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Mass Tort Update
Understanding Spinal Disk Problems -- Basic Information
What Are Disk Problems?
Only a person who has experienced it understands the agony and helplessness that come with a damaged spinal disk. The pain can be excruciating. Every movement makes it worse. The pain of a herniated disk is debilitating and further spinal disk damage may be irreversible.
This pain is a warning signal. If you heed the warning and take proper action, the discomfort usually stops and the problem can be corrected. If you ignore the warning, you could suffer permanent damage.
Spinal disks are supple pads tightly fixed between the vertebrae, the specialized bones that make up the spinal column. Doctors call them intervertebral disks. Each is a flat, circular capsule about an inch in diameter and perhaps one-quarter inch thick. They have a tough, fibrous outer membrane called the annulus fibrosus. Inside is an elastic core called the nucleus pulposus.
The disks are firmly embedded between the vertebrae and are held in place by the ligaments connecting the spinal bones and the surrounding sheaths of muscle. There is really little, if any, room for them to slip or move. The points on which the vertebrae actually turn are called facet joints, which stick out like arched wings on either side of the vertebrae and keep the vertebrae from bending and twisting far enough to damage the spinal cord, the vital network of nerves that runs through the center of each vertebra.
The disk is sometimes described as a shock absorber for the spine, which makes it sound more flexible or pliable than it really is. While the disks separate the vertebrae and keep them from rubbing together, they are far from pneumatic or spring like. In children, they are gel- or fluid-filled sacs, but they begin to solidify as part of the normal aging process. By early adulthood, the blood supply to the disk has stopped, the soft inner material has begun to harden, and the disk is less elastic. In middle-aged adults, the disks are tough and quite unyielding, with the consistency of a piece of hard rubber. These changes related to aging make the outer protective lining weak and the disks more prone to injury.
Herniated Disk
Under stress, a disk's inner material may swell, pushing through the tough outer membrane. The entire disk becomes distorted. All or part of the core material protrudes through the outer casing at a weak spot, pressing against surrounding nerves. If further activity or injury causes the membrane to rupture or tear, the disk material can injure the spinal cord or the nerves that radiate from it. This causes extreme, debilitating pain. It's an unmistakable signal to stop all movement immediately. Further disk damage may be irreversible.
The vast majority of disk injuries occur in the lumbar region of the lower back. Only 10% of these injuries affect the upper spine. Not all herniated disks press on nerves, however, and it is entirely possible for a person to have deformed disks without any pain or discomfort.
Herniated disks are most common in men aged 30 - 50, although they can occur in active children and young adults. Older people, whose disks no longer have fluid cores, are much less likely to encounter the problem. People who do regular, moderate exercise are much less likely to suffer from disk problems than couch potatoes, and tend to stay flexible considerably longer.
What Causes It?
Although a violent injury can damage a disk, problems with disks are often brought on by everyday activities — lifting heavy objects the wrong way, stretching too hard during a tennis volley, or slipping on an icy sidewalk. Any such event can cause the fibrous outer covering of the disk to break or distort to the point that it presses on a spinal nerve. Sometimes a disk swells, tears, or degenerates without any apparent cause.
Disk problems are sometimes lumped together under the term degenerative disk disease. Change in the condition of the disk is a natural result of aging. This is part of our gradual loss of flexibility as we grow older. But disk degeneration is far more serious in some people than in others. Severe cases may be the result of a deficiency in collagen, the material that makes up cartilage. Poor muscle tone, poor posture and obesity also put excessive strain on the spine and the ligaments that hold the disks in place.
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General information on neck injuries including diagnosis and treatments, research, and other resources.