Herniated disc, monterey

There is good news for you. In most cases, a bulging disc or herniated disc can be treated without surgery The intervertebral disc is similar to most other structures in our body; it has the capacity to heal. Similar to a papercut, our skin will heal and become pain free. This same healing process can and usually occurs if we’ve sustained a disc herniation.

Another important thing to consider is this; most people, especially ages 50+ and older will have a disc bulge present even if they don’t have any pain. A disc bulge actually seems to be quite normal when looking at the data researchers have collected over the years. (Chiu CC. et al, 2015)

Take a look at this infographic and appreciate how common disc bulges are as we get older, AND how none of these people have pain.

This infographic is from http://drjarodhalldpt.blogspot.com/. He has excellent information about all things pain.

​It’s no surprise that the public automatically assumes that if there is the finding of a disc bulge on MRI or X-ray that this clearly depicts what is causing the pain. What we now know is that advanced imaging is only a picture of what our body looks like not how it feels.