Prolapsed Disc & Sciatica

A prolapsed or herniated disc is a very painful condition, but the good thing is, with the right treatment, that they do get better and most of our patients go on to be completely pain free after a disc injury. A typical patient story behind a disc injury will include a lifting, pulling, bending, or twisting movement and sometimes, a sudden twinge of back pain (although sometimes it doesn’t start for a few days afterwards).

Patients will commonly say their back is painful to move, especially when bending – and, it can feel stiff and worse the next morning. Discs can cause either central back pain or pain on one side of the back. Interestingly, if the inflammatory chemicals or the disc bulge are irritating one of the nerves, you can get some really painful leg symptoms too (often called sciatica). This can be just pain, but it can also cause pins and needles, numbness, shooting pains, and even muscle weakness.

The bit that makes our job really interesting is that there are lots of other conditions that can cause the same symptoms as a disc injury and even cause sciatica. For example:

• Spondylolisthesis
• Piriformis Syndrome
• Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction
• Degenerative Disc Disease
• Spinal Stenosis
• Bony growths (osteophytes)

Working out what is causing your pain and what we need to do about it is our speciality. If you suspect you’re suffering from any of these, please contact us for an informal chat or to arrange an appointment to see one of our trained therapists.