Walton Chiropractic Can Relieve Your Joint Pain
Spinal discs are located between the spinal vertebra and provide flexibility and shock absorption for the spine. Spinal disc contain a thick outer layer wall known as the annulus fibrosus. This outer layer surrounds a jelly-like substance called the nucleus pulposus. As disc age and degenerate they become more prone to damage from excessive strain or trauma. This may result in tears or cracks along the outer disc wall resulting in complications, such as disc bulging, disc herniation, inflammation, nerve irritation, and severe pain.
A disc bulge occurs when the disc wall becomes weakened thus allowing the nucleus pulposus to bulge out and impinge the surrounding nerve roots. A disc herniation (rupture) occurs when the pressure within a disc is so great that a tear of the outer wall occurs, allowing a portion of the nucleus pulposus to herniate out of the disc. The herniated material may impinge on nearby spinal nerve roots, leading to pain that travels into one or both arms or legs, numbness and tingling, muscle weakness, and loss of reflexes in extremities.