometimes bone fragments are vaporized or in severe cases, an artificial disc is implanted to replace the herniated disc.
The minimally invasive surgery offers a lot of advantages compared to the open spine surgery too. It renders back muscles functional and unaffected post-surgery. Because of the smaller incision made it allows faster rehabilitation and recovery, less pain and chances for infection and minimal blood loss compared to open spine surgery. Overall, it is a lot more cost-friendly with due to minimized hospitalization and the spinal procedures itself.
The downside for this kind of surgery is certainly first, it allows less proper visual for the surgeons conducting the operation. The surgery renders it difficult to perform multiple operations on the spine. Because it is not the traditional method of surgery for treating herniated disc conditions, plenty of surgeons are a lot less experienced in this field. Hence, the success of the operation will greatly depend on the doctor’s specialty in this kind of surgery.
Recovering From Spinal Surgery on Herniated Discs
Immediately after the surgery, one will feel pain due to the incision made during the operation. Usually, one isn’t able to immediately mobile as further observations will still be made. The doctor will inform the patient about the recovery period and the steps that need to be made.
The period of full recovery will depend upon the kind of surgery that was made. It is important to make not of these things as surgery might require time off of work. Even though one’s work may not involve physical labor, it may still take time before one can return. The recovery can sometimes take longer or shorter time depending on individual progress.
Recovery differs for each person. Hence, it is important to be positive and realistic about one’s progress. The key is to be dedicated to the steps the doctor have given to fully recover. Remember that just because one feels better doesn’t mean that the muscles in the body can easily take sudden strenuous activity. The purpose of the recovery is gradual recovery to ensure optimal function for the spine and the muscles.
Although surgery will remove the herniated disc to alleviate pain or other symptoms, after surgery recovery is still essential to render the spine fully-functional and healthy. It generally might involve a series of treatments to ensure a successful recovery.
Heat and Ice Therapy for Herniated Discs
Herniated disc is the result of the inner core (nucleus pulposus) of the disc pushing out through a rupture in the outer wall (annulus fibrosus). This inner gel-like substance affects the spinal cord and worse, nearby nerves in the spine. Heat and Ice therapy is one of the conservative treatments patients can make to relieve themselves of the symptoms. However, it is still best to consult a physician especially if symptoms persist.
Heat Therapy
It is also known as thermo therapy. It is especially helpful in treating localized pain caused by the herniated disc and muscle spasms. The heat helps blood flow and oxygen to relax the affected areas. It alleviates certain if not all discomforts caused by the disc herniation. One can use heat packs and hot towels.
Ice Therapy
It is also known as cryotherapy. It is especially helpful in reducing the inflammation caused by the affected nerve from the herniated disc. One can use ice or cold gel packs.
Heat-Ice Therapy
Basically, it is a combination of both heat and ice therapies. It is reported that the combination of both is actually more effective in administering relief to the pain caused by the herniated discs. However, it is dependent on the individual as some can render more pain too since inflammation cannot be suited by heat and neither can muscle spasms.