Hi,

I hope you can help me with this: I have a herniated disc and want to support my recovering. Is there any kind of home exercise or something like this that helps me to get rid of the back pain?


Thanks,

Dean

Hello Dean, welcome! I can recommend supplementing with MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane), 1,000mg 3x's per day. It helps ease inflammation, therefore relieving pain. I take one capsule per day (Swanson Ultra MSM), just for health. Here's an article about the benefits...https://www.nwhealthsolutions.com/backpain.htm

Another thing that may help is bathing in Epsom Salts. It's inexpensive and very therapeutic. Gentle 'cat stretching' exercise may help, but don't push if it's painful. On the floor, on hands and knees, slowly arch your back upward with head and neck down. Then, slowly reverse by raising your head toward the ceiling, and stretching your spine the other way.

Other supportive supplements might be Omega 3s and Magnesium Citrate.

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I was halfway crippled with a herniated disc. I tried swimming as my doctor assured me it would be helpful. Swimming was not helpful for me, my pain increased. (Swimming may be helpful for somebody else.) I tried acupuncture. It was somewhat helpful. I tried chiropractic treatments, sometimes they made me feel worse. I read a book called "The Cure is in the Cupboard" which caused me to decide to try oil of oregano. It gave me my life back. I am now active and usually pain free. I do have to be careful. I cannot do certain activities because the disc will bulge and throw my back out of whack. No dancing, no jumping, but I can lift 50# sacks of dog food and carry them, I can stand on my feet for 9-11 hours a day at work. I can dig a garden by hand. I took a double dose, 6 capsules per day for the first two weeks, then I reduced the dosage to three a day for a couple of months. I now take a maintenance dose of two capsules per day. I've been taking oil of oregano for about twelve years. If something weird happens to make the disc bulge, like the time my puppy caused me to take a hard fall, I go back to taking 6 capsules until the injury heals.

Some kind of decompression exercise will help. YOu want to open up the vertebra to increase circulation and relieve pressure. I did decompression therapy through a physical therapist for my lower back a couple of years ago and it was very helpful after a bad fall. I have a home neck decompression device that helps my neck.

I have a friend with serious neck issues for which the docs wanted to do surgery. He decided to get a slant board to decompress his spin. We had tried a neck decompresson machine that I had but he found it to hard on a nerve that gave him significant pain. The slant board is working well. He does it a couple of times each day.

Discs can and do shrink back down sometimes after injury but it takes time. It depends upon the degree of injury.


There are number of c hiropractors and medical doctors who now have some pretty fancy decompression tables for issues like yours. That combined with a physical therapy program that increases core strength may be helpful.

I would give it a try. For at least 6 months... back surgery is so incredibly superior to what it was 10 and 20 years ago so I wouldnt be too afraid of it if it come to that.

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