Welcome to NT

Yes, I have bulges and they're something to be reckoned with.

Bulges are soft tissue (not bone) They are located in between your vertebrae. They act as shock absorbers for the verbetrae, when you bend, lift, stretch, jump...

Bulges are like knots on a tire. Herniations are like a jelly doughnut that has a hole in the outside ring and gelatinous material inside the disc is coming out, on a microscopic basis.

Herniations are worse structure-wise. Bulges can be as painful as herniations. Hurting is hurting, right?

In fact, with good body mechanics and care, a bulge can go back in place. I had that happen in between MVA accidents.

Don't know how old you are. Age, history, genetics, smoking, hydration, nutrition, social activities, past injuries come into play here too.

There are small, medium and broad descriptions to be considered.

The neck, on females especially, don't have much protection from repetitive stress injuries or other injurious situations that happen to us. Causation is really not important, I guess. A good plan of treatment and understanding is what you seek.

I've had lots of PT. I do believe it helped. Lots of other stuff too. I have lots of postings on cervical and TOS. WARNING... they're usually long.

Sometimes rest and PT or chiro or other choices will get you back in good anatomical fitness, but it might require some time off work to heal and recover. Better a little time off now than a lot of time out later.

Through my medical journey, I've been given an inherent belief that bulges are not usually a surgical situation. Painful granted, but not surgical. I had epidurals X3 that helped me tremendously, with my cervical issues, and even helped my lower back pain some. There's many options to consider. Just no quick fixes.

Here's a link to get you started:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum22.html

No question or concern is silly here. Ask if you need to know something. We've been there.