Pros and Cons of Herniated Disc Treatments

If you're a back pain sufferer, or have a herniated disc, the best way to get lasting relief is to become an expert on it and your body and you can do that by educating yourself. Get to know about back pain and how it develops, and study the various treatment options that are available to help choose the right one for you.

Stress and anxiety are factors that aren’t commonly thought to be triggers, but they can make the symptoms worse. Stress will affect the body’s ability to regulate itself which can weaken your health by finding and attacking the weakest condition.

A herniated disc is the spine aligning in an unnatural position resulting in pain with a bulging disc occurring. The pain is in the lower back and is felt down through the legs and feet usually felt on one side of the body. The pain typically spreads through the buttocks and goes down one of the legs. The pain can also be felt in both legs with feeling numb or weak with some tingling.

When other non-invasive treatments have been exhausted and if severe pain is still present after six weeks or more then surgery is recommended by the doctor. However not all patients should have surgery because it depends on how severe the herniated disc is, and the general health of the patient. Avoiding surgery would be my first choice if there are other non-invasive treatments available.

If the patient is in relatively good health, it would be much better to try non-invasive treatments first such as cervical traction which lifts the pressure off the nerves in the herniated disc area. Sometimes a home traction device can be rented to use in front of your television at home. This option really sounds more desirable than surgery!

Hydrotherapy which involves exercising with no gravity such as exercising in water, is a more fun and gentle way to begin your rehabilitation.

Some other treatments including ultrasound, electrical stimulation, cortisone injections, anti-inflammatory medications, hot and cold packs and/or surgery deliver some relief, but may be only temporary. In order to address the cause of the herniated disc and not just treat the symptoms, the non-invasive procedures have had great results and are really worth a try.