What is Slipped Disc and How Physiotherapy can Help?

A slipped disc can be very painful and hinder your day to day routine. However, in most of the cases, it gets better on its own within 6 – 8 weeks, though there are certain things that you can do or avoid doing to aid and speed up your recovery. Having a slipped disc means that one of the discs which sit between each of the bones in spine gets damaged. This means that the soft gel-like inner pad of the disc leaks out through the torn outer layer, which leads to a bulge that presses on the attaching spinal nerves. This pinching of the nerve causes excessive pain which can even radiate down the arm or leg often referred as sciatica. Slipped disc is also known as disc herniation, it can occur in any disc in your spine but the two most prominent forms of slipped disc are cervical disc herniation and lumbar disc. 

Thumb rule for slipped disc says that slipped discs do not like activities such as bending, lifting and sitting. This is because these activities put more strain on the disc.Spinal joint sprains and back pain strains

If your back pain is due to muscle or joint injury, you may feel pain while sitting, standing or twisting.

Combination back pain

There are many situations where one can experience a combination of disc, joint and muscle involvement which can lead to back pain. The pain gets worse when there are degenerative changes that involve joints as well as discs. These changes are much visible on x-ray, CT scan and MRI. Disc herniation does not cause pain always; some people find they are affected by this condition after undergoing x-ray for some other conditions.

Physiotherapy Treatment for Back Pain

The significant inflammatory reaction takes place when there is a disc injury, this can cause the pressure on a sciatica nerve which can lead to excessive pain down the leg. The initial management of this condition is related to reducing the inflammation. This is best done by taking rest and staying away from the activities such as bending, lifting, sitting etc.

How to recover from Back pain and Disc Injury?

Most slipped disc injuries heal without surgery, what you need to do is to consult a physiotherapist near you and discuss the details related to physiotherapy with him. Your physiotherapist will study your condition, medical history if any and advise exercises for the same. Depending on the current condition, a number of the session might be advised by the physiotherapist. Each session takes a time of between 45 minutes to 60 minutes.

Most back injuries take place due to trauma or poor body posture. Acute pain can result from bending down to pick a pen from the ground to carrying heavy loads. Functional stability of the utmost importance for right movement of the body and it also reduces the mechanical stress on the back. This stability can be derived from training and certain exercises that help in improving the motor control of transverses abdominous, pelvic floor, and diaphragm. A general fitness programme is also considered to be helpful in this case.