Slipped Disc, Bulging Disc, Herniated Disc, Ruptured Disc?
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
There are so many confusing terms used to describe spinal injury: slipped disc, bulging disc, herniated disc, ruptured disc, protrusion, prolapse, disc extrusion. Besides being thoroughly mixed up, you might ask, what’s the difference?
These terms are confusing to both patients and their doctors. In reality, there is not a whole lot of difference between all of these terms. They all describe injury or damage to the internal fibers of the spinal disc and attempt to differentiate the degree of the damage. Some of these terms are no longer recommended. Let’s take a closer look at each:
- Slipped Disc is a term that is used by patients primarily. Actually, spinal discs don’t “slip”. This is a lay person’s description of injury.
- Bulging Disc is a commonly used term that describes a injured disc that has bulged less than 3mm past its normal margins.
- Herniated Disc is a commonly used term to describe injury. It is the preferred term for disc protrusion and implies a contained disc in which the annular fibers are still attempting to restrain the nucleus of the disc.
- Ruptured Disc is a common term for injury that has been abandoned because it implies great trauma.
- Protrusion is a herniation in which the distance of the protrusion is less than the width of its base.
- Prolapse is a noncontained disc in which the annular fibers are radically torn and allow the nuclear materal to sequester or free-fragment into the spinal canal. It is not a commonly used term and is no longer recommended to describe disc injury.
- Extrusion is a herniation in which the distance of the protrusion exceeds the width of its base. It best describes the older term of prolapse.
Now that you have a better understanding of these terms, do need help with a slipped disc, bulging disc or herniated disc? Contact Sacramento chiropractor, Dr. Jeri Anderson at 916-368-1600.
