Herniated Nucleus Pulposus also known as “Slipped disc”, is a medical condition in the spinal cord, the disc (nucleus pulposus) in the spine is being forced through the weak point and putting pressure on the nearby spinal cord nerves. The disc protects each bone in the spine and it acts as a shock absorber pad, when the disc is being spit, tear or ruptured the inner fluid on the disc will be release into the surrounding tissue, this will cause pressure on the spinal cord and to the nerve which may directly bring moderate or severe pain on the damage area and also to the nerve, because nerve travels to other parts of the body, the pain, tingling or numbness also can be felt in other parts of the body that is connected or controlled by the affected nerve.
The spine is divided into three parts the neck, chest and the lower back. Most Herniated Nucleus Pulposus cases happened on the lower back section of the spine, but it doesn’t say that the chest and neck section are not vulnerable of the said medical condition. The spine is made up of sets of bones, each bone are connected by a cartilage disc, each disc consist a group of connective tissue and each disc is filled with gel fluid that acts as a shock absorber and also make the spine flexible.
Herniation of disc can occur on any part of the disk in the spine and the most common forms are the lumbar (lower back) disk herniation and cervical (neck) disc herniation. Lumbar disc herniation occurs 15 times more often than cervical disk herniation, causing lower back pain and also leg pain. In most cases the neck section are 8% affected, while the chest section are affected 1-2% of the time.
Most herniation of disc occur when a person age is in their 30’s to 40’s, around 4% of the males and 2% of the female around the age of 30’s have experience this medical condition. In general males have a much higher incidence than females. Treatment of a slipped disc defends on the severity of the injury.
Herniated Disc
