Herniated Disc Pain and Sciatica
Having a herniated disc in and of itself can be a very painful condition. When sciatica is a by product of the problem it is even worse. Not only do you have the pain from the disc,but you also have the pain from the swollen and irritated sciatic nerve.
First a herniated disc occurs when the central portion of the disc called the nucleus pulposis migrates outwards and breaks through the outer portion of the disc called the annulus fibrosis.
In research studies only the outer 1/3 of the disc has been shown to contain pain sensitive fibers. Therefore damage can accumulate over time before the person ever feels any pain.
Repetitive activities, incorrect sitting postures and trauma are usually to blame when it comes to herniated disc pain. These activities weaken the outer annulus allowing migration of the inner portion of the disc.
As the migration occurs and the outer fibers become contacted the pain sensitive nerves begin to become activated resulting in local back pain at first.
After the initial bout of back pain from a disc problem occurs a short period of relief or lessened pain may come about. This is usually due to the fact that the activities that caused the problem have been modified or stopped.
Many people make the false assumption that the pain is gone for good, however the medical literature shows a very different scenario. People are almost always destined to have another bout of back pain within a year, unless proper treatment is applied.
With the return of the pain there is also a corresponding increase the the area involved. This usually starts with a movement of the pain into the arm and leg depending on where the disc problem is.
Once pain begins to move into the leg it is often called sciatica. This condition is associated with involvement of the sciatic nerve.
The pain from sciatica can be a consequence of either pressure from the disc itself on the nerve or from inflammation caused by the injured disc irritating the sciatic nerve.
In either case proper treatment is a must. This means actually working to fix the disc problem through proactive means. The best treatment I have come across is for this is spinal decompression.
The outer fibers of the disc are able to scar over due to the negative pressures inside the disc, created with spinal decompression pulling back in the herniated material
Spinal decompression is the best treatment to actually heal a herniated disc relieving sciatica pain.
