Posts Tagged ‘Back Exercises’
ClickHere
back exercises for disc problems are an essential part of any healing program. However, an individual suffering with a bulging disc needs to proceed with caution when it comes to exercises, because there is a good chance that you could aggravate your symptoms if you don’t follow some simple rules.
This article will discuss some specific exercises for a herniated disc, as well as some simple recommendations and rules you will need to follow for the best results. Before we can cover this information, we need to briefly talk about how the spinal discs work so the exercises we discuss will make sense.
The spinal discs are shock absorbers that separate each set of bones in the spine. They are made up of a strong outer covering called the annulus, and a soft jelly center called the nucleus.
The nucleus is very important for our discussion about back exercises for a back disc, because this is where the spinal discs store oxygen and nutrients for efficient healing.
If you’ve been living with this health problem for any period of time, you’ve probably heard your physician tell you that a bulging disc is a very difficult condition to heal, and tends to be quite stubborn. This is because the spinal discs do not have a very good blood supply going to them.
The body normally depends on blood for transporting oxygen and nutrients to an injured area for faster healing, so without normal blood flow, the injured disc has to find another way to bring oxygen and nutrients for healing. One of the exercises we’ll discuss will help with this, but for now, just realize that the nucleus of the disc is going to be very important for this.
A bulging disc develops when the strong outer covering tears, and the jelly begins to move into the weak area of the disc. This creates a bulge, which will tend to apply pressure to the spinal nerves.
This is actually why a bulging disc can be such a painful condition – the nerves of the spine control everything in the body, and they are very sensitive to any type of pressure. This is also why the symptoms of a disc condition are not usually limited to the spine – the pain and dysfunction will tend to radiate because of the nerves involved.
Now, there’s one more concept I would like to discuss before we talk more specifically about back exercises for a back disc. There is one movement in particular that will make a bulging disc worse, so this motion needs to be avoided at all costs when learning and utilizing exercises for a herniated disc.
The movement I’m referring to is flexion and twisting at the same time. For example – if your bulging disc is in your low back, you would never want to bend forward at the waist and twist at the same time. The same is true for the neck – you would never want to flex your head forward and rotate your head to the side at the same time.
This position is where the discs are weakest, so you need to avoid it at all costs. What does this have to do with your exercise routine? Well, there are certain exercises that place your spine in this position – especially certain abdominal exercises.
A common exercise to work the abdominal muscles on the sides is to do a sit up while twisting at the waist. Sure, this exercise will target those muscles, but you are placing a lot of stress on the discs of the lower back at the same time. So, if you are living with a bulging disc, this type of exercise needs to be eliminated from your routine.
It’s important that you review your current exercise routine and look for any exercises that place your spine in this position. Avoiding them will go a long way in helping your disc heal.
Let’s talk more specifically now about exercises for a back disc. I’ll be teaching you a simple routine that will help you, no matter where your injured disc is located (in other words, you can use these exercises whether the condition is in your neck, middle back, or low back).
Before you perform any type of exercise, you need to start with a warm up. There are two simple exercises you can do that will not only help you warm up, but are also incredibly helpful for a bulging disc.
The first exercise I would encourage you to do is to march in place on a mini-trampoline. A mini-trampoline is just a small trampoline (usually 3 – 4 feet wide), and can be found at a sports store (such as Sportmart).
I want to be very clear that I do not recommend that you jump on the trampoline – all you want to do is stand in the center of the trampoline, keep your head looking straight ahead and your arms at your side, and simply march in place for 5 minutes each day.
This exercise forces your body to balance, which strengthens and warms up the small muscles around the spine. These muscles are very important for providing support to an injured disc, which is why it will help with your condition.
After you perform this exercise, I would encourage you to do a simple exercise using a therapy ball. A therapy ball is one of those large balls you see in health clubs or physical therapy clinics. Simply sit on the ball, keep your head looking straight ahead and your arms to your side, and gently bounce up and down for 5 minutes each day. I want to stress that the bouncing should be done gently – do not get crazy with this, or you could aggravate your condition.
This exercise pumps every disc in your spine, which transports new oxygen and nutrients into the disc for faster healing. This is the exercise I was referring to earlier when we were talking about how significant the jelly in the center of the disc is.
Finally, let’s discuss stretching and strengthening exercises. Stretches should be performed every day, while strengthening exercises should only be performed 3 days per week. These should always be done after you have done the first 2 exercises we just covered.
This article is too brief to give you specific stretches and exercises for a herniated disc, but you can get more details, as well as specific stretches and exercises by clicking here (back exercises for disc problems).
exercises for bulging discs can be helpful or harmful, so it’s important that you follow a few basic guidelines for exercising with this problem. This article will discuss some simple exercises that you can do for bulging disc healing, but before we can talk about that, we need to briefly talk about how a spinal disc functions so these recommendations make sense.
The spinal discs are cushions that separate each set of bones in the back. Their primary purpose is to act as shock-absorbers, which prevents the bones from absorbing this shock and helps you avoid quite a bit of pain.
Each disc is composed of two parts – a strong outer covering called the annulus, and a soft jelly center called the nucleus. This structure essentially resembles a jelly doughnut.
When an individual has a bulging disc, the strong outer covering of the disc tears and the jelly begins to shift out of the center into the area where the disc is injured. This creates a bulge in the disc, which applies pressure to the nerves of the spine.
This is actually why this problem is so painful and debilitating – the nerves of the spine control everything in the body, so when they have pressure applied to them, not only is it painful, but whatever they control in the body will begin to malfunction.
One of the most frustrating things about healing a bulging disc is the fact that the spinal discs do not receive a good amount of blood flow. The body normally relies on the blood to supply oxygen and nutrients to an injured area for faster healing.
However, because the spinal discs do not receive a good blood supply, they can be very stubborn and frustrating to heal properly.
This is actually a very important point to bring up when talking about back exercises for disc problems, because the spinal discs receive their oxygen and nutrients in a very different way. Remember how we were talking about the fact that each spinal disc has a jelly center?
Well, this jelly center is very important, because the disc will actually store oxygen and nutrients in this jelly for proper healing. So, one of the exercises we’ll be covering will be helping to replenish this oxygen and nutrient supply so you can experience faster healing.
Alright – now that we have that background, it’s time to talk about some specific back exercises for a back disc you can do. I’m actually going to give you a routine that you can do, which I use in my clinic for the fastest and best results.
The first exercise I will recommend will require the use of a mini-trampoline, which is a small trampoline that’s about 4 feet wide. They’re very inexpensive, and you can find one at most sports stores.
However, you will not be using the trampoline in the way you might imagine – in other words, you will not be jumping on the trampoline. Basically, I’m going to recommend that you simply stand in the center of the trampoline and march in place. This should be a very controlled movement, and you need to make sure you keep your head looking straight ahead and your arms at your side when you are marching.
This exercise should be done for 5 minutes every day. The goal of this back exercises for disc problems is to improve your balance, which strengthens the smallest muscles that surround the spine. When you strengthen these muscles, it not only balances the spine, but it removes pressure from the discs, allowing them to heal more efficiently.
The next exercise I’ll recommend involves the use of a therapy ball, which is one of those large balls you see in health clubs or physical therapy clinics. Basically, you just need to sit on the ball, and gently bounce up and down, keeping your head looking straight ahead and your arms to your side.
This exercise should be done for 5 minutes every day, and it’s best that you do it immediately following the trampoline exercise we just mentioned. This exercise is actually the most important one I’ll be covering today, because this is the one that’s going to help bring new oxygen and nutrients to the injured disc for faster healing.
Basically, when you bounce on the ball, you are pumping every disc in the spine. This pumping action (called imbibition) is actually pumping new oxygen and nutrients into the disc, and pumping toxins from the injury out of the disc.
Finally, we need to talk about stretching and strengthening back exercises for disc problems. Stretching should also be done every day, but I recommend that you do your stretches immediately following you do the trampoline and ball exercise. These exercises combined will act as an excellent warm-up and prepare your muscles for your daily activity (which lowers the risk that you will re-injure your bulging disc).
Strengthening exercises, on the other hand, need to be done just 3 days per week. These exercises are a little more aggressive, so I don’t recommend you begin these until you’ve been doing the stretches for two weeks. The stretches will prepare you for the strengthening exercises, and you should always stretch before strengthening.
In other words, I would recommend that you do the trampoline exercise, then the ball exercise, then stretch, and finally strengthen. This routine will gradually warm up the area around the bulging disc, which ensures the fastest result.
There isn’t enough room in this article to provide you with specific stretching and strengthening exercises, but if you click here (herniated disc exercises), you can find more information about specific stretches and strengthening exercises, as well as additional information about what you can do for relief.