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Acute Cervical Disc HerniationAka: Soft Cervical Disc Protrusion

See Also
1. Cervical Disc Disease
Mechanism
1. Nucleus pulposus bulges posterolaterally
  1. Annulus fibrosus weakest posterolaterally
  2. Posterior longitudinal ligament also weak
2. Characteristics
  1. Acute disorder in younger patients
  2. Acute disc rupture leads to immediate radiculopathy
Causes
1. Cervical compression
2. Axial loading
3. Hyperflexion
Symptoms
1. See Cervical Disc Disease
Signs
1. See Cervical Disc Disease
Management
1. Cervical collar
2. Cervical Traction
3. NSAIDs
4. Muscle relaxers (usually not helpful)
5. Physical Therapy
Return to participation
1. Requirements to return to contact sports
  1. Healed anterior or lateral disc herniation
  2. Discectomy and interbody solid fusion
    1. Lateral or central herniation
    2. Neurologically intact
    3. Painless Range of Motion
2. Relative Contraindications to contact sports
  1. Residual facet instability
3. Absolute contraindications to contact sports
  1. Acute Central DIsc herniations
  2. Neurologic deficit
  3. Pain or limited range of motion
  4. Spinal stenosis

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 6/1/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.