What are signs that you have a herniated spinal disk?

Question

Can you feel it by simply touching the spine or back?

Answer 1

Usually you have a pretty bad backache with pain going down the leg. Sometimes you also experience numbness.

Answer 2

Good question because not everyone is the same?
Mine started as sudden acute onset lower right abdominal pain, like appendix! Pain to the extent it not only took the breath away, the only thing you could do was curl up into a ball! Moreover, 30 mins and it went? First test was Urine infection, then kidney stones, after that it was gynecological. While waiting for all this the acute bouts continued, not nice and worrying as I drive so did not want this to happen behind the steering wheel. Also gall stones, bladder infection, they went through everything and came back with 'Normal!' Now I do have Rheumatoid Arthritis and Scoliosis, so surfed the Internet, read something on referred pain: you have a pain in your big toe but are really having a heart attack! Returned to the Doc, asked about referred pain, he went for a MRI and after two years the results back within two weeks, Prolapsed disc! Then he started the long term pain treatment. Now according to what I have read, I should have Sciatica, but do not? All is well unless the posture changes and the inflammatory material inside the disc touches the 'nerve roots' and then nothing kills the pain, passed out last time for 3 hours. So while they have criteria, pain here, pain their, we are individuals. The motto if in serious pain see a Doc!

Answer 3

You may be able to feel a displaced vertebrae by touching your spine, but not likely the disk itself.

Signs that you may have a herniated disk include backache, radiating pain to extremities which may increase when pressing on the trouble spot. Pins and needles, numbness, and/or loss of function are red flags to see a doc immediately.

Take care.

Answer 4

Unless it's really huge you can't usually tell that way. What you have is a list of symptoms, such as pain, partial loss of function, numbness, etc. in the part of the body run by whatever level the hernia is at.