Laurens Fitness

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Bulging Disc Treatment

self massage guideIf you are interested in keeping your whole body healthy, and learning how to release your muscles with just a foam roller and a tennis ball you should check out my ebook, The Ultimate Self Massage Guide. It runs through important muscles, and gives you a step by step instruction on how to use both implements. It covers lower back pain extensively, talking about how the glutes, lower back, and hip muscles can have a strong effect on lower back pain… and how to fix it.

Back pain is a condition that many people have had to deal with at some stage in their lives. There are many different causes of back pain, but a common culprit is a bulging disc. It is one of the most frustrating spine injuries to heal and causes a lot of pain and discomfort.

Guys just remember anything I say here is for informational purposes only, back pain is a serious thing and you need to get to someone qualified as soon as you are suffering from it. We don’t want to do more damage and you want to find out exactly what it is before treating it.

There are things that you can do to ease the pain of your bulging disc, which can help you avoid surgery. A bulging disc in the lumbar region, the lower back is most common, and this is what we will be discussing today.

What Is A Bulging Disc?

In our spine there are a lot of small bones known as vertebrae. Each of these vertebrae is separated by a disc. The discs are extremely important to the function of our back, and provide a lot of support. Each disc has many layers of connective tissue wrapped around its outer layer, called the anulus fibrosus. Inside this connective tissue is a substance that can be likened to jelly, which is actually called the nucleus pulposus. It can change shape and move around. When this soft jelly like substance pushes against the outer layer of connective tissue of the disc, and creates a bulge, this is when a bulging disc occurs. If the bulge pushes through and breaks the outer connective tissue, this is known as a herniated disc.

The pain that you feel from a bulging disc occurs because the disc is pressing on the nerves relating to the spinal cord. In regards to a bulging disc, sometimes you may not have any pain for a long time. If it’s not pressing against the nerve, you aren’t going to feel anything.

Symptoms Of A Bulging Disc

As I mentioned earlier, you can have a disc bulge and for a very long time not even know it. As long as it is not compressing a root nerve, you will exhibit no bulging disc symptoms. For those with pain, it is common to feel the symptoms in the lower back region. It could be located in the center, or on either sides of the spine. Remember, that a nerve can cause pain to radiate away from the actual damaged area. This is why you might be feeling pain radiating down the leg, the bum, the thighs, lower leg and even the foot. It is common to feel:

  • Muscle Back Spams
  • Pins and needles
  • Muscle Weakness

These symptoms and pain are usually worse during movements such as lifting, bending forwards and sitting. The common theme here is that the lower back is in flexion. Remember the pictures above, and you can see that the bulge actually occurs at the back of the spine. This means that when you go into flexion, or you bend forward for any reason, you are putting more pressure onto the back of disc, and consequently pushing the bulge even further out. This is why coughing and sneezing can aggravate the pain, because you automatically go into a mini forced flexion, doing exactly what you don’t need to do.

Click here to get your free book detailing 7 steps you can take to cure back pain.

Bulging Disc Causes

Now that you have a grasp on the anatomy, and where the actually bulge occurs and what pain you feel, you will better understand what actually causes a disc bulge. There are three things that commonly cause a disc bulge or a disc herniation.

  • Bending forward
  • Sitting down
  • Lifting

If there is enough force, enough repetition, or the movement goes on long enough, then you are at risk. The fact is that the nature of our lives these days mean that we pretty much are in flexion a lot of the time. Add all these things together, one of those three movements plus force, repetition and time, you have a recipe for disaster. You are putting the disc under a lot of pressure, and there just has to be one wrong movement that will cause the injury.

Bulging Disc Treatment

Basically the aim of bulging disc treatment is to push the disc back into its original shape, and give the connective tissue around it enough time to heal. There is a bulging disc cure out there for you. Most people with this injury can recover quickly and get back completely normal movement. You can get lower back pain relief if you do it the right way.

You can help your cause by not being in flexion too much. Reduce the amount of time that you are sitting down, make sure when you are being down or lifting, you are bending from your knees and not flexing your back. Keep your posture straight at all time, and lie flat on your back when you need too. If you do need to sit down, put a rolled up towel in the small of your back, to ensure better sitting posture and less stress on the back of the disc, as you will be in extension.

In the very initial stages of the injury make sure that you are careful. Anti inflammatory medications can help with the pain and inflammation, posture braces might be necessary in severe cases. You movement will be reduced, but this will only last a couple of days. After that active rehabilitation must take place.

This is an injury where you do need to see your physiotherapist to asses the severity. However you can do this extension exercise at home to help cure your bulging disc back pain. I like to add a little bit of spinal decompression (really important) that you can do yourself before. These are very important bulging disc exercises. Gives the discs breathing room and creates a bit of negative pressure. Lay flat on your back, and get someone to pull your leg gently 10 times each side. You will feel your spine separate a little. Combine that with the light extension exercises, and you will be slowly pushing your bulging disc back into place! Remember to always be aware of your hip flexor, if it is tight it can pull you out of wack, make sure you stretch it and keep it loose. This guy actually does a great job explaining the disc bulge as well, it’s a pity his blog isn’t up anymore.

Please note this comment from a registered physiotherapist, Alex mentioning the difference between types of bulging discs and how these exercises aren’t for everyone.

If someone is a flexion bias then these exercises will aggravate their back, additionally so, if someone has an anterior disc protrusion, these exercises will worsen the disc protrusion. In addition to this, if someone is experiencing severe pain from a central disc protrusion, or has had trauma, an unknown tumour is growing, or from spinal stensois, the cauda equina (end of the spinal cord) can be directly affected causing neurlogical damage to the lumbar plexus if this is not picked up by a health professional in a very short time period, causing long lasting damage to the individual.

Get to your doctor or practitioner if you don’t already have a diagnosis!!

If you are interested in keeping your whole body healthy, and learning how to release your muscles with just a foam roller and a tennis ball you should check out my ebook, The Ultimate Self Massage Guide. It runs through important muscles, and gives you a step by step instruction on how to use both implements. It covers lower back pain extensively, talking about how the glutes, lower back, and hip muscles can have a strong effect on lower back pain… and how to fix it.


Comments

  1. Awesome video. I have recently injured my lower back. I have come to believe that i have a disc bulge in the lumbar region. I have no pain leaning forward or backwards, but i have pain leaning to my left side. I really would like to know an estimated time of recovery to just make sure I have fully recovered before i continue my jump training. Maybe you can give a certain stretch to help me out? if not that’s fine. thanks for your info

    • Apologies for being away from the blog for so long, back in action and not going anywhere. How’s your back now?

  2. Great video for the lumbar spine, but I have bulging discs in my cervical spine.. got anything for that?

  3. Great article and video. the pose is similar to the cobra pose in yoga I found very helpful for may back. I’ve learned that sadly a bulged disk is a normal aging process, just like wrinkles in the skin. To keep it from hurting your back stretches like the ones in the video need to be performed regularly.

  5. I suffer with my back with bulging discs I am on a diet and have started the gym and i am finding this is helping with my back pain. I have also tried acupunture and this really helped that much that I have enrolledc in another course of it.

  6. Really Sweet article about Bulging Disc Treatment. I used to have that problem, but i found out with proper squat technique I could not only improve on my bulging disk but was actually able to help strengthen the muscles responsible for back stability in a functional manner, thereby preventing any further issues. Here is a really good article that helped me with it a lot that you guys can check out http://musclestrong.com/2010/12/08/the-single-most-important-exercise-for-leg-training/

  8. The unfortunate truth however, is that millions of people all over the world suffer from this pain on a regular basis, and right now doctors and scientists do not have a foolproof answer for it. bulging disc disease is so painful, your articles really help me. thanks
    http://bulgingdisc-treatment.org

  11. Thank you, my dr. told me that I had a trapped nerve ( without looking) ! this makes perfect sence as I held my very heavy(2 stone) grandson on my left shoulder for an hour while he slept ! and have had pins & needles in my left hand everytime I bend forward ever since which was 3 months ago. I have just sat up straight as i’m a sloucher and the pins and needles have gone off again.

  12. I am just now being introduced to this web site. I am a RN, that has like many Rns, been diagnosed with l4l5 bulging disk. I have never been so disappoint in the health care system as I am now. I have been turning around and around trying to treaty problem and no end in sight. I glad to see a web site like this!

  14. I have had bulging disc pain for 20 years. I received treatment from a chiropractor for years but it was temporary. Then a physiatrist with botox injections helped and at first it was good for about four months at a time but after four years it only was lasting one month at a time and he said my body was absorbing the botox too rapidly for effectiveness to continue. For the last three years I’ve been getting nerve block injections twice per year but I fear that this also will begin to lose effectiveness. I need to find something more permanent. The doctor providing the nerve blocks says that once I’m in my mid-sixties the bulges will begin to recede.

  16. Terrific article and video. I have a disc bulging in L4-L5 level. I’m on a medication, but unfortunately It’s not ok. My doctor gave me some back and leg exercises. My pain have just reduced, and I want to go gym and pool but I cannot . please help me. Thanks a lot

  17. So I have a bulging disk, think its L1,S4. I also have a list because I try to protect it when I walk. Not a good idea. I have been doing physio, doesn’t seem to help. Have had 2 quaterzone injections which are only temp relief. Constant burning pain down my leg. Not pleasant at all….

  19. Thank you for making sense of my issues…the penny has dropped and now I understand and am able to look forward to solutions!
    Laura I am very grateful. Keep up the fabulous work! 🙂

  20. Happy to help Jane, keep an eye on the site… I have an in depth how to ebook coming out covering self myofascial release with the foam roller and tennis ball. I’m sending all my subscribers at the time of release a discount code so make sure you sign up!

    • I don’t think either is better than the other. A knowledgeable practitioner can come with any name attached, just find one you trust.

  22. Hi Lauren, I personally don’t think it’s a great idea to post information for individuals to treat their own back. Firstly, you need to be a registered treating practitioner to give this advice. I am a qualified Physiotherapist and I wouldnt even give online advice to people in this area (especially the spine), let alone someone with a Bachelor of Science in human movement.

    If someone is a flexion bias then these exercises will aggravate their back, additionally so, if someone has an anterior disc protrusion, these exercises will worsen the disc protrusion. In addition to this, if someone is experiencing severe pain from a central disc protrusion, or has had trauma, an unknown tumour is growing, or from spinal stensois, the cauda equina (end of the spinal cord) can be directly affected causing neurlogical damage to the lumbar plexus if this is not picked up by a health professional in a very short time period, causing long lasting damage to the individual.

    Alex

    • Thanks for your comment Alex. Like all articles on my site this is purely informational. I will revise the information to match the second half of your comment, I appreciate your input.

  23. Helpful information. Fortunate me I discovered your web site by accident, and I’m shocked why this twist of fate didn’t came about earlier!
    I bookmarked it.

  24. Hey,

    I have an annular tear at L4-5 and a disc bulge and another disc bulge at L5-S1.
    I got the spasm under control but I still have some pain.
    The exercise on the video not really working for me. I can only lay on my side.

    Great post though!
    thnx for the share!
    Aki

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