Slipped Disc Cervical Spine, Lumbar Spine, Thoracic Spine - Disease, Therapies, Diagnostic Procedures, Causes, Symptoms

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Home Health Information Back & Spine Wear and Tear & Back Pain Slipped disc

Slipped disc.

When discs are out of position.

A 'slipped disc' can be taken at face value. This however means a lot of patients are misled: This is because a 'slipped disc' does not describe an „occurrence“, i.e. an event. No, a 'slipped disc' means primarily that in visual terms the disc has a prolapsed appearance. I.e. it is pushed outwards. It protrudes – and therefore as a consequence may possibly also gets damaged.

Discs are the spine's shock absorbers. They feel like a wine gum or a squid ring: soft and elastic. Externally they have a firm skin but inside they are composed of a gel or jelly-like, viscous mass and a cell nucleus.

The loss of elasticity makes the disc protrude.

When a 'slipped disc' occurs there is disc protrusion, which can press on the nerve canal.

Because of their structure, discs are extremely flexible, cushioning impacts in the spine and ensuring that the individual vertebrae do not rub against each other – because this causes severe pain.

A healthy and young disc is elastic and springs back into shape from every distortion. But over time the disc loses water and forfeits its elasticity. With impacts it is pressed flat and remains in this altered shape. Since the firm external skin has a weak area close to the vertebral canal, the jelly-like contents frequently shifts in the direction of the spinal canal. The disc therefore bulges outwards. If this 'bulge' presses on the nerves which are located in the spinal canal, this produces pain, feelings of numbness and symptoms of paralysis – the classic 'slipped disc'.