MRIs are great at spotting cancers and fractures but they are not very good at diagnosing the cause of your pain. However, there are still doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, and other professionals who are adamant that your pain is caused by a lumbar disc herniation or bulge and the way to fix it is to reduce that bulge. So here are some laws of spinal disc based of a positive disc bulge diagnosed via an MRI.
The first one is bending forward, or spinal flexion will actually push the bulge backward. To fix this, you would need to do a backward bend which would actually push the contents of that disc forward back in towards the center of the spine. And two examples of the stretches that would work for this would be a Prone Press-up and a Standing Backbend.
Now the second piece is leaning backward, also known as the extension is actually going to be pushing the bulge forward. To fix this, you would need to add forward bending into the mix to return the contents of that disc towards the middle of the spine. An example would be a simple Toe touch and a Knees to chest stretch with your pelvis being elevated.
Now, if the bulge goes out towards the side due to any sort of reason, in order to reduce that bulge, you will need to lean backward and towards the side of the bulge to bring it back in towards the center.
So if you’re going through physical therapy, chiropractic, or any other program designed to help you out with your herniated disc, take a moment today and ask yourself: Is it truly helping you? If not, what stretches are you doing, and are they going for or against the laws that I just shared with you?
MRIs are really good at spotting cancers and fractures but research has shown that spinal disc herniations aren’t always the cause of pain and focusing on treating that specific tissue is only holding you back on your process. So in a few days, I’m actually going to show you the initial process on how to treat your own back pain if your disc could possibly be involved. But if you can’t wait and you need help right now then book a strategy call with us to talk about a plan to help you by clicking on the link below or emailing me at ashley@hudsonriverfitness.net.
