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anyone able to help me???

Posted , 3 users are following.

toni07149
toni07149

long story short i have learning difficulties, so i am really struggling to find out what the diffance is between abutting and protruding. Any one able to explain the diffance between them please as on my MR results it clearly states i have 2 bulging dics protruding on my nervs but someone with no medical back ground has change that to abutting in a report , i dont even no or understand what abutting even means. i have tired to google this myself but i just cant figure out what it even means or what the diffance is between them .

thanks for taking the time to read this any help would be very much appreceated

0 likes, 2 replies

2 Replies

  • Laura3333
    Laura3333 toni07149

    Posted

    Hi Toni,

    Protruding means the disc is bulging out, abutting means tge disc is pressing on something, or touching something. Like a disc could be bulging and pressing on a nerve.

  • Seafarer123
    Seafarer123 toni07149

    Posted

    Hi Toni,

    Honestly I think the use of the word "abutting" rather than "protruding" is more grammatically correct. Something can be protruding but that doesn't say that it touches something or if it doesn't touch something. When you say something is "abutting" it more specifically implies it is touching up against something.

    If I say that "my fingers are protruding from my hand" that doesn't tell you if my fingers are touching anything - it just says that my fingers stick out from my hand. But if I say that my fingers are abutting the wall, it means they are touching up against the wall. You can using the word protruding without meaning that anything is touching, you really can't use the word "abutting" without specifically meaning (and identifying) that one thing is touching another. I can't, for example, meaningfully say a phrase like "my fingers are abutting" without identifying what they are abutting up against - it doesn't make sense. The word "abutting" forces you to identify what two things are touching each other. The word "protruding" does not automatically imply touching the way the word "abutting" does.

    If I had a medical report that said I had a "bulging" or a "protruding" disc that really doesn't help me know too much. Indeed I HAVE gotten MRI reports myself in the past that said I had a small bulge in my disc but it was determined that it was such a small bulge that it wasn't touching anything.

    But if my medical report said that my disc was abutting against a nerve - now THAT is meaningful, because when a disc touches a nerve it often causes irritation, inflammation and pain.

    Personally I think it was great that someone took the time to clarify that your disc bulge does in fact abut against a nerve (assuming that is true), because if you have unidentified pain in your limbs (such as sciatica), the doctor is more likely to know what is causing it if the MRI reports specifically says the bulge is abutting a nerve...

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