HERNIATED DISC
Just the other day, one of my favorite clients called me to cancel her appointment. She told me she bent over to pick up her purse, got a little twinge of pain in her back and then could not stand back up! All she could do was lay flat on her back. Her husband took her to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with a herniated disc. She was sent home with muscle relaxers and after seeing her physician the next day she was advised to rest with no exercise. Sounds scary, doesn’t it?
What is a herniated disk anyway? Our spine is designed so that each vertebra is stacked one on top of the other. There is a fibrous disc that acts much like a washer in between each vertebra that helps cushion the space between the bones as we move, bend, twist and stretch. If the spine is pulled out of alignment, then the pressure will cause the disc to squish out to one side pressing on the nerve – the herniated disc.
My client is fit, has been exercising all her life with few exceptions and had never had this happen before – what could have caused it? After we talked awhile, she explained that she had been in the car for two days prior coming home from a fabulous vacation. She hadn’t been doing her e-cises on vacation and was feeling the effects – a little sore and tight everywhere! The fact that she had not been keeping her body in alignment with her menu of e-cises and had been stuck in that misalignment for two days in the car, caused her muscles to really tighten up. When she bent over to pick up her purse, the tight muscles pulled her vertebra to one side, causing the disc to protrude and press on her nerve. Ouch!
The doctor’s prescription for a muscle relaxer really helped my client out of her initial spasm. We certainly understand the “rest and no exercise” advice too, however, Egoscue e-cises are not the same typical back stretches or strengthening done other places. That’s what is so great about Egoscue! There are many resting positions in the e-cise repertoire that can help facilitate getting the spine back into optimal alignment without stress or strain involved with normal “exercise”. These e-cises dovetail well the doctor’s advice and can actually speed up the process of getting back to normal. My client came on in for her appointment and we gave her some very simple resting positions including the following that I want to share with all of you.
Click below on the Static Back link to watch the video. It’s a simple resting position that uses gravity to gently encourage the spine to re-align by easing the muscles out of spasm!
