Dear Doc,
I am stressed out! I am an active 35 year-old and last week I hurt my back. I feel some tingling going down my right leg. Someone told me I may have “slipped a disk.” My bowling team is scheduled to bowl in a tournament in a month. What is a slipped disk and will I be able to bowl?

Doc,
Trust me; you are not alone in suffering back pain! Approximately 80% of Americans will suffer some form of back pain during their lives. Back pain is the most common reason for a doctor visit after the common cold! Back pain is the leading cause of disability claims in the U.S., and an estimated 3.5 million ER visits per year are for back problems--an average of 9500 visits per day!

When you compete in bowling, it can be stressful but how stressful can it really be? I mean the same ten pins are set up the same way every frame! I know first-hand about stress and back pain, myself!
You see I got married this last weekend and a recent Facebook post of mine read, “Meet girl, check, fall in love, check, propose and plan wedding, check, work out to lose weight, check, develop back pain and herniate disk a week before wedding, not good…How am I going to walk down the aisle? I knew walking down the aisle for the second time would be a little painful but I never knew it would be this painful LOL!”

The spine/backbone (like a good life partner), is a remarkable instrument of support, strength and flexibility. The spine contains 120 muscles, 220 ligaments, and 33 vertebrae. The lower nine vertebrae are fused making up the tailbone. Inside the spinal column are nerves running from the brain along the length of the spinal cord. The upper 24 vertebrae are separated by intervertebral discs that act as shock absorbers when we move, bend or lift heavy loads.

FACT BREAK: Did you know that both humans and long necked giraffes have the same number of neck vertebrae (both have 7)?

A spinal disk is like a jelly donut, with a soft jelly center encased within a tougher fibrous outer wall. A ruptured, herniated, or “slipped” disk occurs when some of the “jelly” leaks out through the outer wall. Sometimes, this slipped disk puts pressure on a spinal nerve and causes significant pain, resulting in the symptoms of a herniated disk.

The most common symptoms are arm or leg pain, numbness, or weakness. Seek medical attention if your neck or back pain travels down your leg or arm, or if you experience any numbness or tingling. Your doctor will do a physical exam and consider ordering a CAT scan or MRI to confirm a disk problem (disk issues will not show up on regular x-rays).

Physical therapy to strengthen your core and back muscles may be prescribed to help stabilize the disk. Pain medication, muscle relaxers, cortisone shots, heat or cold therapy may be prescribed to relieve pain. Maintaining good posture, a healthy weight, exercise and stop smoking (smoking promotes disk degeneration) will prevent future disk problems.

I was able to walk down the aisle and to distract myself from being nervous or thinking about my back pain I tried to think of random facts! 41 percent of marriages end in divorce. 60 percent of second marriages end in divorce. 73 percent of third marriages end in divorce. But my new wife and I are meant for each other, so I dismissed those thoughts and remembered more facts about my herniated disk as I continued walking down the aisle.

Also, 2% of all people will have back pain caused by a slipped disk at some point in their lives and 60% of middle age adults have evidence of disk bulges on MRI scans but are asymptomatic. Slipped disks are twice as common in men and as I reached my spot at the end of the aisle, I smiled, recalling that most symptoms from a slipped disk subside in less than six weeks. I was ready to marry a girl, I love. Rarely is surgery needed to correct a slipped disk. Seek medical attention to treat your back pain and good luck in your bowling tournament.

Stay healthy and remember the quote by Ogden Nash, “To keep your marriage brimming with love...Whenever you’re wrong, admit it; whenever you’re right, shut up!”