Pads of cartilage called discs separate the 24 vertebrae of your spine from one another. These discs have a fairly tough outer layer with a soft interior to cushion against the shocks and strains experienced as you move and put various stresses on your spine. The discs are subject to injury, disease and degeneration with use over time. Certain activities and types of work increase the risk of discs being damaged or deteriorating. When the soft interior material of a disc pushes out through a tear or weakening in the outer covering, the disc is said to be herniated.
Herniated discs are also called protruding, bulging, ruptured, prolapsed, slipped or degenerated discs. There are fine distinctions between these terms, but all refer to a disc that is no longer in its normal condition and position. Herniated discs cause pain by irritating, pinching and even injuring nerves in the spinal column.
Most disc herniations take place in the lower back (lumbar spine). A herniated lumbar disc, by pinching the sciatic nerve, may send pain shooting down through your buttock and thigh into the back of your leg (sciatica). Pain radiating throughout your lower back, leg pain, numbness, tingling or burning, any or all of these symptoms is frequently associated with sciatica. While all leg pain is not sciatic in nature, the extent of sciatica is best determined by your chiropractor.
The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the human body, which extends along the back of the leg from the buttocks to the inside of the ankle. When the sciatic nerve becomes inflamed or traumatized in any way, the result is agonizing, distressing and often temporarily debilitating pain.
If you are experiencing these symptoms, you may be thinking this type of pain and physical incapacity must mean facing the risks and consequences of surgery or drugs or fear that nothing will help.
Chiropractic care has proven to be very helpful in the correction of herniated discs with or without associated sciatic conditions. The chiropractor’s goal is to identify and correct the source of your condition thereby eliminating these painful symptoms quickly and effectively.
For more information, call Dr. Jessica M. Ekengren at 661-254-9400. The office is located at 23120 Lyons Ave., Suite 21, in Santa Clarita.