Bulging disc recovery time varies from patient to patient and depends on a number of factors. These factors include:
- The severity of the nerve compression causing pain and discomfort
- How long symptoms have existed
- The location of the bulging disc in the spinal column
- The amount of disc degeneration present
- The specific treatment plan utilized
If you have been diagnosed with a mild bulging disc, it may be alleviated in a matter of a few days to a week. Your mild bulging disc pain may be reduced or eliminated by merely adopting good posture or sitting in an ergonomic chair at work.
If you have been diagnosed with a mild bulging disc, symptoms may be alleviated in a matter of a few days to a week. Mild symptoms arising from a bulging disc pain may be reduced or eliminated by merely adopting good posture or sitting in an ergonomic chair at work.
When pain from a bulging disc is moderate, your recovery can take longer, perhaps up to six weeks. Moderate symptoms may be addressed by physical therapy, rest, over-the-counter-medications, and/or epidural steroid injections.
But, when a bulging disc results in pain severe enough to restrict everyday activities, the recovery process may be much longer. A lengthy recuperation is especially probable if you undergo hospitalization and traditional surgery to relieve bulging disc symptoms.
Surgical treatment for symptoms arising from a bulging disc is aimed at relieving the pressure that a bulging disc places on nerve fibers in the spinal canal. Traditional surgeries, which require general anesthesia, include laminectomy, foraminotomy, and spinal fusion. In-hospital recovery time for these surgeries may last several days, followed by a recovery period at home of weeks or months, depending upon the individual. Some patients continue to have pain or may develop a new or different pain years after surgery has been completed. In some bulging discs, generated symptom relief is not truly achieved.
If you are concerned about the potential lengthy recovery period that accompanies open-back surgery, consider the minimally invasive, endoscopic surgical procedures available at Laser Spine Institute (LSI). We offer outpatient procedures to treat bulging discs and other spine conditions. Our recovery times are typically much shorter than those associated with traditional spine surgery. Please contact Laser Spine Institute today for a complimentary review of your MRI or CT scan.
