Will A Bulging Disc Heal On Its Own?

An enquiry we hear quite often is, can my bulging disc heal on its own? Can it be healed with treatment? The answer is quite complex, so we’re going to be dedicating this week’s article to explaining this for you. First and foremost, what is a slipped disc? In between each vertebra of your spine is a cushiony disc that protects your spine and shock absorbs on a daily basis. It also keeps your spine’s movement smooth and fluid.

How Does A Disc Bulge Occur?

Your spine is naturally aligned in a way that helps it to absorb all of the weight of gravity placed on you everyday, but if that natural alignment is lost – either through repeated bad posture or an accident – then pressure can be placed on areas of the spine susceptible to injury. Repeated pressure everyday over the course of weeks, months or years cause damage to your spine and can eventually cause the disc to squash so much that it bulges and can press against one of the many nerves running through your spine. Depending on the area that has the bulging disc and the nerve it’s pressing on, will determine what area of your body will feel the pain. If it’s in the lower back, the sciatic nerve is the one most commonly compressed, and this is what gives you that terrible pain down your leg.

How Does A Disc Bulge Heal?

Essentially, a slipped disc is a repetitive stress injury. They’re usually not one off occurrences, unless you’ve been in a car crash or you’ve had a terrible accident that’s caused your disc to squash. In most cases, it is due to poor posture over a number of years pressing down on your disc. If you imagine your disc to be like a water balloon, as you squash down it becomes shorter and fatter, and eventually the layers holding that fluid start to break down and you start to get a more profuse bulge. The question ‘Will it heal on its own?’ Is simply not going deep enough, the question should be ‘will you stop squashing the disc?’.

Our body always heals in some way, shape or form. In the same way a rugby player might break a collar bone, perhaps you don’t realise it’s broken, it will heal but not in a good way – you’ll likely need it broken and reset if that happens. Your body finds a way to compensate and work around it in the overwhelming majority of cases, and disc bulges are no different. Your body likely will lay down scar tissue around the bulging disc. Hopefully in your case its not a serious enough bulge that is constantly pressing on the nerve and causing some serious nerve damage – it might just have been a pain that recurs in the short or medium term, but has been managed badly over the long-term.

This would be akin to taking painkillers for a tooth infection, you could mask the problem but it will likely continue to become worse unless you book an appointment with your dentist. While we can visibly see a tooth infection, you’re unable to see with your own eyes a worsening spinal problem, which can make it difficult to grasp what’s going on with your body when you neglect your posture. If you correctly address all aspects of the problem, from correcting your posture, to taking off the pressure from the disc using our spinal decompression treatment, and rehabilitating your body by strengthening your back and core, you’re giving your body back its stability. When you were a small child, you probably fell over at some point and gave yourself a cut that turned into a scab – your parents probably told you not to pick the scab because it won’t heal well – it’s the same thing with a disc. If you keep irritating it, keep putting more pressure through it, and don’t take the appropriate steps tot take pressure off it, it won’t heal. This can often be the reason why we see many patients who have previously tried many different treatments that haven’t given them long term relief, there is a neglect of long-term results by rehabilitating and lack of emphasis on changing the position of the spine.

If you’re reading this article, it’s likely that yourself or a close friend or relative is suffering with a disc bulge. If you’ve been suffering for a number of months or years, then make sure you see someone who is able to take into consideration all of the factors surrounding what problem you have and how it has occurred. If you’ve been suffering for a long period of time, something is preventing your body from healing correctly, so you need someone who can provide you with the right treatment at the right time and provide you with the right support.

To book an appointment with the team, call us on 0203 947 3222 or email us at info@themayfairclinic.com. Your first appointment involves a thorough examination, X-rays if necessary, and a treatment to improve your symptoms from the very first visit.