What Is a Herniated Disc and When Could Chiropractic Care Help?

A herniated disc, sometimes called a slipped or bulging disc, happens when the jelly-like center of a spinal disc pushes through a tear in the tougher outer ring. It most often occurs in the lower back, and when the disc material presses on a nearby nerve, it can cause pain, numbness or weakness that travels into the buttock or leg, what many people describe as sciatica. Two things are worth knowing up front: many disc herniations cause no symptoms at all, and most that do cause symptoms improve with conservative care over weeks to months. Surgery is rarely the first step.

What causes it? The discs between the vertebrae naturally lose some fluid and flexibility with age, which makes the outer ring more likely to tear during ordinary movements, lifting or an injury. A herniated disc is a common finding, and it is not automatically the source of your symptoms, which is why a careful history and physical evaluation matter more than a scan alone.

Common symptoms include pain in the lower back, often with leg pain, numbness, tingling or weakness that follows the path of the nerve. Symptoms can come on suddenly or build gradually, and a herniated disc in the neck can cause similar symptoms in the arm.

Where does chiropractic care fit? The North American Spine Society's evidence-based guideline lists spinal manipulation as an option for symptomatic relief for patients with lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy. A 2022 study in BMJ Open found that adults with a lumbar disc herniation and radiculopathy who received chiropractic spinal manipulation had lower odds of later undergoing lumbar disc surgery than comparable patients who did not. That does not mean manipulation is right for every disc problem, and it is not a substitute for surgical evaluation when red flags are present. Progressive weakness in a leg, numbness in the groin area, loss of bladder or bowel control, or symptoms that keep worsening call for prompt medical evaluation, not a chiropractic adjustment.

Dr. Gregory Martin has evaluated patients with back and leg pain since 1996. His first visit is a conversation about your history, then an examination of how your spine actually moves. If a disc problem may be involved, he factors that into what he does and what he recommends. If chiropractic care is a reasonable option, he explains what he finds and suggests a plan; if you need medical evaluation instead, he tells you that and points you in the right direction.

He sees patients at his office at 283 Sparta Avenue in Sparta and at Speedwell Family Chiropractic at 520 Speedwell Avenue in Morris Plains. If new leg symptoms or worsening back pain are on your mind, call or text (973) 699-4100 to talk it through and schedule an evaluation.