Herniated Disc Specialist
It’s often difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of recurring back pain. However, pain that radiates down your leg and into your foot is a sign of a slipped spinal disk, often referred to as a herniated disk. To get help from the sudden, severe pain associated with a herniated disk, call or make an appointment online with the specialists at The Nexus Pain Center in Columbus or LaGrange, Georgia, today.
Herniated Disk Q & A
What is a herniated disk?
Your spine has a chain of bones called vertebrae with soft spinal disks between each one that gives you your flexibility. These disks have a consistency similar to a jelly donut in that they have a durable exterior with a soft center and are designed to absorb shocks from running, jumping, and other activities.
A herniated disk refers to a problem wherein some of the soft center of a disk pushes out through a tear in the tougher exterior irritating nearby nerves. This sensitivity often results in numbness or weakness in your arm or leg.
How is a herniated disk diagnosed?
To determine if you have a herniated disk, one of the specialists at The Nexus Pain Center reviews your medical history and conducts a physical examination. The physical examination helps pinpoint the affected nerves.
Magnetic resonance imaging, X-rays, and other imaging tests help categorize slipped disks by severity. The three types of herniated disks are:
- Prolapse: disk bulges out with its outermost layer intact
- Extrusion: a tear in the surface layer of the disk causes tissue to spill out
- Sequestration: disk tissue enters your spinal canal and detaches from your disk
How is a herniated disk treated?
The doctors at The Nexus Pain Center treat herniated disks through several nonsurgical and nonopioid medical therapies, including:
Epidural
An epidural is an injection of anesthetic and steroid medications into your spine.
Facet blocks
Facet blocks involve injecting a local anesthetic and a steroid directly into the facet joints in your spine.
Radiofrequency ablation
Radiofrequency ablation is the use of radio waves to create an electrical current that delivers heat to specific nerve tissues to either impair or destroy them and disturb the transmission of pain signals from your spine to your brain.
Nerve root blocks
Nerve root blocks are similar to facet joint injections and are placed along the sides of your spine.
For an interventionally-driven approach in which all sources of treatment are used to help alleviate your pain efficiently, call or make an appointment online today with one of the specialists at The Nexus Pain Center.
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