• Physical Labor: Jobs involving repetitive motions like lifting, pushing, pulling, twisting, and bending can heighten the likelihood of disc herniation due to the strain placed on the spine.
• Sedentary Lifestyle: Inactivity can lead to weakened muscles that support the spine, leaving it more susceptible to injury and conditions like disc herniation.
• Smoking: Smoking limits blood flow to the discs in the spine, depriving them of necessary nutrients, which speeds up degeneration and raises the risk of herniation.
• Age: As people get older, the spinal discs lose their flexibility, making them more susceptible to tears or ruptures from even minimal strain or movement.

• Stage 1: Degeneration – The spinal disc gradually weakens and loses moisture over time, though its structure stays intact.
• Stage 2: Prolapse – The inner disc material, or the nucleus, begins to push outward against the annulus, causing the disc to bulge and potentially compress nearby nerves, resulting in symptoms.
• Stage 3: Extrusion – The nucleus begins to protrude through a tear in the outer layer of the disc, referred to as the annulus.
• Stage 4: Sequestration – The disc ruptures and the nucleus is released from the disc center, often causing nerve irritation, inflammation, and significant pain.

Yes, therapeutic exercises, including repeated cervical retraction, extension, and lateral flexion movements focused on the affected area, can lead to significant improvements in the space within the intervertebral foramina in patients with disc herniation, providing relief from symptoms.

• With a cervical herniated disc it’s best to avoid prolonged sitting, laundry, strenuous exercise, gardening, shoveling snow and similar tasks. Sitting adds extra stress on spinal discs, so standing, moving, or lying down can help reduce pain. Laundry often includes bending or lifting heavy loads, which strain the lower back.
• Aerobic exercises like walking, swimming, and light stretching are recommended, but avoid high-impact activities or movements that add stress to the spine, such as running, leg presses, and sit-ups. Studies prove patient-reported outcomes of pain decrease with therapeutic exercise.

The most common surgery to fix a cervical herniated disc is an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). This procedure involves removing the disc which relieves pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots.