Herniated Disc Exercises - Effective Exercises For Fast Relief

Exercises for a bulging disc can be beneficial or harmful, so it’s important that you follow a few simple guidelines for exercising with this problem. This article will discuss some simple exercises that you can do for herniated disc healing, but before we can discuss that, we need to briefly discuss how a spinal disc functions so these recommendations make sense.

The discs of the spine 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 basically resembles a jelly doughnut.

When a person has a herniated 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 really 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 difficult things about healing a herniated disc is the fact that the discs of the spine do not receive a good amount of blood flow. The body normally relies on the blood to transport oxygen and nutrients to an injured area for faster healing.

However, because the discs of the spine do not receive a good blood supply, they can be very stubborn and frustrating to heal efficiently.

This is actually a very important point to discuss when talking about exercises for a herniated disc, because the discs of the spine 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 refresh 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 needs to 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 each day. The goal of this exercises for a herniated disc 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 quickly.

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 forward and your arms to your side.

This exercise should be done for 5 minutes each day, and it’s best that you do it right after the trampoline exercise we just discussed. 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 discuss stretching and strengthening exercises for a herniated disc. Stretching should also be done each 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 reduces the risk that you will re-injure your herniated disc).

Strengthening exercises, on the other hand, should be done just 3 days a week. These exercises are slightly 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 start with the trampoline exercise, then the ball exercise, then stretch, and finally strengthen. This routine will gradually warm up the area around the herniated 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 (exercises for a herniated disc), you can find more information about specific stretches and strengthening exercises, as well as more information about what you can do for relief.

Did you find this article helpful? Here are some other related articles and resources you may also find useful:

• Here is a list of the best resources I've found for Bulging Disc / Herniated Disc relief
• Back Disc Exercises - Basic Guidelines For Lasting Results
• Simple Back Exercises For Disc Problems That Provide Lasting Results
• Simple Exercises For a Back Disc For Lasting Relief
• More Herniated Disc Exercise Resources