A ‘slipped’ or bulging disc or disc herniation is a common cause of low back pain, hip pain, buttock pain and neck and arm pain. Sometimes you can even get true sciatica all the way to your foot, pins and needles in your legs or arms or ‘restless legs’ at night.

The term ‘slipped’ disc is actually a misnomer as the disc is very firmly attached to the bone above and the bone below (the vertebrae) and cannot slip. But the disc can get weak and stretched causing the bones to slip with great strain on the disc.

This slip or bulge can press directly on the spinal nerves or even on the spinal cord which can cause pain or pins and needles in the places where those nerves go. And the stretched or bulging disc themselves can really hurt.

It’s a bit like if the wheel alignment of your car is out, the tyres will wear out really fast and you can have a blowout. Then you have to fix the tyre but if you don’t sort the alignment, the problem will just come back. In the same way, it’s important to help your disc to heal but you have to work on the overall alignment of the spine to stop the problem from recurring.

Our approach is to first get you relief and get you back to work but also to assess your posture, take x-rays if indicated and look to fix the underlying misalignment that caused your problem in the first place.