One of the most confusing things about a spinal disc problem is the terminology used by health care practitioners. You may be left to wonder what the difference is between a bulging disc, a herniated disc, a slipped disc, etc.
In fact, some health care practitioners don’t even know the difference and will often use these terms interchangeably when discussing your condition. This article will discuss the differences between these conditions so you know what you’re dealing with.
To start with, these terms are actually referring to the same condition, but in different stages of it. In order to understand them, you first need to have a basic knowledge of the anatomy of a spinal disc.
The discs of the spine function as cushions between the vertebrae, and they’re essentially put together like a jelly doughnut. They have a strong outer covering called the Annulus and a soft jelly center called the nucleus.
The Annulus is made up of multiple layers of cartilage tissue, which can be damaged under certain circumstances. The most common cause of damage is an injury of some sort, such as a car accident, lifting something too heavy, a sports-related injury, or even a slip and fall.
When this occurs, some of these layers can tear and the Annulus of the disc will become weaker. This causes the jelly within the center of the disc to begin to shift into the area of the disc wall where the weakness occurs, and results in a “bulge” in the disc wall.
The term bulging disc is used to refer to this problem when just a few layers of the wall have been injured, and a slight bulge exists in the disc wall. If this problem progresses and more layers are torn, it is then called a herniated disc.
As you can see, in both of these cases the wall may be damaged but it is not torn completely through. If the problem progresses and the wall DOES tear completely through, we refer to this problem as a ruptured disc or a sequestered disc.
This is the most serious stage of this injury because the jelly can then leak out of the disc, which can be very dangerous because this can apply quite a bit of pressure to the spinal cord and cause some very serious symptoms.
The stage of the injury will determine the type of herniated disc treatment that is recommended. The first two stages (a bulging disc and a herniated disc) will often respond well to conservative treatments such as physical therapy, chiropractic, massage, medications, and pain injections.
A ruptured disc does not usually respond well to these types of treatments and almost always requires surgery.
If you would like to learn more about this condition, as well as some of the treatment options available for a bulging disc and a herniated disc, you can click the following link (herniated disc therapy).
