No one wants to get a herniated disc if it can be avoided. A herniated disc is found between the spinal vertebrae and each person usually has 23 discs. There are degrees of severity of these herniations in physical degree and in degree of symptoms or lack of symptoms. Lack of symptoms is always a good thing. When there is a symptom, what is occurring is the herniation or swelling of the disc is irritating a nerve or nerves resulting in some level of discomfort. I could be more technical but I think that description is adequate. If not let me know. One of the best ways of preventing getting a herniated disc is to have enough raw proteins in your diet. Good sources of raw proteins are raw versus roasted nuts, occasional raw eggs (say in a blender drink) where the taste is hidden, sushi or other raw fish dishes. The Habit restaurant has an excellent ahi tuna sandwich with a lightly seared slice of this tuna. It is low in calories as well. Eating beef and lamb rare or medium rare rather than medium or well done is good. Raw or lightly steamed vegetables may contain some raw protein. We have an excellent supplement called Protefood made of raw proteins and amino acids for $35 for 90 capsules and 1 to 2 a day is a good dose. If you have a herniated disc chiropractic adjustments often totally eliminate or reduce the pain. The reason for this is that fixated joints can irritate the nerves and prevent the spinal bones from taking pressure off the nerves. The resulting inflammation further increases irritation on the nerves. If a herniated disc is large, surgery may be required. The problem with surgery is it often does not get rid of the pain either as it does not reduce inflammation or stuck joints irritating the nerves. It is best to try conservative treatment such as chiropractic adjustments, stretching of muscles in the area and relaxing of existing muscle spasms and special postural positions and anti-inflammatory supplements. All these approaches together may succeed where one approach may not. Often a person’s spine is twisted at the hips causing one leg to be a little longer and this condition stresses the whole spine and can be an underlying joint fixator. This condition should be adequately alleviated as well as the part of the spine where the herniation is. Actually all fixations of the spine should be addressed as any one of them can increase stress on the spinal nerves in other areas. The explanation is you have a musculo-skeletal system and any part of the system can negatively affect another part of the system. If these conservative approaches do not work then more intense address should be considered. Sincerely, Dr. Mike Spearman