When you visit your doctor and receive a diagnosis for your bulging disc, you will probably want to know how to treat your condition. Your doctor will explain various bulging disc treatment methods to you. He or she will most likely recommend conservative (nonsurgical) treatments for you to try, and put a treatment plan together for you. This bulging disc treatment plan will probably consist of multiple treatment methods. Oftentimes, a single treatment method will not work miracles on its own, but when combined with another, or several other, treatment methods, the effects of the treatment can be much greater.

Treatment Methods to Try at Home

Being diagnosed with a bulging disc is never good news to hear, but there is some good news when it comes to bulging disc treatment. The good news is that many of the treatment methods your doctor will recommend to you can be done from the comfort of your own home. The treatment your doctor will likely recommend at the time of diagnosis may include limited bed rest, hot/cold applications, physical therapy, and pain and anti-inflammatory drugs. You may need to regularly visit a physical therapist if physical therapy is recommended, but, even then, there’s a strong possibility that your physical therapist will teach you exercises and stretches to perform at home. When doing conservative bulging disc treatment at home, be mindful to strictly follow the treatment regimen provided by your doctor and/or physical therapist, as straying from your treatment could actually aggravate your bulging disc and enhance the level of your symptoms. Also let your doctor and physical therapist know right away if any suggested treatments make your condition worse.

When to Consider Surgery

If you are sitting in your doctor’s office, first hearing the news of your bulging disc diagnosis, now is probably not a time for you to consider surgery. However, if you are sitting at home in pain after several weeks or months of nonsurgical bulging disc treatment, this may be a time for you to consider surgery. The reason why surgery is not first recommended at the time of diagnosis is because of the beneficial impact of conservative treatment has on a considerable amount of patients. Doctors first recommend conservative treatment because, in many cases, it can provide significant, sometimes even full, relief from pain and other symptoms, like stiffness, numbness, tingling, muscle weakness, and muscle spasms. Although, conservative treatments do not provide relief for everyone, and sometimes people can receive little or no relief at all from them, even after making use of conservative treatments for months or years.

Any kind of spine surgery, including surgery as treatment for a bulging disc, is generally reserved for about five to ten percent of people suffering from the condition who have found minimal or no relief from the implementation of nonsurgical treatment methods. In extremely rare, life-threatening cases, surgery may be ordered by a doctor, but it is elected by the patient the majority of the time. If you have been receiving treatment for your bulging disc for some time without reaching the level of relief you would like to obtain, pay your doctor another visit and ask him of her if you could be a candidate for spine surgery.

Patrick Foote is the Director of eBusiness at Laser Spine Institute, the leader in endoscopic spine surgery. Laser Spine Institute specializes in safe and effective outpatient procedures for bulging discs and several other spinal conditions.

Patrick Foote is the Director of eBusiness at Laser Spine Institute, the leader in endoscopic spine surgery. Laser Spine Institute specializes in safe and effective outpatient procedures for bulging discs and other spinal conditions. http://www.laserspineinstitute.com/back_problems/bulging_disc/

Author Bio: Patrick Foote is the Director of eBusiness at Laser Spine Institute, the leader in endoscopic spine surgery. Laser Spine Institute specializes in safe and effective outpatient procedures for bulging discs and several other spinal conditions.

Category: Medicines and Remedies
Keywords: Bulging disc