Understanding Spinal Disk Problems - Basic Information
What Are Spinal Disk Problems?
Only a person who has experienced a damaged spinal disk understands the agony and helplessness it brings. The pain can be excruciating. Every movement seems to make it worse.
This pain is a warning signal. If you heed the warning and take proper action, the discomfort usually stops, and the problem can be corrected. If you ignore the warning, you could suffer permanent damage.
Spinal disks are supple pads tightly fixed between the vertebrae, the specialized bones that make up the spinal column. Doctors call them intervertebral disks. Each disk is a flat, circular capsule about an inch in diameter and one-quarter inch thick. They have a tough, fibrous, outer membrane called the annulus fibrosus. Inside is an elastic core called the nucleus pulposus.
The disks are firmly embedded between the vertebrae and are held in place by the ligaments connecting the spinal bones and the surrounding sheaths of muscle. There is really little, if any, room for disks to slip or move. The points on which the vertebrae actually turn are called facet joints, which stick out like arched wings on either side of the rear part of the vertebrae. These facet joints keep the vertebrae from bending and twisting too far -- far enough to damage the spinal cord, the vital network of nerves that runs through the center of each vertebra.
The disk is sometimes described as a shock absorber for the spine, which makes it sound more flexible or pliable than it really is. While the disks do separate the vertebrae and keep them from rubbing together, they are far from pneumatic or spring-like. In children, they are gel- or fluid-filled sacs, but they begin to solidify as part of the normal aging process. By early adulthood, the blood supply to the disk has stopped, the soft inner material has begun to harden, and the disk is less elastic. In middle-aged adults, the disks are tough and quite unyielding, with the consistency of a piece of hard rubber. These changes related to aging make the outer protective lining more weak and the disks more prone to injury.
Understanding Spinal Disk Problems - Herniated Disk
The pain of a herniated disk is debilitating, and further spinal disk damage may be irreversible.
Under stress, a disk's inner material may swell, pushing through its tough outer membrane. The entire disk becomes distorted. All or part of the core material protrudes through the outer casing at a weak spot, pressing against surrounding nerves. If further activity or injury causes the membrane to rupture or tear, the disk material can injure the spinal cord or the nerves that radiate from it. This causes extreme, debilitating pain. It's an unmistakable signal to stop all movement immediately. Further disk damage may be irreversible. In some instances, the injured disk itself is the source of pain.
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