If you believe that you are at an increased risk of suffering a herniated disc, it is important to reach out to a medical professional. A herniated disc can happen to anyone of any age, but are most common in young to middle-aged adults who overwork their body.Individuals who smoke are at a markedly increased risk of developing a herniated disc.People with a family history of a herniated disc are more likely to suffer a herniated disc than those who do not.

People who have physically demanding jobs that involve a lot of heavy lifting are also at a greater risk of suffering a herniated disc.People who are overweight or obese are at a greater risk of herniating a disc in their back than those who are at a healthy weight.Some of the most common examples include: There are several risk factors that could make it more likely for you to develop a herniated disc. Ultimately it’s hard to say what the exact act will be that causes a disc herniation in a patient, but we do know that a herniated disc may occur when too much force is exerted on an otherwise healthy intervertebral disc. As postural muscles fatigue, excessive tension is placed on the discs, ligaments, and joints. Poor posture can cause a disc herniation.The natural process of aging causes discs to become weakened from degeneration.If you lift something with a jerking or twisting motion, you could cause a vulnerable disc to herniate.A herniated disc can also be a chronic injury, as repeated annular tears can weaken the disc over time.For example, falling from a significant height causes a large amount of force through the spine and if strong enough, a vertebra can break or disc can rupture. Heavy forces on the neck or low back may simply be too much for even a healthy disc to absorb.If you bend and try to lift a heavy object, the force and stress on your spine can cause a disc to rupture. Bending can place high forces on the discs between each vertebra.Some of the most common causes of a herniated disc include: There are several possible causes of a herniated disc. The most common location for a herniated disc to develop is in the lower back (lumbar region of the spine), but can happen in the neck (cervical spine) as well. This can cause severe pain in the path of the nerve being pinched. Pressure against the nerve root from a herniated disc can cause numbness and weakness along the nerve. When the nerve root is inflamed, the added pressure may also cause vague, deep pain and/or cause sharp, shooting pain to radiate along the pathway of the nerve. If disc material herniates, or squeezes out, this can put pressure on the spinal cord or spinal nerves. The terms disc protrusion, disc bulge, disc herniation, ruptured disc, and slipped disc all mean the same thing and imply that disc material has left the normal disc space. These discs cushion the bones, while also protecting the nerves as they run through the spinal cord.Ī disc herniation is displacement of disc material beyond the normal confines of the disc space. To prevent the bones from rubbing against each other, there are small discs in between them. The spine is a network of vertebrae that protect the spinal cord.

Herniated disk xray images