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 that you should heed. If you take appropriate action, the discomfort usually stops, and the problem can be corrected.

Spinal disks are rubbery pads 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 (the annulus fibrosus), and an elastic core (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 the vertebrae turn and move are called facet joints, which stick out like arched wings on either side of the rear part of the vertebrae. These facet joints are separate from the discs and keep the vertebrae from bending or twisting excessively, which could damage the spinal cord and the vital network of nerves that runs through the center of the spinal canal formed by the stack of vertebra.

source : webmd.com

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