• the green arrow shows a normal healthy disc.
• the yellow arrows show a deteriorating disc as well as some arthritis.
• the red arrows show the ruptured disc as wel as disc material that has moved into the spinal cavity filling a good bit of vertical axis - this is bad, as the spinal cavity is reserved for our spinal cord! also note how the large chunk of material @ the bottom has significantly cut into my spinal cord!

• the left and right green arrows show nerves branching off my spinal column - these are good things to leave undisturbed, as they carry nerve impulses to my legs.
• the middle green arrow shows my spinal cord, which is also good to leave undistrubed.
• the red arrow shows the herniated disc material as it crowds the nerve bundles.

this image shows extensive crowding of nerves by the disc material - notice how you cant really see the one branch any more? that "missing" one goes into my left leg.

this image shows the actual procedure i underwent to fix this.