So, what can you do to relieve your back disc pain? Well, if the cause of your pain is a protruding back disc, one of the best things you can do for relief is to use ice over the affected disc. Using ice will numb the affected nerve, and reduce the inflammatory process so you will experience relief much more quickly. Never use heat with this problem, because that will aggravate the nerve even more, and dramatically slow the healing process.

When applying ice, place the ice over the affected area and leave it on for 15 minutes, or until you feel numbness - whichever comes first. Then, wait an hour, and repeat the ice treatment again. You have to be consistent, and use the ice treatment multiple times throughout the day for the best results. It normally takes 3 or 4 ice treatments before you will notice any difference, but if you are consistent, most people will see a big difference in their pain level within 3 days.

If the cause of your back disc pain is degenerative disc disease, however, ice is one of the worst things you can do. Degenerative disc disease is a type of arthritis, so if you place ice over the affected area, it will just become more stiff and aggravated. Now, this is a fine line, because using heat over this area can also cause more pain because of the aggravated nerve. So, here's what I normally tell people to do in this case - use ice for one treatment and see how you feel.

It's more likely that your pain is coming from the aggravated nerve, so you want to err on the side of ice being the better treatment option. However, if you notice any more pain or stiffness with the ice treatment, discontinue it immediately and try dry heat (which would be a heating pad). Follow the same rules with heat (15 minutes on, 1 hour off, repeat numerous times throughout the day) for best results.

This creates a "bulge" in the disc wall, which is how the problem gets its most common name - a bulging disc. The bulge in the disc wall will apply pressure to one of the nerves of the spine, which is why this problem can be so painful. There are many more treatments that are very effective for these conditions, and if you would like to learn about all of your options, you can click here (protruding back disc) for the full details.