Does your back hurt?It could be a herniated disk

Many factors decrease the strength and resiliency of the disc and increase the risk of disc herniation. Life style choices such as smoking, lack of regular exercise, and inadequate nutrition contribute to poor disc health. Poor posture, daily wear and tear, injury or trauma, and incorrect lifting or twisting further stress the disc.

If the disc is already weakened, it may herniate with a single movement or strain. Patients often say that the pain occurred during activities such as coughing or bending to pick up a pencil.

Herniated discs are most likely to affect people between the ages of 30 and 50, although they can occur at any age. The most common symptom will be pain in the area of the herniation that may radiate across the hips or into the buttocks. You may also experience numbness or pain radiating down your leg to the ankle or foot.

If the herniation is large enough, you might notice weakness with extension of your big toe and you may be unable to walk on your toes or heels. If a herniation is suspected your health-care professional can order an MRI to be certain.

There are several lifestyle changes that can be made to prevent injuring your back, but there are also some simple alterations in how you move that can help.

Many people injure their backs by bending over to pick things up. To prevent this from happening, try bending your knees when you pick something up. This will put the stress on your legs and take it off your back.

Also, when you bend down, make sure that you don't twist your body in any way. When we twist it puts more stress on our discs and they are more likely to get injured.

Another reason back injuries occur is because when we sit all day we lose the normal curve, or lordosis, in our low backs. To prevent this try rolling up a towel and placing it in the small of your back when you sit. This can be used at work or in a car to maintain your spinal curve in your low back.

With any injury, back injuries included, you want to apply ice as soon as possible. Many patients tell me they put a heating pack on an injury. Unfortunately this is one of the worst things you can do.

When you have an injury you always have swelling, even if you can't see the swelling on the surface. Heat will only increase the swelling and pain. When you apply ice, the swelling and pain have a chance to decrease.

The easiest way to ice your back is to place a thin towel over the injury and place an ice pack on top of the cloth. Use the ice for 20 minutes every hour or two.

Mild to moderate disc herniations can usually be treated conservatively with stretching, exercise therapy and chiropractic care. More advanced cases will often require some form of spinal decompression, such as traction or mechanical decompression, in conjunction with chiropractic care. Occasionally, a herniation is severe enough to warrant surgical intervention. These cases are usually reserved as a last resort when other forms of therapy have failed to relieve pain, or if there is significant compression of the spinal cord or nerves. If you have these symptoms, meet with your health-care professional.