Herniated disc symptoms
One of the most common herniated disc symptoms is sharp, shooting pain that radiates down an arm or leg, often accompanied by neck or back pain. You might also experience weakness or numbness in the arm or leg.
The signs and symptoms of a herniated disc vary greatly depending on the position of the herniated disc and the size of the herniation. If the ruptured disc is not pressing on a nerve, you may experience a low backache or no pain at all. There may be pain, numbness, or weakness in the area of the body to which the nerve travels,if it is pressing on a nerve,. Typically,bulged discs symptoms are preceded by an episode of low back pain or a long history of intermittent episodes of low back pain.
If you are experiencing lower back pain…is it herniated disc symptoms or another type of lower back pain? The very first thing you should do is to try examine how the pain is distributed throughout your body. In order to be diagnosed correctly,your back pain symptoms should be carefully examined as back pain can sometimes be caused by a large number of conditions or injuries thus making a proper diagnosis both difficult and critical.
You can have symptoms of incontinence,motor weakness, or sensory changes if the herniation is very large . So,there can be different herniated disk symptoms depending on how large the disc is and where it is . But the majority of back pain sufferers have pain down the leg.
Herniated disk symptoms in the lower back are slightly different from symptoms in the cervical or thoracic parts of the spine. The spinal cord ends near the top lumbar vertebrae but the lumbar and sacral nerve roots continue through these spinal bones. A lumbar disc herniation may cause:
- Lower back pain
- Pain, weakness or tingling in the legs, buttocks and feet
- Difficulty moving your lower back
- Other bulged discs symptoms are problems with bowel, bladder or erectile function, in severe cases
Lumbar herniated disc symptoms
Lumbar spine (lower back)or sciatica frequently results from a lower back disc herniation. Pressure applied on one or several nerves that contribute to the sciatic nerve can cause pain, tingling,burning, and numbness that radiates from the buttock into the leg and sometimes into the foot. One side (left or right) is usually affected. This pain ,most of the time is described as sharp and electric shock-like. It can get more severe with walking,standing or sitting.
Symptoms of herniated disk lumbar are:
- Acute low back pain
- Pain radiating to the legs,buttocks and feet
- Pain made worse with coughing, straining, or laughing
- Numbness or tingling in legs or feet
- Weakness of the muscle or atrophy in later stages
- Muscle spasm
Symptoms cervical disc herniation
Herniated cervical disc symptoms may include dull or acute pain in the neck or between the shoulder blades, pain that radiates down the arm to the hand or fingers, or tingling or numdness in the shoulder or arm. Such pain may increase with certain positions or movements of the neck.
- Neck pain, especially in the sides and backs
- Acute pain near or over the shoulder blades on the affected side
- Other symptoms of a ruptured disk are pain radiating to the upper arm, forearm,shoulder, and rarely the hand, fingers or chest
- Pain made worse with straining,coughing, or laughing
- Increased pain when turning head to the side or bending the neck
- Spasm of the neck muscles
- Weakness of the arm muscle
Many back pain sufferers with disk herniations do not have symptoms, or they had some back or leg pain but it went away.
The herniated disc symptoms can sometimes be treated by nonsurgical means. These include medication,physical therapy, heat therapy and other treatments. A herniated disk may also shrink away from the spinal cord on its own, putting an end to symptoms. However, certain types of slipped disc symptoms and serious cases that involve the compression of many nerve roots typically require surgery.