What is Spinal disc and its Function ?

 

Our human body generally consists of 33 spinal bones which are also known as spinal vertebrae. These vertebrae are Stacked on one another and a spinal disc is sandwiched between the two adjacent spinal bones. We are of the school of thought that everything which happens always happens for a reason and spinal disc in our understanding is no more an exception. The spinal disc serves as a very effective cushioning mechanism between the vertebral bodies and helps to dampen the amount of jerks the vertebral bones have to bear. In a very simple way the spinal discs can be regarded as the shock absorbers or shockers of the human body absorbing the day-to-day jerks.

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How does the Disc look like ? (Disc Anatomy)

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So if we look in detail about the Anatomy of the spinal disc it is divided into two parts. The inner side of the disc contains a jelly-like material which primarily functions as a shocker of the spine and it is called nucleus pulposus. The outer portion of the spinal disc basically acts as the covering of the nucleus pulposus and is made up of rigid fibres is called annulus fibrosus.

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What is Posterior Disc Bulge ?

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So as the age progresses, the spinal discs in our body which are meant to serve as cushions tend to degenerate.And as these discs become degenerated they lose their ability to effectively provide the cushioning effect to the vertebral body.

Spinal discs can be compared to to tyres of your car. As the age of the tyre increases the water content in the tyre decreases this progressively leads to breaking away of the rubber of the tire. exactly in the same way the spinal discs when they age they become devoid of water and they tend to break at different places. This breaking of the disc or swelling of the disc is called a disc bulge. Now in a very special case if the disc bulge happens at the back of the spine it is called a posterior disc. the term posterior being used as a scientific equivalent to the back of any specific organ talked about.

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Why is Posterior Disc Bulge important ?

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Posterior Disc Herniation which generally happens at the back of the spinal bone given serious importance.

 

This is due to the fact that at the back of the spinal bones the spinal nerves pass. If in that area there is a disc bulge or disc protrusion or disc extrusion this may inevitably lead to compromise in the space required for the nerves. This compression in medical language is called posterior disc bulge indenting thecal sac or posterior disc protrusion indenting thecal sac.The final result will be compression of spinal nerves. This leads to sciatica symptoms in the lower Limbs of the patient. For example, posterior disc bulge l4-l5 will lead to compression of L5 traversing nerve root & pain radiation in the L5 supply area of the nerve.

 

Posterior Disc Bulge Treatment

 

The treatment of posterior disc bulge generally involves non-operative in operative measures. In most of the patient’s posterior disc herniation treatment involves administration of anti inflammatory drugs, modification of lifestyle and varying amounts of physical therapy. There are a set of exercises which are labelled as posterior disc bulge exercises. Some patients also require spinal injections. Lumbar disc bulges are easier to treat than cervical disc bulges. For instance posterior disc bulge c3-c4 will respond later to therapy than a posterior disc bulge l4-l5 or posterior disc bulge l5-s1. However if symptomatic patients with severe disc bulges or protrusions do not respond to conservative lines of treatment the patient may finally be asked to get spinal surgery done. Get it done by the Best Spine Surgeon in East India.