Disc Pain Relief

The discs in the back are prone to injury. They are soft and jelly-like and they can be ruptured or herniated as a result of a sports injury, an auto accident, a household fall or through the aging process. The pain from an injured disc can force an active person to a sedentary life. Treatment ranges from rest to surgery. You should see your doctor as soon as possible after suffering a back injury.

Rest

• The spinal column and the discs that separate the bony protrusions in the spine have amazing recuperative powers. A football player who suffers a herniated disc after being tackled or an individual who gets injured in a car accident may feel significant pain as a result of their injuries. In some cases, resting for 24 to 48 hours with as little movement as possible can work wonders for a herniated disc and the individual may feel much better after rest.

Ice and Heat

• Alternate ice and heat treatments while getting as much rest as possible following a back injury. Take 15 minutes of ice directly on the spot of the injury every hour. Follow that with 15 minutes with a heating pad every two hours. This cold-and-hot alternation can bring much of the feeling back to the area and have a limiting effect on the pain from the disc injury.

Anti-inflammatory and Pain-relief Medication

• If you have suffered a sudden back injury--such as from a car accident--your doctor may prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and pain relievers. When a disc is injured, the pain can be referred down the leg or to another area of the body. This is commonly referred to as sciatica but professionals use the term radiculopathy. The referred pain may be signficantly worse than the pain at the spot of the disc injury. You may also lose function in your feet or legs. The anti-inflammatories can relieve much of the pain at the spot of the injury as well as the referred pain.

Epidural Steroid Injection

• If the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory does not work, your doctor may give you an epidural injection of steroids near the spot of the ruptured disc. This brings relief in approximately 50 percent of the cases involving disc injuries. The relief can last from two weeks to four months.

Surgery

• When the other treatments have not relieved the pain and the patient is having difficulty functioning (loss of movement in the foot or strength in the leg can result), surgery may be the answer. Much progress has been made in disc surgery over the years. Many neurologists can perform outpatient disc surgery that will repair the herniation in the disc and clean up the debris.