OPTIONS FOR TREATING A HERNIATED DISC

What Is The Fastest Way To Heal A Herniated Disc?

5 Tips to Relieve a Lumbar Herniated Disc

A lumbar herniated disk (rapture in the neck) causes sharp and burning pain that starts from the lower back to the bottoms until it gets to the legs. Many people result to taking a pain relief medicine to help them fight this tear in the neck. However, the way people react to pain relief differs. It is only by trying different relief methods that you know which one benefits you the most. In this work, we shall look at five tips that will help ease your pain and make you feel better.

1. Heated Pad Therapy to Ease Pain
Applying any heated or cold object to the neck can help relieve strain in the muscle, which always occurs when someone has a lumbar ruptured disc. It is because heat is good therapy for loosening the tightness in the muscles that causes shock. Applying hot temperature is also a good way to improve blood flow in the body, and it makes the tissues that connect to the muscles flexible.

On the other hand, cold temperature works to reduce the pressure on the muscle. Thereby working as an anti-inflammatory treatment. Some ways to hot and cold therapy include:

Place a heated or cold pack to your lower back before stretching or exercising. It will help reduce tension in the muscle.
Use the towel to wrap the cold or heated pad to avoid getting injured.

Apart from this hot or cold therapy, you can also take a warm bath at the end of every day. It will help to relieve pain. So, try both options and see which one best suits you.

2. Staying Active
Did you know that when you engage in moderate recreational activities like walking, it releases endorphins that will provide relief for your pain? While it may sound too good to be true, staying active every day relieves your pain if you have a lumbar herniated disc. It is because when exercising, the body releases what we call endorphins, which will help improve your mood and reduce backache. If you have a herniated disc at your lower back, try these low-impact exercises:

Walking on a treadmill or the streets
Using a training simulator
Bicycle cycling

If you feel more severe pain, try going for a liquid-based exercise like hydrotherapy or swimming. Health care providers often recommend a liquid-based program because the force of the water, works against gravity and reduces the tension on your spinal cord.

3. Different Sleeping Positions that Reduces Ruptured Disc
At night, you feel the pain from a ruptured disc most. So, the best thing for you to do will be to sleep in a position that works well to relieve your pain. Some sleeping positions include:

Putting a pillow underneath the knees while sleeping
Lay with your side (right or left) and place a pillow between your legs. It will keep the spine straight and act as a balance for the legs.

4. Try the McKenzie Formula
The McKenzie formula is a kind of physical activity that shifts the pain from the towards a more open spot, the lower back. However, a doctor will not prescribe this method or routine to everyone because the symptoms you have will dictate the type of McKenzie exercise method your physician will give to you. If, in any case, the symptoms shift to the legs, the procedure your doctor will likely prescribe is a long rehabilitation. This routine will help strengthen the muscles of your back and other parts of the body.

After this routine, many people relax and think that they do not have to do any other exercise. But this is not so. If the pin to the lumbar region reduces, it is still necessary to engage in a program that stretches and strengthens the back muscles. This way, you will be reducing the risk of recurrent herniated pain in the lumbar region.

5. Try a Massage or Myofascial Release
Sometimes, people that have a herniated disc do not consider that myofascial pain may be the source of a ruptured disc. Although it may not be the original cause, myofascial pain plays a significant role in most cases. So, getting a myofascial release may be the best step for you. Myofascial release is a self-induced or manual therapy that works well to relieve back pain. One advantage of carrying out this method is that you do not need to visit your health care provider. You can easily do it at home. To do this:

Use a massage ball to add pressure on the affected area or point. This way, you get to make the bulging disc go down.
Once you know where the affected point is, try to maintain the pressure on it for not more than two minutes. It will help release tension in the muscle and ease any pain there caused by the herniated disc.
Check to see if there is more than one affected point.
If there is more than one area affected, repeat the process multiple times.

Starting with this technique might worsen the pain at first. It is because you are applying pressure that the herniated disc does not want. Hence, when you touch or stretch the inflamed muscle, it becomes painful and, in most cases, unbearable. So, if you choose to use a massage or myofascial release, ensure that you employ the cold therapy method after every session. It will act as an anti-inflammatory relief for your spine.

Lumbar herniated disc pain usually takes up to six weeks to heal if you follow the treatments properly. However, it is still necessary to manage the pain when the symptom shows. The outlined tips may work wonders for some people and may not work at all for some. It is because the system of everybody differs. However, it does not mean you should not try out any of these tips. You never can tell which one will work well for you.