buldging Disc Personal Injury Cases

     Our injury lawyers handle herniated disc and buldging disc accident cases in Maryland and around the country. One source of confusion of lawyers, patients, and even doctors is the difference between a buldging disc and a herniated disc. Statistically, the difference is not insignificant. As you will see below, the settlement value of herniated disc cases is typically higher than buldging disc cases. This is not necessarily based on good science: some bulging disc injuries are more likely to cause nerve root impingements than herniated discs.

Disc Injury Overview

     Spinal discs are round cushions that lie in between the vertebrae of the spinal column. These discs Herniated Discbasically act like shock absorbers between the vertebrae, cushioning them when we contort our bodies in everyday life. These discs have an external shell and a liquid substance in the middle. The metaphor we often use with juries in personal injury cases is that the discs are like jelly donuts. If a disc is injured as the result of the trauma of an auto accident, the "jelly" may leak out of the disc. If the inner core of the disc extrudes back into the spinal canal it may impact a nerve root. The weak spot in a disc is directly under the nerve root and a herniated disc can put great pressure on the nerve, which can cause pain to radiate throughout the person's body.

     Where the pain radiates to in the body depends on where the disc herniation occurs. When a patient has a symptomatic herniated disc, the pain is not in the disc area; rather, the disc herniation is pinching a nerve in the spine that causes 'radicular' pain. This radicular pain is typically described as a pain that shoots through the body, usually to one area in particular, since each nerve in the spine is connected to a particular area of the body. This pain can be nerve root pain, leg pain if the herniation is in the lumbar (back), or arm pain from a cervical (neck) herniated disc.

     A herniated disc is rarely diagnosed in the emergency room after an auto accident. This is because the disc is invisible on an x-ray. Accordingly, a patient typically needs a CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test so that a physician can pick up a disc herniation. A discography, myelography, or an electromyography are also used to diagnose herniated discs. It is worth noting that the experts agree that these diagnostic tests cannot diagnose the injury victim's pain. There is no clear cut correlation between the degree of the hernination and the patient pain symptoms because there are so many other variables involved.

What is the Difference Between a Buldging Disc and a Herniated Disc?

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    A buldging disc is a disc injury in which the presence of disc material goes beyond the normal margins around at least 50% of the disc's circumference.  In contrast, a herniated disc is defined as displacement of disc material beyond the limits of the disc space that extends less than 50% around the circumfrance of the disc

. If it is a bulge instead of a herniated, it does not sound quite as bad. Obviously, insurance company defense lawyers and their adjusters try to exploit the difference between a herniated disc and and buldging disc. The irony? A buldging disc may impinge nerve roots or the spinal cord more significantly than a herniated disc.

Example MRI Reports and Operative Notes

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