Slipped Disc? A Complete Guide to Disc Injuries
What a disc injury really is, why it hurts, and how to get it moving again.
If you’ve been told you have a herniated, bulging or “slipped” disc, you’re probably wondering what that actually means, and whether it will get better. Usually, it does.
Discs are one of the most misunderstood parts of the spine. They don’t slip, they’re not fragile, and a disc injury on a scan doesn’t always explain the pain you’re feeling. But they do behave in ways that explain a lot: why your back is stiffer first thing, why sitting for long periods can make things worse, and why pain sometimes travels down your leg.
I’ve lived with a disc injury since my teens, and I’ve treated hundreds since. This guide explains what’s going on in plain language, what tends to help, and when it’s worth getting checked.
Contents
Why does disc pain feel worse in the morning? (links to the morning pain spoke)
Is it disc pain or nerve pain? (links to your sciatica blog and the straight leg raise spoke)
What does your scan report actually mean? (links to the scan decoder spoke)
Will a herniated disc heal on its own? (links to your sharpened blog)
A spinal disc is a tough, flexible cushion that sits between each pair of vertebrae in your spine. It can’t slip. Each disc is firmly fixed to the bone above and below, so it isn’t going anywhere. When people talk about a “slipped disc”, they usually mean a bulge or a herniation, where the soft centre of the disc pushes outwards through a weakened part of its tougher outer wall. That can irritate nearby tissues and nerves, which is where the pain comes from.
What is a spinal disc, and can it really “slip”?
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I often describe a disc as a jam doughnut. The outer dough is the annulus: dozens of tough layers of fibre, each running at a different angle, a bit like the layers in a car tyre. That criss-cross pattern makes the annulus strong in every direction. The jam is the nucleus, a gel-like centre made mostly of water, held there by molecules that attract and hold onto water.
When you load your spine, the nucleus pushes outwards and the layered wall tightens to contain it. That’s how discs absorb shock, spread load evenly and still let you bend and twist.
Only the outer part of the wall has nerve endings, which is one reason a disc problem can be painful without being serious, and why a bulge on a scan isn’t always the cause of your pain.
How much load goes through your discs?
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