“I have had sich a great experience seeing Dr. Bergin. When other offices have told me I just had muscle damage or the only thing they could do for me was give shots, he said he had others ways to manage my pain and numbness, along with improving mobility. And he was right! I feel so much better! With such friendly staff and welcoming office environment, it makes for an amazing experience. I'll definitely continue seeing him!”
Condition
Herniated Disc Treatment
in Lakeland and The Villages, FL
A disc that has bulged or torn does not automatically mean an operation. Most respond to care that unloads the disc and settles the nerve it is pressing on.
- 22 years in practice
- Computer guided decompression
- Non-surgical
- $47 new-patient exam
Medically reviewed by Dr. Justin Bergin, DC Updated September 18, 2026
Quick summary
A herniated disc happens when the soft center of a disc pushes through a tear in its tougher outer ring. It often presses on a nearby nerve. That produces back or neck pain plus pain, numbness or weakness down a limb.
Most cases improve without surgery. Dr. Justin Bergin, DC builds the plan around unloading the disc rather than around an operating table.
Understanding herniated disc
A herniated disc occurs when the soft inner material of a spinal disc pushes through a tear in the tougher outer ring. If that material touches a nerve root it produces pain, numbness or weakness in the limb that root supplies. That is why symptoms are often felt far from the spine.
Each disc is built like a jelly doughnut: a firm fibrous outer ring around a gel like center that spreads load. Age and repeated bending dry that center out and weaken the ring.
Whether a tear hurts depends on where the inner material goes. Backward and to the side is the direction that matters, because that is where a nerve root exits. Material moving somewhere with nothing important nearby can produce nothing at all.
The encouraging part is what follows. Herniated material shrinks over time, inflammation around the root settles, and most people recover without an operation.
Care speeds that up and stops the disc being reloaded meanwhile. The exception is a nerve losing strength rather than merely hurting, which is a different problem on a different timeline.
How it works
The outer ring gives way
The firm fibrous ring around the disc weakens and tears, and the gel like center it holds can move outward through that tear.
The material reaches a nerve root
Material moving backward and to the side lands exactly where a nerve root exits the spine.
The limb reports it
A root under pressure sends pain, numbness or weakness into the limb it supplies. That is why the symptom is felt far from the spine itself.
Does this sound like your last two weeks?
The symptoms usually arrive in order. Something in the back goes, and within a day or two the leg starts complaining.
A line of pain down the back of the thigh, pins and needles in the foot, a patch of numbness on the calf. Sitting becomes the worst thing you do. Coughing hurts. Bending to put shoes on stops being possible.
What if nobody has explained your scan?
That pattern, spinal pain plus symptoms traveling down a limb, is what a disc herniation feels like from the inside. It is what brings most people to ChiroMed Wellness Centers.
Some arrive holding a scan report nobody explained. Others arrive before anything has been imaged.
What happens once the level is identified?
Dr. Justin Bergin, DC has 22 years of examining discs. The first task is confirming which level is involved, and whether the nerve is irritated or actually losing function.
From there the plan is mechanical. Computer guided decompression to take load off the disc. Neuromed electroanalgesia where nerve pain is severe.
Chiropractic care runs through the rest of the spine, and rehabilitation is there for patients who have already had disc surgery.
Independent background: Low back pain, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Symptoms
Most people recognize their own version somewhere in this list. Each one maps to a specific finding the examination checks for.
- Back or neck pain with limb pain
- Numbness in a foot or hand
- Pins and needles down one limb
- Pain that spikes on coughing
- Worse symptoms on sitting
- Weakness in a leg or arm
- Loss of the last bit of bending
- Pain easing when lying down
- Symptoms following one specific line
Common causes
Age related disc drying
The gel center loses water content over the decades, so the disc spreads load less well and its outer ring becomes more prone to tearing. This is the background to most herniations.
Repeated bending and lifting
Loading the spine in flexion over and over fatigues the outer ring. The herniation itself often happens during an ordinary movement after years of that.
A single heavy or awkward load
Lifting something heavy while twisted, or catching a falling weight, can tear the ring in one event. Patients usually remember the exact moment.
Prolonged sitting and driving
Sitting loads a lumbar disc more than standing does, and long driving adds vibration. This is why symptoms are so often worse after a commute or a long journey.
Trauma from a crash or fall
Collision forces can herniate a disc directly, in the neck as often as the lower back. Symptoms may begin days after the event rather than at the time.
Smoking and general conditioning
Smoking reduces blood supply to a structure that has very little, and poor trunk conditioning leaves the disc taking load the muscles should share.
How we treat herniated disc in Lakeland and The Villages
Disc care here is built on unloading the disc and calming the nerve it is irritating, then changing the loads that caused it. That means computer guided spinal decompression and Neuromed electroanalgesia for severe nerve pain. Chiropractic care covers the rest of the spine, and rehabilitation is there for people who have already had surgery.
Spinal Decompression for the Affected Level
This is the centerpiece of disc care here. The table applies controlled, cycling traction to the identified level, creating separation and reducing compressive load on the disc and the root beside it.
Dr. Bergin sets the settings from the examination and watches whether your limb symptoms are retreating toward the spine. That is the sign the plan is working.
Neuromed Electroanalgesia for Severe Nerve Pain
When nerve pain is bad enough to prevent sleep, the mechanical work is hard to tolerate. Electroanalgesia delivers specific electrical waveforms into the tissue to interrupt pain signalling and improve local circulation.
We use the Neuromed system, and it runs alongside the decompression plan. Cash pay protocol.
Chiropractic Care Around the Injured Level
The segments above and below a herniated level stiffen as the body protects the injury, and that stiffness keeps loading the injured disc.
Adjusting restores movement there, with technique chosen to suit an acute disc rather than applied by default. This portion bills insurance, verified first.
Rehabilitation After Disc Surgery
Some discs do get operated on, and a microdiscectomy or fusion addresses the compression without addressing what loaded the disc in the first place.
We work with post-surgical patients on movement, trunk control and mechanics, in step with what the surgeon has advised.
Available at our 2 locations
Treatment at our Lakeland office, and also at:
What recovery usually looks like
Calming the acute disc The opening phase
Load comes off and the provoking movements go. People usually report the sharp catch on movement fading before the limb symptoms do, with sitting tolerance the slowest to return.
Symptoms retreating toward the spine As the plan progresses
The pattern that matters is limb symptoms withdrawing upward, from foot to calf to buttock, rather than fading everywhere at once. That is tracked at each reassessment alongside strength testing.
Reloading the spine safely The later phase
Once the nerve is quiet the disc has to take load again. Lifting mechanics, sitting tolerance and trunk endurance become the work, and visits space out as gains hold.
Maintenance and the non-responder After the active plan
For a spine with a herniation history, a few planned reviews are reasonable and always a choice. If symptoms have not moved by the checkpoint, or strength drops at any point, the plan stops and a referral is made.
When to seek care sooner
What to try at home comes first. For a disc a few days old with no weakness and no warning signs, protect it and keep moving.
Avoid bending forward under load and avoid long periods sitting. Get out of a chair every fifteen or twenty minutes, since sitting loads a lumbar disc more than standing or walking.
Short, frequent walks on flat ground are the single most useful thing you can do. Find the position or movement that pulls symptoms out of the limb and back toward the spine, then repeat it often.
Lie down when you need relief rather than staying in a chair. Do not stretch into the limb pain, and do not keep testing whether it still hurts.
If symptoms are steady or improving across two weeks of that, an examination will confirm what to do next. If they are spreading further down the limb, get examined now.
Some disc symptoms need a hospital the same day. Go for emergency care if your bladder or bowel control changes, if you go numb between your legs, or if both legs feel weak. A foot that drops and catches as you walk counts too.
See a physician promptly, rather than us, if the episode comes with a fever or with weight loss you cannot explain. Same if you have had cancer, or if it started with a crash or a bad fall.
Cost, insurance and financing
The cost of disc care follows the level involved, the severity of the nerve symptoms and how long they have been present. Your plan is set out in writing at the report of findings before any of it is booked.
The one published price
Consultation, Exam, X-Rays (If Needed) & Report of Findings: Only $47
What affects the cost
- Which level is involved and how many roots are affected
- Whether the plan needs a full decompression course
- Whether nerve pain warrants an electroanalgesia protocol
- Whether imaging is needed to confirm the level
- Whether you are being treated after previous disc surgery
What a course includes
- The consultation, examination and neurological testing
- Digital X-rays where they change the plan
- The written report of findings and reassessment at agreed points
Payment:
Chiropractic care bills insurance, with your benefits verified before your first visit.
Spinal decompression and the Neuromed electroanalgesia protocol are self-pay programs, priced in writing before they begin. Payment plans are available for self-pay care. Ask the front desk which plan fits your course of care.
Who you would be seeing
Why is decompression at the center of this practice?
Discs are the reason Dr. Justin Bergin, DC put decompression at the center of this practice. Twenty two years in, his position is plain.
Most herniations recover without surgery and a minority genuinely need it. The examination exists to work out which you are before anyone sells you a course of care.
Who performs the examination?
He does the examination himself, explains your imaging if you have some, and screens strength at every visit.
Dr. Justin Bergin, DC, 22 years in practice, performs the examination personally and explains the findings before any program starts. Lakeland: 6595 Florida Ave S, Suite 13, Lakeland. The Villages market office: 929 US-441 #404, Lady Lake. Both offices run the same program.
Getting to us
How far is the Lakeland office?
The Lakeland office at 6595 Florida Ave S, Suite 13 is on South Florida Avenue near the Polk Parkway. It is a straightforward drive from Highland City, Grasslands, Christina, Cleveland Heights and the Harden Blvd corridor.
Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center is about fifteen minutes away, which suits patients arriving with imaging already done. Polk County discs frequently belong to people who lift, drive or sit for a living.
What does the Lady Lake office cover?
The Lady Lake office at 929 US-441 #404 sits just north of CR 466. It serves The Villages, Summerfield, Wildwood, Oxford, Fruitland Park and Leesburg across Sumter, Lake and Marion counties.
Discs there are more often worn than injured. The priority is getting back to walking, golf and a car journey you do not have to break into stages.
Browse every condition on the conditions we treat index.
From the ChiroMed Journal
Longer reading on this subject, written by the practice rather than bought in.
- When Nerve Symptoms Mean Your Disc Needs Space, Not Rest
Tingling or pain down a limb behaves differently from ordinary back pain. Here is how to tell whether disc pressure is driving it and what decompression does.
Herniated Disc in recent research
These sources are independent of this practice and none of them endorses it. They are listed so the reasoning behind the care can be checked rather than taken on trust.
- Prediction and Mechanisms of Spontaneous Resorption in Lumbar Disc Herniation: Narrative Review
Sets out how often herniated disc material shrinks on its own and what predicts it, which is why time and load management come before surgery.
- Herniated Disk
A patient-level explanation of what a herniated disc is, how it is diagnosed and which symptoms mean the problem is no longer mechanical.
Options compared, honestly
This is treated very differently depending on who you walk in to see. Here is the full set, including the options this practice does not provide.
| Option | What it is | Typically considered when | Invasive? | Offered at ChiroMed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spinal decompression Our approach | Computer guided cycling traction that separates the affected level and unloads the disc | A herniation is identified, limb symptoms dominate, and strength is intact | No | Yes. Self-pay, priced in writing before it starts |
| Chiropractic care | Restoring movement at the segments around the injured level | Segments around the level have stiffened and reload the disc | No | Yes. Billed to insurance |
| Neuromed electroanalgesia | Electrical waveforms delivered into tissue to interrupt pain signalling | Nerve pain prevents sleep while the mechanical work proceeds | No | Yes. Cash pay protocol |
| Prescription nerve or pain medication | Medication aimed at the pain signal rather than the herniation | Pain is severe short term and a physician judges it appropriate | No | Not performed here. We do not prescribe, and medication does not unload the disc |
| Epidural or nerve root injection | An image guided steroid injection near the irritated nerve root | Severe root pain has not responded to real non-surgical care | Minimally | Not performed here. Reasonable when an inflamed root needs settling first |
| Microdiscectomy or fusion | Surgery to remove herniated material or stabilize the segment | Strength is being lost, or non-surgical care has failed | Yes | Not performed here. Progressive weakness belongs with a surgeon and we refer immediately |
Surgery is on this table too. Most herniated discs do not need it. The ones that do should get there quickly, rather than after a year of care that was never going to be enough.
What to expect
From evaluation to a plan for your herniated disc
A course, not a single visit. The examination decides the length and the cost, and both are written down first.
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01Evaluation
Orthopedic and neurological testing, with imaging on site where it changes the plan.
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02Findings, in plain language
What the examination actually found, and honestly whether this is a case conservative care can help at all.
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03A written program
Which disciplines, how many visits, over what period, and what it costs. Decided before anything begins.
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04Reassessment as it runs
Function is re-measured through the course. If the response says the plan should change, it changes.
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Find out what is actually driving it before choosing a program.
“Dr. Bergin was instrumental in relieving my back pain which I had for many years. The techniques he used on relieving my back pain were impressive. I been going to chiropractors for years and Dr. Bergin is the best. Thank You Dr. Bergin :)”
“Took a good amount of time going over my preliminary results and going over potential care plan. Great adjustment and doesn’t sugarcoat when discussing. Would recommend”
“The environment is incredible at this office with the staff and also both doctors are extremely friendly and great at what they do”
“Amazing, Super friendly and talented Staff and Doctors! My back was a hot mess after a semi hit my car on my first day moving to Florida. But after going through the treatment program I was able to get my neck, my back and my life in alignment. It was a total transformation. Thank You New City Chiropractic!”
“Hands down the best chiropractic office out there! They are super friendly and make me feel comfortable to tell then what’s wrong. They always ensure the best treatment for their patients!”
“I absolutely love this place , it is like going to visit family. They are always so pleasant , happy , and professional. I always enjoy seeing the ladies , they always put a smile on my face and even if I am having a bad day. The doctors are always so friendly and concerned with my well being. I actually look forward to going there and miss them on the days that I don't go.”
“I only wish it was closer. You are welcome it's definitely a compliment and I have read the great comments people made about the facility and staff! Amen Open one in Auburndale please!!”
“HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend coming here if you have any pains in your back or neck!! These guys are AMAZING at what they do!! Just a few months into coming here, I feel a change in the way I walk, the way my head sits on my shoulders, and I just feel GREAT; ALL THE TIME!! Crazy what some little adjustments did for me!!”
“This is an awesome chiropractic!! They are all nice and kind! Ever Since I have been adjusting my back, I don't need to take medicine before I go to bed. Also, I have been sleeping without waking up in the middle of the night because of the pain!! I really recommend the chiropractic 😊”
“Dr. Bergin at Chiromed Wellness Centers is the best chiropractor in town. I no longer have to take pain meds. If you still have pain, you’re not seeing to best chiropractor.”
“Love this place!! Cynthia and Angie are amazing! So nice and helpful!! The chiropractor’s are also amazing!! Just a great place overall! I highly recommended it!!”
“Look them up I waited so long to see a chiropractor and I found this place and am so happy that I did . Love the Drs they are so helpful and make feel like family.”
“The staff is super friendly and they walked me through the whole process. I’ve been going for a few weeks now and I’m already feeling results! The treatment the offer is very hands on and informative. I’ve never had manual adjustments until coming to this office and the staff makes you feel comfortable and takes care of your needs. Highly recommend !”
“The best Chiropractic center in South lakeland! love it here the Doctors are very urged to help with any of your needs, the beautiful assistants are nice and helpful they really make you feel welcomed. Most highly recommended Chiropractic Center. :)”
“Muy profesional la atención es formidable todos los empleados son muy amigables.Y muy efectiva sus terapias..Los recomiendo 100x100%”
“My pain has decreased dramatically, I’m no longer stretching and moving my neck in every angle trying to find relief. Every part of my body I can feel is finally getting closer to symmetry! All I can say is you should give new city a try!”
“I love this place!! They're very caring for their patients and strive to help you feel better. I strongly recommend giving them a try. I promise you won't regret it”
“The staff is very knowledgeable and organized, they get to know you and are flexible about fitting your treatment in to your life. They use proven methods to treat the root of your issues and the results are incredible. I was in a lot of pain after a car crash and within a few weeks I was able to go back to my normal routine with no discomfort.”
“I have seen and feel the change in my body since I started, I use to have major pain in my knees and neck ache. I'm an athlete and constantly need more adjustments, and every time I come I always without a doubt feel welcomed and important.”
Get in touch
Schedule your herniated disc evaluation
Tell us what you are feeling and which office is closer. The front desk answers during office hours; leave a message after hours and they call back the next open day.
- 1
Send the form
Two minutes. Tell us what hurts and which office is closer.
- 2
We call you back
A real person, during office hours, to find a time that works.
- 3
Exam and answers
History, orthopedic and neurological testing, imaging on site when it changes the plan.
- $47 consultation, exam, X-rays if needed and report of findings
- Payment plans available on the self-pay programs
- 4.8 out of 5 from 225 Google reviews
- Choose Lakeland or The Villages on the form
Herniated Disc questions
Tap a message for the honest answer. Call Lakeland (863) 940-3444
How much should spinal decompression cost?
Published figures vary so widely between clinics and regions that none of them tells you what your course will cost. What we can tell you is the process.
The consultation, exam, X-rays if needed and report of findings is $47. If decompression suits you, the full course is quoted in writing before anything is scheduled.
Will insurance pay for spinal decompression?
Coverage varies by carrier, and some services may only qualify as cash-pay. We run non-surgical spinal decompression as a self-pay program and tell you that at the outset rather than billing hopefully.
The chiropractic care delivered alongside it does bill insurance, with your benefits verified before your first visit.
Can I decompress my spine permanently?
No, and any provider promising that is overselling. Decompression unloads a disc while you are on the table and gives inflamed tissue a chance to settle; it does not permanently change the anatomy.
What makes the result last is changing how the spine is loaded the rest of the time. The home program is not optional.
What are the downsides of spinal decompression therapy?
It is a time commitment over multiple visits, it is typically self-pay, and it does not suit every spine.
It is inappropriate with certain fractures, with severe osteoporosis, after some instrumented spinal surgery, with abdominal aortic aneurysm, or in pregnancy. Dr. Bergin screens for all of that first, and some patients are told they are not candidates.
Can a herniated disc heal without surgery?
Most do. Herniated material tends to shrink over time and inflammation around the nerve root settles, which is why the majority recover without an operation.
Care makes that faster and more comfortable and stops the disc being reloaded meanwhile. The exception is a nerve losing strength, which follows a surgical timeline.
How do I know if it is a disc or just a muscle strain?
The clearest separator is what happens below the knee or elbow. A muscle strain is local, sore to touch, and does not send numbness or pins and needles down a limb.
A disc pressing on a nerve root gives symptoms following a specific line, usually worse on sitting and spiking when you cough. The examination confirms it by testing the nerve.
Same-week appointments
Start with an examination, not a package.
Find out what is actually driving it before choosing a program.
- 4.8 out of 5 on Google
Consultation, Exam, X-Rays (If Needed) & Report of Findings: Only $47