L5-S1 Herniated disc relief with 3 exercises to avoid surgery

Your lower back consists of 5 vertebrae. We call them lumbar 1-5.  Between these vertebrae lies a discus or intervertebral disc. It results in a lumbar disc between L1-L2 to L5-S1, which is the last lumbar intervertebral disc.

So let’s start with the anatomy of your lower back.

The intervertebral disc consist of 2 parts:

• The nucleus pulposus
• The annulus fibrosus

The nucleus pulposus is the inner layer, and the annulus fibrosis is the outer layer.

The nucleus pulposus is a gel-like substance that can move freely within the annulus fibrosus.

The annulus fibrosus is the hard outer layer of the intervertebral disc.

Due to different reasons, sometimes the annulus fibrosus weakens. When this happens, the nucleus pulposus starts to push the annulus fibrosis into the vertebral canal.

When this happens, we speak of a bulging disc or disc protrusion. It is a pre-stage of a herniated disc.

When you don’t treat it the right way, the outer layer of the intervertebral disc can rupture completely. It results in a herniated disc.

Now it enters the intervertebral foramen. These are the holes you can see in the picture. It results in compression of the nerve leaving the back on that level. The nerve runs through the intervertebral foramen.

It can also cause an inflammatory reaction. The inflammatory response happens because the nucleus pulposus never comes in contact with other parts of your body and is considered an intruder.

The most common levels for a herniated disc are the L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels. These levels receive the most pressure.

Also read: Lower back pain treatment with 4 exercises for common causes

What are the symptoms of a herniated disc?

A herniated disc can appear both slowly or suddenly.

When symptoms slowly start to develop, you suffer from a bulging disc as mentioned before.

The symptoms are as follows:

• Nagging back pain
• Radiating pain in the back of your leg not further than your knee
• The radiation and distress increases with bending and lifting
• It reduces in an erect and lying position

When the bulging disc develops into a hernia, you will notice an increase in back pain and also start to feel pain in your leg. The radiation now goes down to your foot.

The radiation happens because the compression on the nerve can cause an inflammatory reaction of the nerve because of the damage or to remove the pressure of the disc. It’s one of the causes of sciatic pain.

You may also experience:

• Weakness in your leg
• Possible shooting pain in your leg during coughing or sneezing
• Loss of sensation in your leg

So when you suffer from a herniated disc, you would want to do something about it. Surgery is usually not the first thing you want to do.

Instead, you would want to treat your herniated disc with exercises. And in many cases, this is very well possible.

Research even suggests that after a year in about 90% of the cases, there was no difference between surgical and nonsurgical treatment in terms of effect. Both recovered equally.

That’s why I will show you the three exercises that can help you to treat your herniated disc without surgery.

I’ll also tell you what to do and what not to do in terms of activities.

So let’s start.

As you already know, compression of the nerve in your back causes your pain. This compression causes inflammation of the nerve, which causes the pain in your leg.

To reduce the pain, you want to reduce the inflammation. You can do this by applying anti-inflammatory creme. You can use it directly to the skin in your lower back to reduce the pain in your leg.

You also want to reduce the pressure on the intervertebral disc. Bending forward usually increases the radiating pain in your leg, which slows down your recovery. So this is something you would want to avoid until the disc repairs, and you’re free of symptoms. Then it is oke to bend and do everything as you did before.

Also, lifting heavy weights will increase the radiation. The pressure on the intervertebral disc causes this — the load results in flattening of the discus. If the discus is still intact, this is not a problem. But when the discus breaks, this will increase the pressure on the nerve.

If you need heavy lifting for your work, or when you have small children, then you can wear this back brace. It reduces the pressure on your back and the nerves resulting in less pain.

What you want to do instead are exercises that reduce the pain in your leg. Usually, this is possible by bending backward. The first exercise will teach you how to do this.

But remember, if any other activity or exercise reduces radiating pain, then you should do this instead.

The first thing you have to do is to try to reduce the radiating pain. You can do this by stretching your back backward as far as possible. It is called extending your back.

You can do this in two ways: While standing or while lying in a prone position. I’ll discuss the one in when you stand because that’s the easiest one for most people.

It will instantly relieve your leg pain.

Perform the exercise like this:

• Place your index fingers on the painful spot in your back
• Apply pressure in a forward direction
• Now bend all the way backward
• Make sure also to extend your neck for maximum result
• Hold this position for 3 seconds
• Repeat this ten times

You can also see how to perform the exercise in the video.

Make sure that you perform this exercise several times a day. It’s especially important to complete the activity every time you’ve to bend forward or lifted something.

When you’ve performed the exercise, you will notice that the radiation in your leg reduces and sometimes even totally disappears.

It is what you want to achieve.

When you feel the radiation coming back into your leg, it’s time to do the exercise again. You want to keep the radiation away so that the intervertebral disc has time to recover.

You can also use this back stretcher to reduce the pressure on your nerves. It does the same as the exercise but it easier to do for some people.

The second exercise is designed to reduce the pressure on your lower back and the affected disc. We will do that by training the little muscles around your back.

The increased stability will also reduce the pressure on the disc. The muscles will take over some of the weight, which helps the disc.

You can perform this exercise in the following way:

• Lay down on your back
• Bend your knees
• Cross your arms over your chest
• Now lift your pelvis
• Hold this position for 10 seconds
• You can increase the difficulty by extending one leg and keep it slightly above the ground

You can also see how to perform the exercise in the video.

Try to perform this exercise 2 times a day. Also, try to increase the time you hold your pelvis up to 15 or 20 seconds.

The third exercise you should perform is designed to increase the strength of your big back muscles.

Because of the pain in your back, muscles tend to get weaker. Also, stronger back muscles will reduce the pressure on the disc.

You will notice that this exercise is pretty heavy. Therefore you’ll have to see if you can already perform this exercise or that you have to stick with just the other two first. When it causes more radiation in your leg, you should wait with this exercise.

Perform the exercise like this:

• Lay down on the ground with your face facing the floor
• Place your arms in front of you with your elbows bent
• Now lift both your arms and your upper body
• Keep your feet on the ground
• Repeat this ten times

Try to increase the number of repetitions to 15 or even 20 and repeat it three times.

Perform this exercise 2 times a day.

As you might know, the recovery of your herniated disc can take several months.

It means that you have to be patient and continue the exercises as long as it takes.

Sometimes, however, you can not fully recover by only doing the exercises. That is why I will also go through the surgical procedure of a hernia.

I will also discuss the risks and recovery after.