What Are Spinal Disk Problems?
Only a person who has experienced a damaged spinal disk understands the agony and helplessness it brings. The pain can be excruciating. Every movement seems to make it worse. This pain is a warning signal. If you heed the warning and take proper action, the discomfort usually stops, and the problem can be corrected. If you ignore the warning, you could suffer permanent damage. Spinal disks are supple pads tightly fixed between the vertebrae, the specialized bones that make up the spinal column. Doctors call them intervertebral disks. Each disk is a flat, circular capsule about an inch in diameter and one-quarter inch thick. They have a tough, fibrous, outer membrane called the annulus fibrosus. Inside is an elastic core called the nucleus pulposus. The disks are firmly embedded between the vertebrae and are held in place by the ligaments connecting the spinal bones and the surrounding sheaths of muscle. There is really little, if any, room for disks to slip or move. The points on which
