Dom McKay musculoskeletal therapist here to talk to you about disc bulges
and how to recover from them a disc bulge also termed slipped disc or disc
herniation or similar is an injury to one of the fluid-filled sacs that sits
between each and every one of your vertebrae the most common place to
injure a disc is in the lower back now associated with this injury is a
tremendous amount of pain because the muscles around it go into lock down in
this protective type spasm which can also refer pain into the buttocks
now if you've recently injured a disc it's important to understand the
recovery process we'll take a disc bulge in the lower back as an example when
most people see a scan of their spine there's all manner of degeneration that
appears a disc bulge is scary to see but it's important to know that it's not
forever you see the portion of the disc that's protruded from its natural
position will gradually dehydrate and stop compressing any nerves and
therefore stop any sort of irritation in the area this process can take a number
of months but if a proper treatment protocol is put into place then the
symptoms should subside well before the disc has finished healing another crucial
factor in recovery is that whenever there's been a trauma to the lower back
the multifidus muscles which act to stabilize the spine actually just switch
off unless you're doing the right exercises in order to fire these up
again switch them back on other muscles in the area are going to take over their
job they will fatigue and cause pain and stiffness this phenomenon is actually
what's responsible for the ongoing pain following a disc bulge even after the
tissues have healed now if you've recently injured a disc in your lower
back there are four phases to recover
that you need to know about you may be completely debilitated and unable to
break the spasm in your back but this is no indication of the amount of actual
tissue damage that's taken place you might want to see your doctor who's
likely to prescribe relaxant medication but essentially time is your best friend
in this phase and the most important thing to realize is that this is a very
temporary situation and you'll be back on your feet soon this can last one to
two days or in severe cases up to a week
once the spasm is broken and you're able to get up and about again movement
becomes your friend all that stiffness that's been built up from being mostly
immobile for a few days can be gradually worked on through gentle mobility
exercises and simply walking be aware that there are a lot of movements that
absolutely should not be performed during this phase depending on the
direction of the disc bulge in most cases forward bending is massively
contraindicated so listen to your body and speak to your practitioner before
embarking on anything too extravagant this phase usually lasts a couple of
days to a week here's where you begin to challenge the body a bit more through
formal exercises designed to stabilize and mobilize the lower back now the
exercises you'll need will depend on your specific condition but for some
safe and general starter exercises have a look at my lower back video which I'll
link in the description below now the exercises executed in this phase should
be enough to bring you back to a functional state but are generally not
enough to completely rehabilitate you back if rehab is left at this point
you're more likely to injure yourself down the line and also be left with just
ongoing niggles and stiffness
in this phase you learn to properly brace your core and integrate movements
into the entire body the movements that were initially contraindicated such as
forward bending become integrated into your exercise regime and load is
gradually applied to the weak part of the body at this stage your multifidus
muscles will be well and truly switched on and you'll be getting stronger and
more and more confident contact sports can be returned to once your therapist
is happy with your ability to brace and take impact and is no longer worried
about re-injury so if you've been diagnosed with the disc boat there's
hope yet normally complete recovery is just a matter of getting the right
treatment and following the right rehabilitation protocol hit me up via my
website if you're in Melbourne I'm happy to answer questions in the comments
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