One of the most dramatic injuries you can sustain to your lower back is a herniated disc. The discs along your spine hold the vertebrae in place. Sometimes the center of a disc squeezes through a crack in the outer layer into the spinal canal. This puts pressure on the nerve root, causing pain, numbness, and weakness in the area supplied by the nerve. People who seek early treatment for a herniated disc can often recover without surgery using a combination of medication, physical therapy, exercise, and posture modification. If the pain doesn't subside or progresses, surgery often is required to remove a herniated disc in order to relieve pressure on the nerve roots. This procedure is called a diskectomy. In a very few cases, disc herniation can become so big that it fills the entire spinal canal. This immediate pressure on the nerves in your spine may cause paralysis of the muscles that control your bowels and bladder and should be treated by a physician right away.
