The Back Sufferers' Bible by Sarah Key

Author:Sarah Key
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2016-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 5.5 Thumbs can feel through to a swollen facet but not the disc. Indirect pressure delivered via the spinous process can provoke leg pain by causing friction of the disc bulge against the nerve.

True disc prolapse is one of the most difficult spinal conditions to fix conservatively but, given time, it will eventually regenerate. Even with stark evidence of disc prolapse on MRI it can be nothing short of miraculous how well cases like this can do. Admittedly, once the nucleus is out of the centre of the disc it is difficult to get back (it is often described as getting toothpaste back into a tube) but mobilising the segment releases it from compression which improves disc nutrition. The manual loosening also relaxes the muscle hold which lessens the pressure on the bulge and allows the disc to imbibe fluid. It also frees the disc to suck and blow to promote cellular activity and repair. And finally, the introduced movement also restores a better circulation of blood through the whole area (not the disc which is avascular) to reduce inflammation caused by the many other swollen structures of the segment, all pressing and chafing against one another, the disc being but one.

Coaxing a crimped spinal segment to move can dispel even the most menacing leg pain, even though a nerve root, once inflamed, retains a lowered threshold for some time. For many months it may be susceptible to flare-ups, especially after periods of slumped sitting, which stretches the covering (dura) of both the spinal cord and the nerve roots. With even the vaguest return of muscle spasm, or if the disc’s circulation becomes sluggish for other reasons, shades of the familiar leg cramp can start up.

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