

A Cervical Disc Protrusion is a bulging disc in your cervical spine. The disc has not torn or ripped anywhere yet; it is simply protruding outside of the vertebral column. A Cervical Disc Protrusion has a better prognosis than a herniated or ruptured disc which has already been torn. A Protruding disc is one that has been caught early enough that hopefully surgical intervention will never be necessary.
In a Cervical Spine Protrusion, a disc is bulging out and this bulge may be compressing nerve root endings leading to radicular symptoms felt down the length of the arm. For instance, a protrusion of the intervertebral disc between the C5 and 6 spinal segments, may cause you to feel pain, numbness, weakness, or tingling in your shoulder all the way down to your thumb. The area of the upper arm, lower arm and thumb comprise the dermatome that corresponds to the C5-6 spinal segment. A dermatome is an area of the body that specifically corresponds to a certain spinal segment. If there is pain or other symptoms felt here, it is a clue that there may be a disc bulge, or protrusion, in the cervical spine. This could be the case even if pain is not felt in the cervical spine itself.
The causes of a disc protrusion are:
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Symptoms very greatly when discussing a bulging disc of the cervical spine. Cervical disc protrusion symptoms may be any or all of the following:
Treatment for a cervical disc protrusion will have the aim of reducing the bulge and preventing it from turning into a herniation where surgery will most likely be necessary. Conservative approaches to treatment are commonly successful when treating a Cervical Disc Protrusion. First line, conservative treatments may include:
If all of the above fails to reduce the pain and symptoms, surgery may be indicated. The surgery required for bulging discs is generally going to be minimally invasive as in an endoscopic procedure of the cervical spine.