When it comes to herniated discs, most people’s first reaction is to see an orthopedic surgeon! In fact, if you really want to solve the problem properly, you must not only see orthopedics. Different specialties, solve the problem differently, herniated disc, can go to orthopedics, rehabilitation, pain department. In fact, the problem solved by each discipline is different, for example: orthopedics, to confirm the diagnosis, surgery to treat particularly serious disc herniation; rehabilitation mainly to solve the soft tissue, to orthopedic surgery after the functional rehabilitation of the main; pain is serious, repeated cases, you can go to the pain department for treatment. The occurrence of herniated discs is age-related, and there is a trend of gradually increasing incidence. In the past, the predominance of herniated discs in the middle-aged and elderly people, but now because of changes in the mode of labor, the trend of herniated discs is younger, and we will encounter patients with herniated discs at the age of 20. Among them, long hours of work on the computer ambulatory urban white-collar workers, such as IT workers, doctors, journalists, drivers, etc., is a good incidence of disc protrusion crowd. At present, because of the popularity of cell phones and tablet computers, often head down with cell phones and iPads “low-headed people”, also prone to the same problem. Currently, there are two major types of herniated discs: cervical disc herniation and lumbar disc herniation. Some information shows that lumbar disc problems account for 60%, cervical disc problems are close to 40%, and thoracic disc problems are less than 1%. Do you have symptoms of herniation? Patients with herniated discs can initially experience neck discomfort and lumbar discomfort, which gradually progresses to the shoulders and hands for the neck, and to the thighs and feet for the lower extremities. Once there is a progression to the shoulders and hands, and the lower extremities to the thighs, calves and even feet, it means that the condition has progressed and there is definitely a problem with the disc. If there is only stiffness and inflexibility in the neck, it is not necessarily a problem of the disc, but may be a problem of the soft tissues surrounding the disc, such as ligament and myofascial strain; if there is numbness in the hands, it means that the possibility of disc herniation is greater and should be taken seriously. Don’t worry, the so-called “black disc phenomenon” does not mean that the patient’s discs are black, but rather that the MRI image has a reduced brightness due to the reduced water content of the discs. The color between two vertebral bodies can be seen on an MRI photograph. There are five intervertebral discs in the lumbar spine, and three are relatively translucent; if more than two become dark, it is called the black disc phenomenon. If there is a black disc, the same will cause symptoms. The doctor will determine which disc is the problem and give the appropriate treatment based on the disc degeneration, combined with the symptoms!