Treatment includes:
Bed rest, pain relief and anti-inflammatory medications, and/or cold compresses. Physical activity should be limited to walking, but the patient should avoid sitting for long periods of time. Epidural injection of a cortisone-line drug may alleviate nerve irritation. In certain patients, injections with chymopapain are used to dissolve some of the disk so that it does not compress the spinal cord. Surgery may be necessary if a fragment of the disk lodges in the canal and further compresses the cord. The most common procedure is a laminectomy, which removes a portion of the vertebral bone.