Bulging Disc

A bulging disc is a different term for a herniated disc. This means that the inner nucleus of the disc (nucleus pulposus) is pressing against the outer disc wall (annulus fibrosus), causing it to bulge outwards. Plus, the disc still maintains the integrity of the outer wall. Even though, the wall has bulged outwards in a pocket, it has not ruptured, nor leaked any nucleus material.

As you may know, there are several puzzling messages floating around out there about the most advantageous treatments for back pain. Additionally, many individuals find themselves seeing health care provider to doctor, and one kind of therapy program to another and another, looking to get a viable answer and typically with little to no favorable results. In conjunction with that, some back pain and sciatica sufferers reach a decision to have surgery that is typically not as successful as they hoped and thus they still have back pain or sometimes the outcomes are worse back pain than before.

One can find many examples of disc injuries that do not produce any pain and discomfort. Most of these are discovered by accident while the individual is undergoing a totally unrelated imaging study. The truth of disc pain and discomfort is more of a case by case basis. Some injuries may be asymptomatic. Others might cause enormous amounts of pain, then mend by themselves. Some disc pain might go unnoticed for a time, then increase in severity with time. Finally, some pain is chronic and never seems to resolve, despite treatment. Bulging disc injuries need to be studied carefully in an effort to rule out other contributing factors to the pain.

Bulging disc injuries do exist, however are hardly ever the source for years of chronic pain. In these situations, the poor bulging disc is an added diagnosis utilized to continue the moneymaking propagation of long term back pain treatments for doctors and surgeons.