Herniated Disc

If you have a diagnosis of a bulging or herniated disc and you are having pain, you don’t necessarily need to proceed with surgery immediately. Many of these discs can improve with a short period of time using several conservative treatments. Treatments such as anti-inflammatories, visits to chiropractor, physical therapy, acupuncture, epidural steroids, all of these can be used to help alleviate the symptoms of a herniated disc and allow the body to shrink and heal on its own.

One should consider surgery for a bulging or herniated disc if there is no improvement after a period of time such as 6 to 12 weeks. At 360 Ortho and Spine, we have various ways of treating these bulging or herniated discs. A disc herniation within the spinal canal could be accessed through an inch or smaller incision. The muscle is split. A small window of bone is made and the spinal canal is accessed.

Through this window, our surgeons would be able to grab or remove the herniated portion of the disc and shrink/cauterize it with a laser. These herniated discs can be in the foramen also. Foramen are the tunnels or the holes with exiting spinal nerve root branches. If the disc is within the tunnel, we can use a small tube and actually come from the side and similarly remove the herniated or bulging disc portion thereby freeing up the impinged nerve.