A herniated disc muscle spasm is one of the many symptoms often associated with disc bulges, but sometimes is actually occurring due to completely unrelated anatomical or psychoemotional issues. It is possible for some forms of spinal stenosis and especially foraminal stenosis to create muscular spasm, but in other cases, the symptom is being enacted by regional ischemia, which is one of the most well recognized and prevalent sources of muscular spasms anywhere in the body.
This article will describe how herniated discs can cause muscular spasms locally or when affecting nerve tissue which innervates muscles in the limbs. The essay will also detail other potential sources of muscle spasm which are not related to disc bulges, including a variety of leg cramps.
Herniated Disc Muscle Spasm Defined
Herniated disc spasm describes a condition in which a particular muscle or set of muscles contract violently and incessantly. This is a very painful event and makes a patient feel a total loss of control over their muscular function in the affected area.
When a herniated disc muscle spasm occurs in the arm, leg, hand or foot, it is agonizing, but typically manageable. However, when muscular spasms hit the postural muscles, or any of the back muscles, the results are pure torment. We are talking about a hellish experience that you will never forget as long as you live. I still remember the worst of my own muscle spasms as if they happened just yesterday, even though they actually occurred decades ago.
Disc Pain Muscle Spasm Facts and Myths
Oxygen deprivation causes spasm in muscular tissue and neurological effects in nerve tissue. This is the real cause of some chronic back and neck pain syndromes, despite whatever coincidental spinal abnormalities may be discovered through imaging studies and examinations.
Herniated discs can cause pain, tingling, weakness and numbness, but will usually only enact spasms in rare instances, such as when they first occur due to traumatic injury. The chances for an existing mild to moderate herniation creating recurrent spasms over months, years or decades is illogical in most patients. Regardless, bulging discs are misdiagnosed as the source of these symptoms in millions of sufferers every year.
In cases where a herniation is definitely causing a nerve compression issue, the affected area may experience spasms in rare cases. This symptomatic pattern is not the rule, but the exception. Central spinal stenosis can also cause spasms in virtually any bodily location below the stenotic level, making positive diagnosis a difficult task to successfully accomplish.
Herniated Disc Muscle Spasm Experiences
I know how brutally miserable a muscle spasm in your back or buttocks can be. If you have never had one, thank your good luck and hope that you never will. The forceful contraction in the postural muscles will make you pray for death, rather than endure the continued suffering.
I clearly remember 2 specific events in my own back pain experience that brought me to tears, and beyond, due to nonstop spasm in my lower back. In my case, these symptoms, like the others, were always blamed on my ever-present back pain scapegoats: degenerative disc disease and 2 herniated discs in the lower back.
However, with time and effort, I managed to resolve my pain and prove all these doctors and chiropractors wrong in the process. My pain was sourced by regional ischemia and the cure consisted of basic knowledge therapy.
Now, with a total of 12 herniated discs throughout my spine, I notice recurrent muscular spasms in many locations, but these are rarely painful, except for some in my feet. Most of the time, the area simply begins jumping uncontrollably, although no pain is elicited. I have endured these in a few locations of my abdominal muscles, in my lip, under one eye, over my ear, in my thighs, in my calves and in my fingers.
My neurologist is not sure if these are related to my worst herniations or whether they may be caused by the unspecific neurological abnormalities located during diagnostic testing. One thing is for sure. At least they are not painful, which makes them far more tolerable compared to the tortures I endured in the past.
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