Hey everyone. I just wanted to encourage you guys to not lose hope because disc bulges CAN heal. I'm in my 20s and I was in major pain every day for about 6 months from a L5-S1 disc bulge (confirmed after having an MRI on my lower back). I was in horrible pain every day, the whole day, no matter what I was doing.. sitting, walking, trying to fall asleep etc. Sometimes it would take me even 2-3h to fall asleep because the pain was so bad. I had constant back pain and pain in my right leg (especially my thigh, around the joints and calf). I am sharing this so you can understand that I was in such bad pain and I healed! And I know how desperate I was to find some advice from someone that actually healed from this so I hope this is gonna help someone.. I am not 100% healed, I still feel pain once in a while.. for example after sitting for too long (ex 8h at work) or if i don't move my body for a couple days (like jogging or working out) but I would say I am 95% healed and for me it's like a miracle, after living in pain for 6months! I've been 95% pain-free for about 1 month and a half!! Things that I tried and worked for ME: 1. I changed my diet. I tried to adopt an anti inflammatory diet: - the only meat I eat is chicken (max 5 times a week). You can also eat turkey, it's actually even better; - I stopped eating sweets, fast food, processed foods.. especially icecream, chocolate bars, sodas, aliments that have added sugars (and most of them have it, check labels before eating sth), pre-cooked/frozen foods etc. - I ate a lot of vegetables&fruits (fried, steamed, smoothies etc).. about 70% of what I ate was vegetables and fruits - less white flour, white rice and more whole wheat flour, brown rice etc; You can find a lot of info about anti inflammatory diets, recipes etc online. I started an anti-inflammatory diet about 1month before my pain started to decrease. 2. I made an anti-inflammatory juice and I drank 1 shot a day for about a month. If you want, you can ask your dr first, but I felt ok the whole time..after all it's just natural ingredients. If you want the recipe for the juice let me know and I'll write it down in the comments. (it's mostly ginger, turmeric, aloe vera, apple cider vinegar etc). I feel like taking this juice helped very much, i started feeling some improvement after the 1st week. Idk if it was specifically the juice cuz I was doing more stuff so I am not sure. 3. I started moving my body almost everyday. I would either go jogging (1-2mi) or even just walking for 2-3mi. Or I would just do some exercises at home for 10-15 min. There are a lot of videos with exercises online, but one thing i wanna mention is to find exercises for your specific disc bulge cuz some people would just say "stretches for back pain/ disc bulge" but they can make ur pain worse, cuz they are not good for your specific disc bulge. As I was saying, mine was a L5-S1 and 1 thing you MUST stop doing is bending down with your back or lifting things with ur back. IF you have to bend down or pick sth up, bend ur knees, don't bend your back forward cuz that's pushing the bulge even more on your nerves and that causes the pain.. Hope that makes sense. The dr explains everything really well in this video kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m5iXospppp7VpoE.html . I recommend watching the whole video as I tried to implement everything he was saying in this video and I feel like it really helped me. 4. I went to chiropractic adjustments and physical therapy this whole time (and still going). I started with 3 times a week, then 2times a week and now once a week. 5. ! I am doing Spinal Decompression. (I did it 6 times in about 1m and a half. Now I am doing it once every 2 weeks but this is sth for ur chiropractor to decide.) I feel like this also helped a lot cuz I've started feeling improvements since I started doing it. In the beginning for about 2 weeks it felt like my symptoms got even worse and after that I started feeling a lot better. But again, I was trying out so many things that I don't know what helped or what made it worse. But you should definitely try the spinal decompression. 6. I took a natural supplement that my chiropractor recommended. It's called Devil's claw and it's literally $8 at Walmart. I starting taking it about a month before I started feeling better. 7. I tried to sleep more on my back, or on my side with a pillow between my legs, I bought a cervical pillow, I tried to have a better posture etc. Also I feel like it's really important to have a good and positive attitude. I was really down and discouraged in the first 3 months and in those months I literally didn't feel any improvement.. I was in major pain the whole time. I really think that the body can't heal when you're just upset all the time.. it's like you're not allowing it to heal. I know it's hard to be positive when you're in such bad constant pain.. but try to make an effort, it's gonna be worth it. And also, I believe in God and I constantly prayed to receive healing and I declared healing over myself in Jesus' name. And I would thank for the healing that I received (even if at that time I was in pain). Believe you will receive healing. Have faith! God doesn't want you to suffer. As I was saying, there are a lot of things that I tried so I can't really point to sth and say that that's what you need to do, but I really hope this is gonna help someone. I would've loved to find some tips like these when I was struggling with so much pain. PS: It was my personal decision to not take any painkillers or other medication during these 6 months. I think I only took about 5 ibuprofens in this whole time. I can say that my healing process was 99% natural: chiropractic treatment, diet changes etc. That's what I was looking for and it definitely works! If I missed something I will definitely update this comment. Let me know if anything helped you or if u have any questions. I really hope this will help! Take care and God bless you guys.

I have basically fixed my own disk issue doing dead lifts. I had bad low back pain for more than 10 years. On and off sciatica, couldnt lay on my stomach, always woke up with my back really stiff and painful. I started doing dead lifts after not doing them for a long time. Started very light and slowly over time increased the weight. Made sure to keep form. Now I can dead lift 325lbs with no back problem. I tried 3 different chiropractors with only temporary relief. Dead lifts have apparently strengthened the muscle around my disk and I am now almost pain free. So just wanted to share that as another thing for people to try.

It's very important to listen to your body when you exercise if you have sciatica. If you feel pain at any time, JUST STOP as the activity is either not right for you or you may not have recovered well enough to do that! There is no one size fits all in the exercises we do as each individual condition is different. If it's very painful, STOP! Otherwise, if it's just a little pain felt then it may be ok to continue. Always listen to your body, don't ever be fooled by the slogan "No Pain, No Gain"!

Your information re: hamstring stretches is eye opening for me and makes total sense! Thank you for your channel - so much good information!

I’ve had my slipped discs for 18 months (11 with wrong diagnoses) and had sleep limiting / activity limiting pain for all of that time. After only a week of following your recommendations I can already feel the healing. Shocked that I was doing contraindicated exercises prescribed by one of the many physio / osteo specialists I’ve seen. Thank you!!

So what exercises should we do? I only heard what not to do.

I just suffered my first herniation at 77, an L4, and your insightful vids are cooling my initial panic, for which I'm grateful. God bless you... ta.

Spot on debunking a few myths.

From North Carolina-I’m amazed how many PT’s on KZfaq are recommending these 5 exercises to cure sciatica. Scary. No wonder I’m still in pain.

Thanks a million for this information.

You are giving me hope. Thank you from Tennessee.

Glad you mentioned the hamstring stretches, they aggravate my condition

You are a talented communicator and are super knowledgable. Thank you for this video!

Love your videos. Very helpful for my continued thriving at 73 years of age. From San Antonio in Texas Keep up the good work! Gilbert Nieto Venegas

Really helpful..I hadn't realised about hamstring stretches !

Thanks so much for the information

This is great advice thank you so much. I've been suffering from 2 bulges in l3 and l4. Other therapists have told me to keep stretching. I've been in pain for 8 years. So again thank you.

Super helpful info.

Thank you for informations.Have a nice day!

Very Helpful!

Thank you so much for this great help! My back is still quite sore after my fall but your help has been useful

Helpful

Thank you, really enjoy all your videos so helpful, especially the information about the psoas muscle, that’s exactly the one that I must have been over using when I was delivery driving, stopped immediately when the doctor said it’s aggravating my sciatica, I knew he was right, but you just explained exactly why, thank you, information is power to me getting better

very helpful thank you

I come from Taiwan Im 24 years old and I’ve got HIVD and severe sciatica for five weeks. That’s extreme pain to me. This video taught me that i ever made ,stretch hamstrings and psoas muscle are wrong That’s very helpful to me Thanks very much

I found that very useful, thank you.

I was wondering why I wasn’t able to put my pajamas or get in the the car without causing pain when actually I am able to walk just fine on the same leg apart from the sciatica flares 1-2 times a day.. now I know why and no one has ever told me this. This information is gold. Thank you so much!

This was very useful. My therapist just mad me do hamstring stretches and made my case worse and i was in pain doing these exercises. Now i know because of you what i should do many thanks and much appreciated. Hope you can make a video for people with this issue if they are forced to sit like in traveling in an airplane or a bus

Great Thank you for your well up-to date scientifically validated program and in particular what to avoid and why .

Thank you Will for these excersises for spine health and sciatica. I only wish I'd found you years ago. Thankyou thank you thank you.

Just yesterday, I advised a client with sciatica to avoid stretching their hamstrings and mentioned your channel as a great source of info. Now I've just seen this video - just the best timing! Your advice is always excellent.

Thanks Doc for this as I didn't know what signs to look out for.

Very nice video Very very helpful Thank you sir

Will you're just amazing,thank you. Phil.

Hello Will, Oh my God. You are so right about stretching the hamstrings. After doing those stretches this sciatic was on fire. I don’t do hamstring stretches anymore.

Thank you some helpful ideas here 👍🙏

my mildly bulging discs were not that bad (bad enough) but then I remembered that my PT said I should stretch my hamstrings. I did it a couple of mornings lately prior to getting out of bed, and now I am having horrible neuropathy ( bilateral electric shocks and tingles that go all the way to my feet, and are worse when I am lying on my back trying to sleep! also I realize I need to stop bringing my knees up (thinking I am doing something good for my stomach and core) ,and have noticed driving makes things worse, Great video!! Thanks!!!

Thank you very much for very useful information 👏

Helpful tips sir

Great video! I agree with the improper sitting posture. I found that if I lean when sitting it doesn't cause my pain to be worse.

Suffered from 2 bulging discs and a herniated discs. Had a Lumbar TLIFT of my L2-L5 ,I'm 3 1/2 weeks post op. It was the best thing I have ever done for myself. ❤❤❤

Bloody brilliant explanation I’m going thru this now been nearly 3 weeks Cheers

Thanks 😊

This is fantastic thank you. There as many stupid videos on utube saying do this exercise or do this and it just made my sciatica and herniated disc worse. Thank you for posting

Really helpful video thanks. I've had an MRI and been told I have 2 bulges, and 1 prolapsed disc. Is prolapse the same as herniation? Ive tried googling but there doesn’t seem to be a consistent answer. Thank you!

New subscriber. I like your info, much better than alot of others on UT! Thanks!

Thank you soooo much 🙏

Extremely helpful. I did not have a bulging disc until I was in PT for them to work on my hip and hamstring area. The exercises they gave me were what started all the pain. Not everyone smokes or drinks so I was able to discount those reasons, but that said, you can have inflammation in your body with the foods that you eat. You may want to temporarily go on an anti-inflammatory diet. But the other four reasons have been very helpful. I'm going to watch his other video on the exercises he suggests for healing my bulging disc. Another trainer suggested to use a table that inverts you upside down. The other way you could do it is to hold on to overhead bars, but have your feet resting either on the floor or on a stool so you're not dangling freely.

Thanks for that

You are ON POINT 👍👍

The insights are wonderful. I didn’t know about the Soas muscle and its connection with the Disc. I used to do the sleeping cycle exercise and didn’t realise that’s what may be increasing the pressure on my herniated disc. Thanks so much. Keep up the good work.

Thank you for these videos! You explain everything in such a way that is so understandable.

Thank you so much ❤

This is totally awesome info Will. Thank you so much for sharing. Could you please also do a video on L5/S1 facet dysfunction/irritation/inflammation and how the symptoms differ from bulging disc symptoms? Many thanks

Thank you so much! I love to listen to you. You really help us. I just had a hip replacement and after a few days from surgery the L5S1 was triggered. I had it before but it was better, I could seat with no pain. After surgery it came back. If you have any comment, I would be very grateful. Francesca

Oh my gosh, thank you so much. Great great video.

This information is so helpful!!! Please make the video what exercise to do in bulging discs.. to help in long term

I was given exercises from my physio and they were stretching my hamstrings. I literally cried during my session. The next day i couldnt walk properly for 4 days. After some googling i found out that all 3 exercises she gave me worsened my sciatica causing bad inflammation. I was so pissed off to say the least. I now focus on core and back stretches that i found on youtube.

Thank you so much sir, the pain is not like before. Before now, I could not go down stairs. But now, I can go to down stairs living room and kitchen. Thank for using your platform to touch lives. God almighty will surely bless you for us. Once again, thank you so much sir.

So useful, thank you so much. I am 77 years of age and have suffered sciatica caused through low back disc herniating for some weeks now, and the physio exercises I have been given make it worse - ie hamstring stretches, heel squats and others just aggravate it. I have tried to tell the physio but they keep telling me to persevere. Now I know what NOT to do I can work around it and hopefully it will start to improve.

Thank you!! I am looking forward to working on your advice, I have been fighting Sciatic pain for years but it has been much much worse along with piriformis pain for 2 years! . For all of those 2 years I have stretched my hamstrings & not worked on my psoas at all

Hi , do you have any videos on cervical disc bulges?

thx for your advice...

Just listening between the lines, there is actually hope of healing

Thank you Doctor

Thanks for sharing, are clamshells ok to do?

Great video I have l5/s1 disc protrusion n L4/5 and L5/S1 facet joint issues as well nothing is working 14 years like it

great video, but It would be much better if you could share the references for the claims.

Hi from Australia, I'm 7 weeks into a buldged disc at L4 and L5 pressing on my S1. My physio has had me doing some leg stretches and I'm just not healing. This video has been so helpful, I need to listen to my own body first 😊 thanks for the great tips.

Thank you sir I'm having l4l5 left side herniation and l5s1 1.5mm herniation

I am in that 20 percent..ouch for the rolled up towel

I was told to stretch my hamstrings and I feel it’s made my disc injury worse. Thanks for the great info. I’ve seen a lot of different physios and unfortunately none of them seem to specialise in back issues or take time to make a thorough assessment.

Thank you very much for your clear and understandable advices. It really makes sense for my problems. 😃😍 There might be another movement which I like to do and I shouldn´t with my sciatica - the yoga position of child´s pose.

All u videos give me hope. I m suffering from bulging disc that is pinching the nerves. In lots of back pain for the pass month, i follow ur rules to avoid additional pain. I live upstairs and i have climb stairs. Is this bad for healing? Pls advise

Thank you very much I've been stretching my hamstrings while having bulging disc pain I do it by laying down. Ill stop that Also what about lying down and bringing one knee to the chest is that okay for bulging disc pain??

L5/S1 8 weeks ago MRI determined it was an extrusion. Hideous pain for first 4 weeks. Made worse of course pre diagnosis, when I thought it was a muscle issue. Excellent tips in this vid and very glad I came across it early-ish in about week 4. Key is avoid movement that aggravates the nerve/bulge issue. However, one thing that has worked for me is walking. Getting out of bed was awful with sciatica and very powerful ache down my right leg. But I just walked to through it while trying to lengthen the stride gradually. After about 4/5 km I found the pain dissipated and I could walk normally. After a few weeks of walking and avoiding aggravating exercise, the pain I wake up it getting less and less. Haven’t touched alcohol and have been staying very hydrated. Just thought I’d share my routine. Give walking a try

Regarding those hamstring stretches I agree almost 100%, I have done some exercises for hamstrings and glute stretches, and trigged sciatica, now pain in butt started (again), (forgot to mention I have degenerative L5/S1 disc), but I feel good when I do specially one you call it stretch, I call it nerve flossing, I lay on my back, leg is straight and I pull my toes towards me, in that position I just feel (especially when I started it) pulling that nerve or however it's called, and it feels good, also my hamstring feels smoother and less tight, so for me especially that one "stretch" feels ok, but ones that I did earlier was really bad, and I was doing it for about an month

Thanks for this! I have a moderate herniated disc at L5-S1 and a bulge at L4 that I have been dealing with for 18 months. Mostly it is my left side affected but has on occasion migrated to the right, too. My left piriformis is perpetually, chronically a cramped knot, as is my left calf. 1) What are your thoughts on stretching those areas? Same problem as with the hamstrings? 2) Are you familiar with the term nerve glides? They are a form of gentle, passive movement but similar to the hamstring stretch on one’s back you say to avoid. Same thing? Avoid nerve glides? Thanks so much.

Thank you! I'm dealing with multiple issues right now, and what got me here was the silly idea of "work through the pain". Now I've got a stress fracture in my knee, silly me.

My chiro told me to stretch hamstrings to no end. I was a supporter of chiro for so long, but haven't been in over a year and feel better than ever. Sports massage, controlled rehab for the win.

Please make a video on proper sitting posture. I've a job where I've to sit and work. Please please. I request. With love, from India.

Sorry for the random question..the shorts? I love them, what brand are they?

Everything you mentioned that one should not do was all the things that PT had me doing for 12 weeks after I had a L4,L5 herniation….here I am 11 years later with no improvement

Awesome👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

What should you do if you have "circumferential disc bulge" and stenosis at the same time? It seems like trying to address these two conditions work opposite each other.

I have a herniated lumbar disc, and tight hamstrings. The therapist is stretching my hamstrings, but I not suffer from symptoms of sciatica. Is stretching the hamstrings in my case dangerous? Thank you for this wonderful information.

Thank u so much for ur videos. Has helped me a lot. Does bird dog exercise uses the psoas muscles n is bad if we haven’t recovered. Plz do reply. Thank u in advance

I stopped doing my stretches when I'm feeling better and start then stop then start, I did not know smoking made it worse, that's probably another reason why. Thank you.

Been 2.5yrs with an L5 herniated disc. No matter what I do I cant get relief from the pain. I've leanrt some interesting things watching your videos. Thank you.

Love this video! I know I have them from an MRI but I have no pain from them so I don't know if they are getting better or not. Will follow the advice though thanks!

What about stretching the psoas and having someone do active release technique on your psoas??

I found straight posture sitting & hanging from a pull up bar cured my chronic lower back pain

I listened your couple of videos,found you elaborativ.knowleg solaced me a lot.am having sciatic nerve pain since two months.

Are there safe hamstring stretches, or avoid stretching them at all?

Can u please tell us about solar plexus

I didn’t know that the psoas muscle is connected to the disc. Good to know!

I've recently been diagnosed with a small disc bulge at my L4-L5, which is affecting the nerve root, along with arthritis and mild stenosis. Additionally, an imaging of my ankle revealed a 12mm orthochondral lesion on the talus cartilage. My rehabilitation doctor has suggested that physical therapy may not be effective, indicating that surgery may be necessary for both conditions. However, before any decisions are made, I am scheduled to consult with a back specialist who may recommend an epidural steroid injection to alleviate the inflammation. On the other hand, a friend of mine underwent a microdiscectomy and is now pain-free, which is an outpatient procedure. My husband, however, is hesitant about steroid treatment and surgery, suggesting that we address the ankle issue first and wait to see if symptoms improve. I am wearing a boot and hoping that my ankle would not get worse. My job entails walking 8-10k steps while pushing an equipment. Is the boot sufficient? What about the twisting and turning on corners and elevators? Could you suggest some exercises to prevent my disc bulge to get worse? What do you think? Thanks!

You showed the bad stretching exercises for hamstring, nice but… why didn’t you show the good ones instead? All physiotherapists in my city recommend stretching hamstrings with those bad exercises you just showed. More confused than ever

My PT told me the root cause of my back issues were tight hamstrings and advised me to stretch them daily.

Thank you Will, this is exactly what my PT is instructing me.