Spinal Disc Problems and Management

3. Causes

• Age-related wear and tear
• Repetitive stress and poor posture
• Trauma or heavy lifting
• Obesity and sedentary lifestyle

4. Clinical Features

• Neck pain or low back pain
• Radiating pain to upper or lower limbs (radiculopathy)
• Numbness, tingling, or weakness
• In severe cases, spinal cord compression or myelopathy

5. Diagnosis

• Clinical examination
• X-rays for alignment and degeneration
• MRI for disc pathology and neural compression

6. Conservative Management

Most patients get well with conservative management and do not require any surgery.

• Rest and activity modification
• Analgesics and anti-inflammatory medications
• Physiotherapy and core-strengthening exercises
• Lifestyle and ergonomic modifications

7. Interventional Pain Procedures

Day care procedures.

• Epidural steroid injections
• Selective nerve root blocks

8. Surgical Management

• Indicated for neurological deficit or failure of conservative treatment
• Procedures include discectomy, microdiscectomy, endoscopic discectomy
• Fusion or disc replacement in selected cases

9. Outcome

• Most patients improve with conservative treatment
• Timely intervention leads to good pain relief and functional recovery