In this video I’m going to show at-home spinal decompression stretches that can give
instant relief for bulging discs and pinched nerves in the lower back.
Hi everyone, Dr. Rowe here at SpineCare in St. Joseph, MI.
When it comes to the lumbar discs, those shock-absorbers in the lower back, it’s all about pressure.
The discs are built to withstand a lot of compression, or up and down forces, throughout
the day.
However, just like a shock absorber on a car, it can be overwhelmed through hard impacts
(think a hard fall, accident, and a sports injury) or just gradually start to break down
through repetitive wear and tear.
Once the discs become damaged, they tend to bulge or herniate since they cannot contain
normal compressive forces.
The result of this is an out-pouching, disc herniation that will then make contact with
a nearby spinal nerve.
This is the classic cause of a pinched nerve.
So to unpinch the nerve, we need to reduce the pressure in the disc, or simply…
decompress the disc.
You can imagine if there’s a lot of downward force being put on the disc causing compression,
it’s going to pancake the disc and bulge it out.
If we do the opposite by pulling on it, it’s going to relieve the pressure within the disc
and cause bulging material to come back in, taking the bulge off that nerve.
We're going to do that through pulling, or traction based stretches.
How these stretches work are by using your own bodyweight and gravity
to aid in getting the traction needed in the lower back.
You take the bulge off the nerve, it will start to heal and you’ll feel a lot less pain.
The main thing we’re going to look for while doing these stretches is less frequent and
intense symptoms, but most importantly, what is called centralization.
Centralization is a fancy way of saying when you put pressure on a nerve, it will cause
it to travel (such as sciatica pain into the leg).
When you take that pressure off the nerve, the pain starts to move back up to the starting
point, which would be in the low back.
Nerve pain heals by slowly moving back towards the starting point.
So if you’re feeling less pain and the pain isn’t traveling as far, these stretches
are working for you!
So let's get started and get feeling better right now!
For the first stretch, you need to find two even surfaces.
In this case, I found two cabinets of level height.
You can substitute this by using chairs.
Just put two sturdy chairs on the sides right here
that you're able to grab on to.
With this stretch, it's pretty straightforward.
Grab on to the two ends, and stand up on your toes (right on your tippy-toes).
Then drop your weight and support yourself with your arms.
Just let the weight drop as much as you can.
You don't want to engage the core muscles or the low back.
You want everything to relax, that way the pressure is being taken straight down.
Again, tippy-toes and let the weight drop.
What this is doing is letting gravity pull on the back, releasing that pressure within the disc.
At that point, un-pinching the nerve.
What I like to do with this is hold it for as long as you can.
15 to 30 seconds is a really good starting point.
If you feel like you can't support yourself, build into it with your comfort level
and do it as much as you can.
You want to do this a couple times throughout the day,
to help decompress the back itself.
Another variation of this stretch would be to sit in a sturdy chair
with two arms.
Then go right to the edge of the chair,
put your feet out
and then simply lift yourself up while putting the bottom weight on your heels.
With this one (again), just let everything relax in the core and the low back.
Just let gravity take the weight down to help open up the joint spaces
in the back, relieving pressure off the spinal discs.
Again, what I'm doing is lifting myself up (like this), putting the weight on my heels
and relaxing everything and letting gravity take it.
Hold this for 15 to 30 seconds, if you're able to.
Relax for a little bit in-between
and do it upwards of 3 to 5 times.
You can do this stretch throughout the day, as long as you're seeing relief with it.
So this next stretch is very straightforward.
You just need a level surface such as a mattress, couch, or counter top.
Anything that's going to be close to hip level.
You're also going to want a pillow for comfort.
To start with, put the pillow at the edge and lie on it with our upper body weight.
Let the lower body weight be taken down with gravity.
Use your toes to stabilize yourself, and let everything relax.
Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds,
if you feel like you're able to hold it for longer, you're more than welcome to
especially if you're feeling relief.
With this one, do it about 3 to 5 times with a little bit of a break in-between.
You can do these stretches throughout the day as long as you feel relief.
If your pain is still lingering or getting worse, more sophisticated traction is going
to be needed to get relief.
Look into Spinal Decompression Therapy, which is one of the best, conservative options available
that can help treat herniated discs and pinched nerves.
I use Spinal Decompression Therapy in my office, and have gotten great results with it, and
have helped a lot of people get long-lasting relief without the use of drugs, injections,
and surgery.
So I hope these stretches helped you out and you’re already getting some relief.
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