Bulging Disc Pain? Try this stretch!

[Jerry2020]

Hi all, I just wanted to make a bit of a community service announcement as I’ve recently been suffering sometimes excruciating pain in my lower back area. After a myriad of tests that didn’t show a lot it seems as though I have a bulging disc around the L2/L3 area.

I got rid of the pain after a while the first time around but I recently aggravated it again doing, you guessed it, deadlifts. It gets bad enough that in the morning especially it’s really painful getting out of bed, putting on shoes and socks or tying shoelaces is nigh on impossible.

I happened to luck out and saw a new GP where I have recently just moved to and he immediately printed off a page from the web. It was an article he had a part in as he has been trying to spread the word about the benefits associated with this stretch for those suffering disc/lower back pain. I have been doing it for 4 days and have already had a noted improvement way beyond anything else I have previously tried including physio, massage, heat rubs etc etc. I thought it would be a handy thing to post on here to hopefully help people out who are in the same boat as I’m sure there has to be a lot, considering the things we put ourselves through at the gym and the exercises we do with sometimes imperfect form and huge weight.

I’ve attached a photo of the article that shows the stretch. In short, you just lie down with bent legs, then lock your hands in against your upper thigh/lower pelvis area, then apply traction by pushing firmly for a few minutes. It does get pretty tiring haha. If you’re doing it right you will feel your spine open up, the idea is this will allow the bulging disc to slip back into place. It does make sense if you look at an anatomical diagram of the spine, and I can confirm it’s done me well so far.

Everybody’s thoughts and opinions are welcome, it might be common knowledge but I was surprised I have never been told about something so simple in all my visits to doctors and physios. Hopefully it helps someone anyway.

Edit: sorry for the dodgy photo quality and it rotated around sideways when I uploaded it. I’ll see if I can work something better out if anyone is interested.