One of the most frequent causes of spine diseases manifesting in shooting pains from the spine into the upper or lower extremity is the suppression of nerve roots due to bulging of the intervertebral disc – herniated disc.
A neurological examination is necessary for the diagnosis of this disease. 
After the diagnosis has been established, so-called conservative treatment begins (rest and relaxation in bed, medicament treatment focused on pain relieve and relaxation if increase tension in the back muscles, rehabilitation treatment.) With insufficient effect of this treatment, it is necessary to perform additional RTG examination (regular picture of the spine, CT or MR examination). Electromyographic and evocative potential examinations are among the less obligatory examinations, which can confirm damage of the nerve root.
With non-successful conservative treatment performed for at least 6 weeks and correlation of the results of the RTG and EMG-EP examinations with the clinical find, presently several types of surgery are recommended (classical open surgery, mini-invasive surgery). If the conservative treatment fails or is unsuccessful, the patients undergo surgery at the department of neurosurgery in Žilina. By using all of the state-of-the-art diagnostic treatment methods, almost all of the patients are cured without the need for surgery. Majority of the patients is treated in the clinic, number of hospitalized patients with spine diseases dropped in the past 2 years from 35% to 8% of all the hospitalized patients.
