A herniated disc is one of the more serious conditions that a person could develop in their back. This condition can be very frustrating, not only because of the pain it results in, but also because most of the therapies your doctor will recommend for this condition are not successful.
This article will discuss three simple tips you can do from home for relief from pain from a bulging disc. But before we clear understanding of what disc bulging is, so the recommendations I give you will make sense.
A bulging disc occurs when one of the discs of the spine become injured, and begins to bulge. Each spinal disc is a cushion that separates each set of vertebrae in the spine.
They are composed of two main parts – a strong outer covering called the annulus, and a soft jelly center called the nucleus. The nucleus is incredibly important, because this is where the disc will keep oxygen and nutrients for healing.
When there is a disc bulging, the annulus of the disc tears, and the nucleus in the center of the disc begins to shift where the disc is weakest. This creates a bulge in the disc, which applies pressure on one of the spinal nerves.
The discs of the spine are very interesting, because they are designed to not feel pain sensations. This may sound a little strange at first, because if you’re dealing with a bulging disc, you know how painful this problem can be. However, the reason the body is designed this way is because the main function of the discs of the spine is to act as cushions for the spine.
If you could feel pain from one of these discs, you would be hurting every time you move, which would not be good. So, why is this problem so painful? The pain is actually caused by the nerve that has pressure being applied to it from the disc.
Because of this, most traditional therapies focus on numbing the affected nerve. And, although this sounds like a good plan at first (since the nerve is what causes you to experience pain), you will never experience lasting relief unless you heal the source of the problem, which is the herniated disc.
With all of this in mind, let’s discuss 3 tips you can do from home, not only for relief from the aggravated nerve, but also to begin the process of healing the injured disc.
First, I would recommend that you use ice on the painful area for relief. This may sound simple, but after working with thousands of people dealing with a pain from a bulging disc I can tell you that this is the one thing that people almost always get wrong.
Most people want to use heat over the painful area (in fact, many doctors will even tell you to use heat with this problem), but I’m here to tell you that this is the worst thing you can do. In fact, using heat can aggravate the problem and dramatically slow the healing process.
The reason ice should be your first choice is because of the inflammatory process that takes place with a bulging disc. With any injury, the body will send blood to the area, which causes swelling and excessive heat in the area. Ice will calm the aggravated area, slow the swelling, and numb the painful nerves for relief.
There are some simple rules you need to follow for the ice to be successful, though. First, you want to use the ice for 15 minutes, or until you experience numbness in the treated area, whichever comes first. Then, take the ice off for an hour, and repeat the ice treatment.
It’s important that you repeat the ice treatment multiple times in the day, and the more you repeat this, the faster you’ll notice relief. It will typically take about 3 or 4 treatments before you notice any kind of relief, but if you’re consistent, you should notice a difference. After 3 or 4 days of this, most people notice a dramatic difference in their pain level.
Along the same lines, the second home treatment I usually recommend that will relieve some of the pain is a gel called Biofreeze. This is a pain-relieving gel that’s easily found online, or in most chiropractic clinics.
Biofreeze has an herbal remedy in it called ilex. Basically, you apply the gel over the painful area and it will typically provide relief for 4 or 5 hours.
I normally don’t recommend that you apply ice over the area while you have the biofreeze on the skin. This could be too intense for the aggravated area, and be very uncomfortable.
So, I would recommend that you ice during the day, and then apply the biofreeze at night before you go to bed. I notice that many people dealing with a bulging disc have a difficult time sleeping because of the pain. Using the biofreeze at bed time will typically provide enough relief to help you sleep.
My third tip is a simple exercise that can help with the healing process, no matter where your bulging disc is located. This exercise will require the use of a therapy ball, which is one of those large balls you see in gyms and physical therapy clinics.
You simply want to sit on the ball and gently bounce up and down for 5 minutes each day. I know this sounds odd at first, so let me explain why this exercise is so important.
Remember earlier when we were talking about how the nucleus inside the disc is where the disc stores oxygen and nutrients for proper healing? This is very important, because the thing that makes healing a bulging disc so difficult is the fact that the spinal discs do not receive a very good blood supply.
The body usually uses blood to transport the oxygen and nutrients it needs for healing, so without this, the disc depends almost completely on the jelly in the center of the disc.
The only way you can bring new oxygen and nutrients to the nucleus in the center of the disc is by physically pumping the spinal discs. This is why this exercise is so important – by bouncing on the ball, you are pumping every disc of your spine, which brings new oxygen and nutrients into the disc for faster healing.
These recommendations will get you started with the process of alleviating your pain from a bulging disc and healing your disc bulging, but there are many other things you can do to improve the healing time with this condition.
If you would like to learn more about the most effective therapies for bulging disc, as well as the combination of those therapies that I recommend for the best results, you can click here (disc bulging) to get all the details.