Many patients who hear a diagnosis of a herniated disc immediately question whether spinal surgery is in their future. Whether or not surgery is the right option should be discussed with one’s doctor. However, most patients can find back pain relief using more conservative treatments.
The most common school of thought on treating herniated discs focuses on treating pain. Anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone injections, hot packs, ultrasound, and therapeutic exercises fall in this category.
While pain relief is important, the weakness of this approach is it fails to address the underlying cause of the herniated disc: why did it herniate in the first place? Ignoring the cause leads to repeated doctor visits for pain treatment. As pain worsens over time, surgery becomes a presented option.
A better approach is to understand the reason for the herniation and correct the problem. Not just mask the symptoms with pain killers.
Why a disc herniates
Outside of trauma, herniated discs do not happen overnight. They occur from long term uneven pressure on the disc due to postural dysfunctions caused by muscle imbalances.
Think of a jelly donut. If someone places a lot of pressure on one side and less on the other, the jelly is likely to bulge out the opposite side from the pressure. With enough pressure, the jelly will break through the donut. On the other hand, if the same amount of pressure was placed evenly across the entire donut the jelly might compress but would likely stay intact inside the donut.
Similarly, when muscle imbalances create improper hip and spine posture, the spinal discs between the vertebrae are unnaturally forced to sustain more weight and stress on one side than the other. Eventually, the disc wears down leading to a bulging, herniated or even a ruptured disc.
Non-surgical alternative treatments for herniated discs
There are at least five significant actions one can take right at home to help treat and reduce back pain from a herniated disc. Each is a superior alternative treatment to spinal surgery in most cases.
Reduce inflammation by increasing fluid intake (preferably by drinking clean water), improving eating habits, and reducing excess fibrin with proteolytic enzymes when possible.
Stop pain spasms, improve blood flow and increase range of motion with heat and cold therapy. The most effective and safe form of heat therapy is Far Infrared Heat (FIR).
Decompress the disc using inversion therapy. Excellent inversion tables can be purchased for this purpose for just a few hundred dollars.
Eliminate referred pain caused by trigger points which are a form of tiny muscular contraction knots.
Correct postural dysfunctions through stretching and exercise targeting specific muscle imbalances to eliminate the underlying root cause of your disc herniation.
Imagine the pain of a sharp razor blade slicing open your lower back, through your buttocks and down the back of your leg. Then again, if you suffer from sciatica, you may not need to imagine it at all.
Sciatica is not an actual condition, but describes a very real set of back and leg pain symptoms. Fortunately you can almost always reduce or completely stop sciatic pain right at home without harmful drugs or surgery.
What causes sciatica pain
The sciatic nerve is the largest single nerve in the human body. It is also the thickest at over 3/4 of an inch across. It supplies nearly the whole skin of the leg, the back thigh muscles, and other muscles down to the feet. This length is why shooting pain down one or both legs is felt when the nerve is irritated.
Sciatica symptoms are caused by one of four conditions: a herniated disc, spinal stenosis, isthmic spondylolisthesis, or most commonly piriformis syndrome where the piriformis muscle places pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Get sciatica relief right at home
In each of the four common conditions causing sciatica, muscle imbalances either directly cause or contribute to the condition behind your pain. For sciatica relief, you can follow a simple three step process in the privacy of your own home.
First, identify the cause. This involves understanding the dysfunctions present in your body and the muscle imbalances which created them. These can be identified through a series of self assessments.
Second, treat the pain symptoms. Clearly you won’t be able to correct the problem if your pain is so severe that you can’t move.
Finally, begin working on the underlying dysfunctions and muscle imbalances which caused the condition leading to sciatica. Relief that lasts requires correcting the problem, not just covering up the symptoms.
Learn more about getting at home sciatica relief including a video which shows a quick stretch you can use to stop sciatica pain from piriformis syndrome in seconds plus complete details behind the causes and treatments for sciatica.
Almost all of us sit for many hours each day. We sit at the breakfast table.
We sit while traveling to work. We spend hours sitting in front of a desk. Then we come home to sit at the dinner table. Finally we relax for hours sitting on the couch watching TV.
Most of us spend very little time thinking about how we sit. Yet poor posture while sitting will lead to back pain as your spine is forced into an unnatural position for hours on end. Today you’re about to discover three easy steps to sitting correctly — almost automatically.
Step 1: Be aware of how you sit
Take a moment when you sit down to check your sitting posture. Scoot all the way back so your lower back rests against the back support of the seat. Your back should be straight. If your seat causes you to lean back or your head to push forward the next two steps will help.
Step 2: Choose a quality chair
A good chair will work wonders for your sitting posture. Choose a chair with an arched seat back to provide support for good posture throughout the day. Look for a seat without a head rest which pushes your head forward
Step 3: Use a back support pillow
Have a bad chair or car seat? All is not lost. Use a well designed back support pillow to provide the right lumbar support and you’ll maintain proper back posture in even the worst of seats.
View a free video showing how to use these tips to ease back pain through awareness, chair selection, and use of our recommended Freedom Back support pillow.
Please keep in mind this is just one way to combat lower back pain and that there are many other lower back pain treatments available.
Depression is a treatable illness. Yet suicide remains the 9th leading reported cause of death in the United States.
For years studies on the link between back pain and depression have shown that depression and anxiety occur in as many as half of patients with chronic pain.
Now recent findings from several suicide prevention agencies in the United Kingdom have brought to light a disturbing direct link between lower back pain and suicide.
In those findings, 2 in 3 of the suicide victims with available general practitioner records had visited their doctor in the three months preceding their death. And 77% of them were there for treatment of low back pain.
The risk of major depression increases in lockstep with the severity of pain. Therefore, it would appear that decreasing lower back pain gives you a greater chance of overcoming or even preventing severe depression in the first place.
Unfortunately, traditional treatments for lower back pain often fail for the simple reason they fail to address the underlying cause of the condition. In the vast majority of back pain cases not involving traumatic injury, muscle imbalances are the culprit.
The good news is this cause of back pain can be successfully treated without surgery or long term harmful medications. In fact, a quick stretch can usually provide fast relief. Watch the free video on this lower back pain information page for one example you can try right now.
Share Your Best Pain Relief Tips
and You Might Be a Winner…
A couple of weeks ago I was reading through some of the thousands of emails I get each day and I came across one that really struck me…
Someone had written in to tell us how much our free videos had helped his wife… but he also said that one of the things that worked the best for her when it came to pain relief with mustard…
Yes, mustard… now, if I recall correctly it was prepared in a special way… but it got me thinking, I bet that there are dozens, if not hundreds of other little-known natural remedies out there that most people just don’t know about…
So, I decided a great way to get everyone to share their best pain relief tips, strategies and remedies would be a contest…
To enter simply post your tip onto our blog using the link below and you’ll be entered to win the following prizes:
1st Prize: Inversion Table ($299 value)
2nd Prize: Lose The Back Pain System ($97 value)
3rd Prize: Freedom Back – Back Support ($59 value)
The team here at the Healthy Back Institute will choose the winners and the deadline is Thursday, September 10th.
The Healthy Back Institute - 333 Main St. Suite #201 Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Phone: 800-216-4908 Fax: 866-843-4319
The Healthy Back Institute is a Get Healthy and Fit Company
Many patients who hear a diagnosis of a herniated disc immediately question whether spinal surgery is in their future. Whether or not surgery is the right option should be discussed with one’s doctor. However, most patients can find back pain relief using more conservative treatments.
Imagine the pain of a sharp razor blade slicing open your lower back, through your buttocks and down the back of your leg. Then again, if you suffer from sciatica, you may not need to imagine it at all.
Almost all of us sit for many hours each day. We sit at the breakfast table.
Depression is a treatable illness. Yet suicide remains the 9th leading reported cause of death in the United States.
