Pilates Printable  Backpain Manual: Herniated Disk Symptoms & Exercises
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Herniated Disk: Symptoms

The symptoms of "slipped" or herniated disk flare up are pain, numbness and/or tingling, and weakness in the legs. Herniated disk may also cause bladder and bowel dysfunction. Symptoms can be local, e.g. pain
and back spasm at the level of the ruptured disk. But they often spread down one or both legs. A herniated lumbar disk generates a stabbing pain that may shoot down your leg from the level of the herniated disk, or occasionally from the level of your buttocks. This pain is called sciatica, or radiculopathy, and is caused when the pulpy nucleus of the disk presses on the sciatic nerve roots.
 Lumbar spine - herniated disk exercises and herniated disk alternative treatments
Symptoms of a Herniated Disk:-
Disk
Lev'l		  Weakness  Altered Reflex  Sensory Loss Pain
 L3-L4  quadriceps, tibialis ant'rior  knee jerk medial knee and shin  anterior thigh
 L4-L5  extension of big toe  none  big toe back of thigh, later'l calf
L5-S1 gastr'cnemius ankle plantar flexion Achilles  lateral foot and heel  back of thigh and calf
Note: Twitching is not a symptom of lumbar disk herniation.

(Scroll right: lumbar herniated disk, cause of pain at base of spine, alternative treatments, herniated disk symptoms, herniated disk surgery versus exercises, bavk >>>>)
Side Picture of Lumbar Disk
Herniated disk lesion. Lateral view Transverse Picture of Lumbar Herniated Disk Note the Herniated Nucleus pulposes. Herniated disk flare up. Transverse view. Frequency of diagnosis of herniated disk:- L5-S1 48% of the time, L4-5 42% of the time, L3-4 about 5%. 90% of herniated disks cause pain at the base of the spine.
Lumbar Herniated Disk: Surgery, & Alternative Treatments by Use of Exercises. The aim of lumbar disk surgery is to relieve pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots. Laminectomy is removal of part of the lamina. Discectomy is removal of the nucleus of the herniated disc (see pictures, left).

The Cause of Lumbar Disk Herniation:
A "Lesion"? - or a Faulty Movement Pattern?
Ask a medico for the cause of your sciatica. He'll give you a lesion based diagnosis e.g: "L4-L5 lumbar spine injury with numbness in leg - caused by a herniated disk flare up". Doctors give lesion based diagnoses. It's the way they've been trained. Lesion based diagnosis is fine if surgery is indicated - otherwise the surgeon wouldn't know where to operate! But 90% of disk herniations do not require surgery. In these cases, lesion based diagnosis need only rule out infection, cancer or fracture: It's not necessary to know that pain is due to a "herniated disk at L4-L5". The ultimate cause of a herniated disk? - Faulty patterns of posture-movement, & muscle recruitment! E.g. part of the posture-movement diagnosis for the example of l4-l5 herniated disk symptoms is hyper-mobility at the L4-L5 lumbar spine cf. the hip joints: L4-L5 moves first when the hip joints should move first. Correct this movement pattern, & your slipped disk & pinched nerve will cease to flare up ! Click here to find out about the exercises that will stabilize your herniated disk flare up! The Back Maintenance Manual: Herniated Disk Alternative Treatments (ruptured, slipped, herniated disk symptoms, herniated disk exercises, herniated disk surgery,)
© Bruce Thomson, EasyVigour Project