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in Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge
Training Safely and Effectively With A Slipped Disc.
What is a Slipped Disc?
A slipped disc, also known as a herniated disc, is a condition where
one of the discs in the spine ruptures and the gel inside leaks out, this can
cause acute or chronic back pain, as well as pain in other areas of the body.
The spine consists of 24 irregularly shaped bones, stacked on top of
one another, known as vertebrae. To help cushion these vertebrae, there are
protective, circular pads of connective tissue in between them, these are the
discs and they help to cushion the vertebrae when you move around in day to day
life. They have a tough fibrous outer case, and a softer gel like inside.
What Causes a Slipped
Disc?
A slipped disc occurs when the tough outer shell of the disc
ruptures and the gel inside starts protruding out of the disc, in the same way
as a hernia would act in the abdominal wall for example. Running through your
spine is the Spinal Cord, it contains nerves and nerve cells that connect to
the brain and all parts of the body, a ruptured disc can actually cause the
herniation to press against the whole spinal cord or a single spinal root. This
unfortunately means you might not just be left with pain in your back, but also
pain wherever the nerve is connected to!
Age is one of the biggest reasons that a disc will rupture, as you
start losing your water content inside the disc, making it less flexible and more
liable to rupturing. However apart from that little is known about why a disc
may rupture. Although performing exercises with bad form is a sure fire way to
increase the chance.
What Happens After I
Have Slipped A Disc?
It is very important to keep active, this will keep your back mobile
and speed up your recovery. In fact a recent study showed that patients with
lower back pain who followed an exercise routine to strengthen all the muscle
groups in their body, experienced a 40% reduction in lost work days. Strengthening
your back and core muscles, whilst loosening the muscles in your glutes,
hamstrings and calves can take virtually all the pressure off your spine,
allowing your ruptured disc to heal more effectively.
So How Do I Train With
A Slipped Disc?
When training a client with a herniated disc, we follow a few basic
simple steps as a guideline.
1.
Improve tissue health and
mobility. A tightness or immobility in one muscle group, will cause others to
overcompensate, for example your lower back might be overcompensating for the
fact your hamstrings are tight. We look at stretching the fascia in the glutes,
hamstrings and calves, you can do this by incorporating advanced stretching
techniques, consistently foam rolling and performing exercises that help
elongate the said muscle groups.
2.
Before any lower body
exercises, we activate the clients core and lats, a great exercise for this is
the side plank with rotation, it activates your core, lats and quadratus
lumborum, 3 muscle groups vital to spinal stability.
3.
Keep to low impact exercises,
definitely no running. Walking, swimming, and resistance based exercises are
great to incorporate in programmes. We also limit the number of unilateral leg
exercises we do, a squat should be replaced with a split squat and a deadlift
with a single leg deadlift for example.
4.
Whereas we normally teach
clients to lift with a slower negative portion of the exercise and a faster,
snappier concentric phase. This is not beneficial for someone suffering with a
slipped disc, you should be lifting with a very slow and controlled eccentric
and concentric phase.
5.
There are 168 hours in a week,
if you work out for 4 of them that still leaves 164 hours where you need to
concentrate on keeping your lower back healthy. Make a conscious effort to
maintain a lordotic (inward curve of the lumbar spine) posture whilst driving,
sitting at your disc, on the sofa, wherever you may be. To help with this you
may find it easier to roll up a towel and place it behind your back.
The most important thing we do with our clients to start off very
slow and cautiously, adjusting the training week by week on how the client is
feeling and the injury is progressing. The last thing you want to do is make
this sometimes agonizing injury even worse.
If you’re suffering with lower back pain, and are looking for a
fast, effective and healthy way to help improve your condition, don’t hesitate
to get in touch. For individually tailored exercise and nutrition plans, or
one-to-one personal training in Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge visit
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