Lumbar Disc Injury Management

This post discusses about the lumbar disc management that did NOT go through any surgeries.
If you had surgery, it is recommended to discuss with a professional on which lumbar vertebrae and what type of surgery before starting a disc rehabilitation exercise.

Details and in depth scientific studies about why I’m recommending these are discussed in This Post.

Lumbar Disc Management

Lumbar Mckenzie Extension Exercise

prone, hold 5 seconds when you are up, and repeat. I recommend doing at least 20 of these everyday.

The more you do this exercise the better. You should also note that if there is pain with going up into extension, then you are going up too much so you need to stop just before you feel the pain and go back down.

This exercise is crucial in disc management but we should also note that Mckenzie exercise is not the cure, but maintaining the extension curvature of the lumbar spine is the cure. Mckenzie exercise is only a part of the treatment for disc rehabilitation.

More details on Mckenzie Exercise is written here.

Driving

The most common pattern of discogenic low back pain that occurs after long-distance driving is when the disc, which has been under pressure for an extended period while sitting, suddenly reverts to its original state upon standing up, causing sharp pain. If you have a car seat with lumbar support, it’s advisable to use it. If lumbar support is not available, you can roll up a towel and place it behind your lower back for support. If you still experience discomfort, it’s recommended to maintain a lower back extension stretch for about 20 seconds just before exiting the vehicle.

Walking

Walking is good as the spine pumps blood into the disc. But if you walk too much, the force from the ground coming up to the pelvis may damage the disc more. The guide on walking is introduced here.

Our body experiences 5 times the weight when we walk down the stairs. If going down the stairs, it’s recommended to hold on the the handrail if possible to reduce the shock from ground to the pelvis.

Sitting posture

Similar to driving, make sure you have lumbar support or rolled up towel to maintain the C shape lumbar curvature. You will notice if you bring your shoulders back and squeeze the shoulder blades together, your lower back muscles relax. You need to maintain that position while you are sitting. Also if you are using computer, The desk should be at your elbow level and the monitor should be at your eye level. It may be awkward if the monitor and keyboard is far away but this is how we should be sitting.

When getting out of a car or low chair after long sitting, arch the back for 20 seconds before getting out of the car or standing up.

The pain when you stand up suddenly occurs because the disc was healing while you were sitting, and tears all of a sudden as you move.

Anti-inflammatory medications

When you have discogenic low back pain, the typical approach is to try oral pain relievers first, and if they are not effective, cortisone injections are considered. However, if the back pain is not severe and can be tolerated, it is not recommended to take pain medication. Discogenic low back pain is caused by inflammation in the disc, and inflammation helps create collagen fibers and repair the torn disc. Therefore, some degree of pain accompanies the healing process. However, using anti-inflammatory pain relievers may temporarily reduce pain, but in the long term, it may not be beneficial. Therefore, it is advised to take pain medication only when the pain is severe, and when it is not severe, it is recommended not to take it. More details into cortisone injections are here.

If for medical reasons, you cannot take anti-inflammatory pills, other options are either gel-state(patch or cream) anti-inflammatories or to put ice pack. Ice pack acts the quickest out of all other natural methods that reduce inflammation as anti-inflammatory foods take time until it is digested and absorbed into the blood system.