How Spinal Discs Really Work And Why They Hurt

If you’ve ever heard “bulging disc,” “herniated disc,” or “degenerative disc disease” and felt your stomach drop, you’re not alone. We take the fear out of spine talk by explaining what spinal discs really are, why they’re often misunderstood, and why the presence of a disc finding on an MRI doesn’t automatically mean you’ll have pain or limitations. You’ll come away with a clearer, calmer framework for understanding low back pain, neck pain, and the mechanics that quietly build problems over time. 

We get specific about disc anatomy (annulus fibrosis and nucleus pulposus) and what discs are built to do: absorb force, create space between vertebrae, and keep you moving. Then we connect the dots between posture and disc pressure, including why prolonged sitting, bending forward, and lifting while twisting can load the lumbar spine in ways people don’t expect. We also unpack the “my back went out” moment and why it’s often the straw that breaks the camel’s back after years of accumulated stress, poor movement patterns, and chronic compression. 

From there, we clear up a huge source of confusion: bulge vs herniation, why many herniations don’t cause pain, and what makes symptoms like numbness, tingling, burning, weakness, or shooting pain show up. We define sciatica as a symptom pattern involving irritation of the sciatic nerve, not a diagnosis, and explain why getting the right source matters. Finally, we lay out what supports disc healing and recovery: hydration and electrolytes, movement to nourish discs, better mechanics, sleep, inflammation reduction, strategies like spinal decompression, and the long-game of core stability so you’re not stuck in a cycle of flare-ups. 

If this helped you rethink your spine, subscribe, share it with a friend who sits for work, and leave a review so more people can find practical, evidence-informed back pain guidance.

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Transcript

Why Discs Get Misunderstood

SPEAKER_00 0:24

If you've ever been told you have a bulging disc, herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, or sciatica, today's episode may completely change the way you think about your spine. Because spinal discs are some of the most misunderstood structures in the human body. And the truth is, many people have disc problems long before they ever feel pain. Welcome back to Living a Full Life. I'm Dr. Enrico Dolcecori, and we are going over a series called The Spummer Spine 2026, all about the spine. Last week we dove into the basics of the spine, spinal anatomy, why it was developed, what runs through it, and how it functions and how to keep it healthy. And now we're diving deeper into the things that sometimes go wrong with the spine over time. And the biggest part is the discs. They're the most influential part of the spine. Spinal, the spine itself is just bone. It's mostly bone. It's held together by tons of ligaments that help it do the things that it does. I brought up an analogy about gymnasts at the Olympics and all the cool things they can do is because of a healthy spine and the movement, the back bends, the flips, the rotations, the lifting, the power. It all comes from the spine. But the discs are the most influential. And I find the discs are going to be the most relatable to the listeners because we're all, most of us are not Olympic athletes. And our spines give us a little bit of pain or issues, and they're probably related to what's happening with the discs. But we'll go through a series of everything about the spine to keep you engaged, entertained, and influenced so that you understand better to take control of your health. Discs are simply the cushions between the vertebra. They're cartilaginous, but they do have an anatomy to them. They act like shock absorbers, spacers, and movement facilitators. Without these discs in between each one of these bony vertebra, the spine would become rigid.

Disc Anatomy Made Simple

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Movement would be painful, bones would grind together and, of course, break down and degenerate faster than they normally do. So the disc has a couple parts to it. It's not just an equal piece of rubber that's in there. It's got some anatomy to it. Each disc has two main parts. It's got an annulus fibrosis, the tough outer layer of fibers, thick fibers that hold the nutrition and the fluid inside of the discs. Yes, it does have blood supply. It does have supply to it, but it's minimal. So they have these strong fibers. They're layered like a tire on your car, just this thick outside tire. Its job is to contain pressure. So every movement that you do and every shock absorption that it takes, it holds that pressure within it. And it stabilizes movement because it's rigid. So it helps the spine and each one of the vertebra move like a snake, which is really cool and have all that flexibility to it. The nucleus pupulsis in the middle is the softer gel-like center. It's not as tough as the outside. It's got almost like a jelly donut in the middle. Its job is to absorb compression and distribute the force equally. Liquid does that as a better barrier than something solid. Something solid will chip away and break away. Liquid can repeatedly take force, which is cool. That's why our discs can last 100 years, is because of that anatomy. Very cool stuff there. There's just not much we can do with it. It is what it is, and we have to maintain it. Discs are designed to handle pressure, bend, rotate, and absorb force, but they are not indestructible, unfortunately. They have a huge job. They have a huge job when it comes to our life and holding us upright and holding our posture. And posture plays such a big role and function that we're going to get into uh at another episode. And why being erect and standing up on two legs and having a rib cage and a head that's supposed to be carried back, and this posture that we look at. You look at like a military marine. So a marine that's gone through there, the training that they've gone through is designed to keep them very erect and chin up, because that is the most ergonomic and the fastest response time you can have as a human being. And that's what you want when you're defending a military operation, is you have to be quick and agile. And that posture of holding us up maximizes blood flow, oxygen flow, CO2 expulsion, VO2 max, uh lung capacity, heart rhythm. When we start to roll forward and get the hunch back and compress our chest, we increase heart rate, we increase blood pressure, we decrease oxygen, all the negatives start happening. So, anyways, I'm getting that's gonna be another one. But for the discs, they play a huge role in holding us upright. Most people underestimate how much stress the spine actually absorbs. I gave a stat on last week's episode is that when we're standing and we stand on a scale, we get our total body mass on that scale. When we sit down, that would change. If you put your feet

Posture And Pressure On Discs

SPEAKER_00 5:57

on the scale seated, you would take off a lot of weight off of that mass because you've now redistributed into the chair and into your pelvis sitting down, which doubles the amount of force on your lower back. It's just the way we're designed once you sit in that in that position. Your discs are meant to handle walking, lifting, sitting, twisting, bending, exercising, driving, posture stress. Every movement you make transfers force through your spinal discs. That's where all the force goes through. The bone in the vertebra is just bone. It it pretty much conducts force through it. It's just a solid mass. So it has to go through the jelly-like structures in between for the actual force to be absorbed. Certain positions dramatically increase disc pressure. Sitting for too long increases the disc pressure in our lower spine. Bending forward increases disc pressure, lifting while twisting and poor posture. I had a physical therapist or physiotherapist up in Canada tell me once. Brilliant, brilliant guy. He was like, I feel like the human body has a limited amount of sit-ups it can do because of bending. He's like, All these people doing sit-ups all the time, crunches. He's like, I just feel like it just wearing away a lot of the discs in the lower spine, mid to lower spine, because we're just not designed to do 50 million of these things. And I thought about that. I'm like, is that the uh a major stressor for our discs? And it might not be in the gym, it could be just yard work and bending all the time and picking up things from the ground and doing the, you know, for generations, humans were in the in the fields farming and pulling roots and carrots and picking weeds and you know, bending. And then we add sit-ups to it, anyways. I'm getting off topic here, but the the stresses of the spine that increase pressures because the discs are the ones taking all that force. So sitting hunched over a computer for hours can create more disc pressure than standing in one spot. Most disc injuries are not caused by one movement. I hear it all the time. Doc, I went to go pick up something from the floor and my back went out. It actually happens slowly over time. And I usually tell them listen, let's find the root cause of this. There's something else that's deeper that's going on. We'll take some x-rays, of course. Let's do some scans. Let's figure this out deeper. But for right now, I know what you want. I got to help you with this inflammation

The Straw That Breaks You

SPEAKER_00 8:37

that you created from the garage and picking something off the floor. But we need to understand that's the that's the straw that broke the camel's back. No pun intended on that. But it's not that straw. It's the pile of straws that we've been doing over a long period of time that has led us to this point. So, how does this happen? What is going on? Does everyone have to go through disc degeneration through their life? Unfortunately, I hate to say yes, because you know how well I am about preventative care. And we can prevent things from happening if we take a course of action that's consistent in our life, whether it's nutrition, exercise, movement, sleep, stress mitigation. But when it comes to these disks, gravity is always playing against us, whether we stand or sit. And so I feel like over time, after 100 years, yeah, if you take an x-ray of somebody that's 99 years old, you're probably going to see a lot of disc degeneration. I've had people in their 90s, I've taken x-rays on them. They drove themselves to their office, they stood in, they no walker, no cane. They came on in, they stood in front of the x-ray machine. I took x-rays, they lied down, I gave them an adjustment, and they were 93 years old and they walked out feeling better. And their x-rays, I looked at them like, you look better than some of my 60-year-olds. Like, this is amazing. Well, that's why they were able to drive themselves to the appointment and drive themselves away all by themselves with no walker or no cane. I mean, that's that's pretty amazing. But did they have degeneration? Absolutely. And this is what creates the loss of movement. So degeneration starts with the loss of movement. And the loss of movement can be lifestyle, work. Something has taken us away from the sports and the movement in the gym. And we've just been made custom to sitting at a desk for a decade. Typically, this is a 35 to 45 year old. They just get into work, they they skip the gym, they skip the playing hockey. This is my story. I'm telling you my story. Stopped skating, stopped uh playing soccer, stopped playing sports, started raising my family, and luckily I'm a chiropractor on my feet, so I get to move a lot. And I don't have to sit in front of a desk. But those years go by, and then you realize holy smokes, I got to get back to movement. So I think a lot of people fall into that boat. So that sedentary lifestyle creates that poor posture and the repetitive stress of sitting at a desk and sitting in a chair. So I think that's where it all starts and progresses a lot quicker. So this is where things start, not picking up something in the garage that threw your back out. Then we get reduced hydration over time. People are just running dehydrated. They're just not drinking enough water. They're not, they don't have enough uh nutrition. And so if you're just not drinking enough water and not getting enough electrolytes, then over time the discs depend on movement and nutrition for hydration. Then, unlike muscles, discs have poor blood supply. So

Hydration And Movement Feed Discs

SPEAKER_00 11:31

not only are they starving for hydration all the time because they just don't have the blood supply like your muscles do. If you're now running dehydrated, well, the muscles are going to absorb as much of the hydration as you give them, and there's nothing left for the discs. So movement pumps nutrients into them. So first off, we have to stay hydrated. Two, we have to move your venous system in the lower half of your body, your veins, bring blood back up to the heart to get pumped to the lungs to rehydrate and then pump through the arteries to everything, and it just cycles back through the veins, right? That's how our system works. But in order for the veins to work properly, the way the valve structures work in them is movement. And that's why our leg veins typically fatigue later in our 50s and 60s and start to become varicose and the valves start to break on them because of lack of motion, because we just don't move enough. So now we're having blood flow issues, right? Movement nourishes the discs. Movement nourishes the body. The weakening of the disc fibers is now what's happening. This is the structure and the anatomy of what's happening to set it up for injury. And these disc fibers start to weaken or start to stress after years of stress, poor mechanics, compensation. Maybe we've had an old injury in a hip and we don't use that hip as well anymore. And now the low back functions different, and inflammation. They just get inflamed. And that can weaken the outer fibers that we talked about. Pressure starts pushing outward. So then the pressure inside the disc starts to build and it starts to create bulges. So the disc starts to leave the cavity. It's contained with another series of thick ligaments that run up the entire spinal column. So as we talk about all these parts of the spine with the ligaments that hold the two vertebrae together, the

Bulge Versus Herniation

SPEAKER_00 13:31

one above and below, the annulos fibrosis of the disc that's around there of cartilage. Now you got to think of these two thick ligaments on the anterior longitudinal ligament and the posterior longitudinal ligament of the spine that runs all the way up the spine from the from the L5 all the way up to C1. It runs all the way up to contain this dip, the entire spinal column as one subway tract. Does that make sense? It's like the cement on the outside to hold it all into place. So what will happen is the disc will start to push and stretch those ligaments on the outside and the and the anterior longitudinal ligament and the posterior longitudinal ligament will try and keep them contained in there. So now it's a second line of defense in there where we get bulges, protrusions. Sometimes, if the annual fibers tear, we can get a quick release of pressure from the disc that herniates the disc outward and actually pushes through the ligament and goes right into the spine. Can or wherever it goes. So those are bad the herniations, especially in the lower back and the lower neck. C5, C6 tends to herniate as well there because of forward head posture. So that's what can happen to the disc. We can have bulges, protrusions, herniations. 70% of all herniations don't cause pain because they don't directly go back into the nerves. If they go anterior or forward, there's nothing there to sense it. Brain knows posture changes and we compensate and there's inflammation, but there's no direct pressure on the nerve. So there may not be a major pain response there. So bulging versus herniated discs. These are the probably the two biggest things we hear about as chiropractors. It's really important to distinguish the two because after an MRI comes back, you may get the report from your orthopedic um doctor, and they say you have three disc bulges in your spine. This changes the course of care and changes the how quickly you need to seek care. Bulges are not as dangerous as they may be told. Most people confuse them. The disc pushes outwards slightly in a bulge, uh, and the outer fibers are still mostly intact, and there's no major injury to the disc. It's just bulging, saying that, hey, this is now weakened area, and we have to be a little bit more careful about it. But those ones can resolve in pain by 100%. Because once you remove the inflammation from the area, the patient feels better and can live with the bulge. It's absolutely fine. A herniated disc is different. Part of the inner material has now pushed through the damaged outer fibers, and now it's like the jelly leaking from a donut on the outside, and you can see it. This can irritate the nerve nearby nerves because now you have fluid occupying space that wasn't supposed to be occupied. The nerves had all this space to just kind of float there, and now you've got fluid and jelly material coming up against the nerve or pushing it, and that can irritate it. And the pain depends on the amount of inflammation, the nerve irritation, the movement dysfunction that's there, and the surrounding tissues that are stressed. Many people have disc findings on MRI with zero symptoms. So we see MRIs all the time. They come back with disc bulges, maybe a disc herniation. Patients like, I didn't even know. I didn't even know I had that. I'm I'm feel okay. Well, it's all because of where it's positioned. So, why do some get sciatica and nerve pain from a herniation or maybe even a bulge? When discs irritate the nearby nerves, symptoms can include numbness, tingling, burning, weakness, shooting pain, sciatica, numbness in the arm. That can all happen. So, what sciatica really is, people come in all the time. If they they call, it's just like a headache and a migraine. People come in and be

What Sciatica Really Is

SPEAKER_00 17:31

like, oh, I've got a migraine because the headache is so bad that they want to reclassify it as a migraine. Not it's not always correct. Same thing with low back pain. They may have low back pain or disc pain, and they'll say it's sciatica because it's so bad. The pain is so bad. They're like, I've had back pain before. This is way worse. It's sciatica. Well, let's explain what sciatica is. Sciatica is not actually a diagnosis, it's a symptom pattern involving irritation of the sciatic nerve. So the pain can travel from the low back or into the glute, the leg, all the way down to the foot, or one or in between. It could go just to the glute. So if the sciatic nerve is irritated, then the pain can travel. And that's typically what we call sciatica, but it's not a diagnosis. The diagnosis has to be where the injury is. Is it a disc bulge? Is it a disc herniation? Is it inflammation at the nerve root? Is it impingement syndrome between two muscles? Is it piriformis syndrome? Is it gluteal syndrome? Uh it could be a whole bunch of things. And that's why we seek care. When symptoms show up, it's not always where the problem started. So knowing that and getting a proper diagnosis is really important. But the biggest question is can the discs heal? I mean, that's something all of us need to know. Is this healable, or is this something I'm just gonna have to live with the rest of my life and protect it? Yes, discs can improve. I see it all the time. We do it every week in our office. The body has remarkable healing capacities because now you know what we know: microcirculation,

Can Discs Heal With Support

SPEAKER_00 19:07

movement, rotation, all of these things play a major role in the health of the discs in the spine. And if we know this, we can improve hydration, electrolytes, nutrition, movement, and that's where we can get healing in the disc. So the body has a remarkable healing capacity, especially when inflammation decreases, mechanics improve, movement improves, stress decreases, and pressure normalizes. Then you get all the healing factors coming back, and the body wants to heal. So with disc bulges and herniations, we use mechanical uh medical spinal decompression. Uh that's the go-to thing in our office. We put people on there, it has a high force that it can put the body in, super comfortable for the patient. No one's ever been uncomfortable on that thing. They actually love it because when you're in pain and you're being stressed and the pressure's coming off the disc, it's immediate relief. People just love they're like, Can I just stay here for the next two weeks? I just don't want to move. Um, because it's creating that negative pressure and the disc material can absorb. But it's the homework and the work that we do there as well. Some therapeutic exercises, some therapeutic adjustments that we do to the area as well, some laser maybe, or some anti-inflammatories at the same time, and then the nutrition portion as well. We want to flood the system with omega-3s. We want to flood the system with collagen or glucosamine to help facilitate nutrition to the disc. So circulation, hydration, and stability are the important healing factors for the disc. And that's what we coach patients through as doctors to heal. And that's the whole program. That's why we have a spinal decompression program that we put people through because it's a homework thing, it's a lifestyle change, and it's how you truly create healing and facilitate healing in the discs. Sleep plays a huge healing, you know, healing hormones and tissue repair happen during sleep. So we want to improve movement, try and help the patient sleep better. We want to have them reduce inflammation through their diet, stress, recovery, lifestyle, all that stuff matters. Core stability and strengthening after the disc is stable again. We want to offset the pressure from the spinal column in the disc to the core muscles. So core stability and strength then becomes paramount for their second phase of care afterwards. That so we can get people out of pain within two to six weeks, depending on the severity. People usually two, three, four weeks are feeling dramatically better. And then at the six-week mark, once they've tested a few things, like, yeah, I can drive with no pain, I can sit with no pain, we move into stability and strengthening. The spine needs muscular support. Weak stabilizers increase disc stress. And the chiropractic care, too, can help improve spinal movement, reduce mechanical stress, improve joint motion, reduce nervous system irritation, and improve mobility patterns instantaneously through the adjustments. The biggest mistake I see patients make is that they just totally rest. Too much inactivity. Can worsen the spine problems. Something will happen with back pain. They'll get hurt. And then they're worried about getting reinjured. And this takes away movement from their life. And they just become rest and sedentary,

Mistakes That Slow Recovery

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which overall can worsen spinal problems because now we're going to facilitate the degenerative process faster. Mistake number two is ignoring early warning signs, stiffness, tightness, minor pain, reduced mobility. I get people who come in like my neck has been stiff. I'm like, oh, when did that start? Like four years ago. I'm like, what? Four? You have neck stiffness for four years? Like, yeah, get massages, I'll go do, you know, this, I'll sometimes take some Advil. Um, helps temporarily for a day, and then no change. And then we dive into it, take the X-rays, the postures messed up, and they have to go through a process of healing. So early warning signs, stiffness, tightness, minor pains that just won't go away, reduced mobility, just can't turn your head that one way anymore or twist your back like you used to. Those are signs. These all matter. Waiting until symptoms are worse. Like I said, the minor strain, we've all healed from this. Wake up a couple days later and we feel better. But when that doesn't happen and we don't heal in a few days, we can't ignore those severe symptoms. Most disc problems build over years. Remember that, not instantaneously. And then some people just stop moving completely because they fear they're going to damage something. But controlled movement is often part of healing. So knowing how to move properly through these conditions is paramount. So how do we prevent long-term spinal health issues? We do this through proactive habits. Move often, as often as you can. I love the 10,000-step rule. That's just a great start. Strength train, walk every single day, improve posture, avoid sitting for hours continuously, take breaks, manage stress, sleep properly, and stay mobile. I think I repeated exercise three different ways in that list using three different adjectives. Mobility, strength train, it's just all movement. Keep moving. Move, eat well, move, sleep well, move. Don't sit for too long. Move. You know, we're just saying move a lot because that is the answer. Your spine adapts to the way you use it daily. Discs are living structures that respond to stress, movement, posture, inflammation, and lifestyle. They're not random injuries. They are the result of accumulated stress, poor movement, chronic compression, and years of dysfunction. But the good news is that the body also has an incredible capacity to adapt, heal, and recover. This episode has helped you understand spinal discs differently. Share it with someone dealing with back pain, neck pain, numbness, or sciatica, if that's what they're calling it. And in the next episode, we're diving deeper into disc herniations, sciatica specifically, and why so many people injure their spine sitting at a desk all day. That's the one you're going to be sharing

Key Takeaways And Next Steps

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with a lot of your friends because how many people work at desks for a living? It's just part of our culture. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Remember to stay well, stay healthy, do the basics, and take care.