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• Lateral Disc Protrusion

Lateral Disc Protrusion

Lateral disc protrusion is a term best understood when broken down into its individual parts. “Lateral” is an anatomical term that means “side.” It can refer to the left or right side of your body. A “disc protrusion” occurs when a disc located in between your vertebrae swells or bulges. A lateral disc protrusion, therefore, is a disc that is swelling or bulging on the left or right side of the spinal column.

When a disc protrusion occurs laterally, or on the side of the spinal column, there may be a greater chance that the protrusion presses upon a nerve root. Why? The spinal column provides a strong suit of armor for the spinal cord, the cable of nerves that travels from your brain to your lower back. At every level of the spinal cord, nerve roots branch off to the left and to the right. When a lateral disc protrusion occurs on the left or right side of the spinal column, the protrusion is in close proximity to nerve roots, so it’s only natural that the nerves may become pinched by the protrusion.

A disc protrusion can be caused by injury, overuse, or the deterioration of the spine that comes with age. Your spine has about two dozen discs located between the bony vertebrae. The discs are soft and spongy, providing excellent cushioning for the spine as it goes through the motions of the day. Unfortunately, discs also are prone to damage. When this occurs, the soft inner core of the disc begins to push on the disc’s thick, strong outer covering. Eventually the outer covering weakens and bulges into the spinal column where there’s a chance it can pinch spinal nerves.

Lateral disc protrusioncan often go unnoticed, but pain can present should the disc place undue pressure on a nearby nerve root. However, it is often difficult to diagnose these kinds of disc deterioration correctly because of the lateral, or sideways, swelling of the deteriorated disc. In fact, lateral protrusions account for less than ten percent of all disc protrusion cases.

Disc protrusion symptoms depend largely on the location and origin of the problem. Individuals may be diagnosed with any combination of a cervical disc protrusion (in the neck), thoracic disc protrusion (in the middle back), or a lumbar disc protrusion (in the lower back). Generally speaking, symptoms can include:

• Pain that travels to other areas of the body
• Muscle weakness
• Numbness and tingling in the arms and legs
• Sciatica
• Chronic pain
• Acute pain

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Treatment of a lateral disc protrusion first requires a correct diagnosis with the help of medical imagery. Once the source of the problem has been identified, a doctor will typically try to manage the symptoms conservatively. Heating pads, exercise, and painkillers all can be effective against back and neck pain.

If the patient does not respond to non-surgical treatment or the symptoms are extreme, surgery becomes an option. If this is the case, patients should consider the highly successful treatments available at Laser Spine Institute (LSI). Unlike traditional open-back surgery, LSI offers minimally invasive, endoscopic spine procedures which treat many of the same problems on an outpatient basis. To learn more about endoscopic spine surgery for lateral disc protrusion, or for a free review of your MRI or CT scan, contact LSI today.

Please note: Laser Spine Institute currently does not perform endoscopic procedures on the thoracic spine.