Living With a Herniated Disk

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Find out if you're a candidate for a minimally invasive alternative to open neck or back surgery

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Living With a Herniated Disk

When you're suffering from a herniated disc, even simply daily activities can seem insurmountable. However, there are many things you can do to make living with this condition more bearable and to hasten your recovery.

Simple, at-home steps you can take to minimize discomfort from a herniated disc include:

Rest – The simplest and often most effective way to deal with a herniated disc is simply to rest. Oftentimes, this condition is brought on by trauma or overuse of the body, specifically the back and neck. By allowing your body to rest, you give it sustained periods of time to go through the natural healing process without disruption.
Stretching – A herniated disc can be exacerbated and even caused by a compressed spine. By stretching your muscles regularly, you can reduce this pressure and help alleviate symptoms, as well as give your spinal disc a chance to return to its normal shape.
Exercise – Depending on the severity of your herniated disc symptoms, exercise can be a helpful way to naturally alleviate them. Losing weight reduces pressure on the spine, while exercises like weight lifting strengthen bones and muscles to add stability to the spine and give the disc a chance to heal.

Treatments for a Herniated Disc

If these at-home methods fail to bring adequate relief, your doctor may recommend more serious treatments, including techniques such as:

Epidural cortisone injections
Prescription pain medicine
Muscle relaxers
Surgery

Surgical treatment of a herniated disc is reserved only for the most severe cases in which the sufferer cannot find relief even after exhausting other treatment options. However, surgery does not necessarily have to be open back or neck; a safe, effective alternative known as endoscopic spine surgery offers relief from herniated disc symptoms without the downtime or many of the risks of open surgical procedures. To learn more about minimally invasive herniated disc treatments, or to request that our doctors review your MRI or CT scan free of charge to determine your eligibility, contact Laser Spine Institute.

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