I have a few quick recommendations: If you’re experiencing a lot of pain, constant from the moment you wake up until you fall asleep, you’re in a state of inflammation and exercise will increase it. You can find pain relief during night by sleeping in a sitting position but laying on your back. So basically you put something under your lower limbs to achieve a 90 degree angle in your hips and again in your knees. Just as if you were sitting. Make use of a TENS in this fase, it will numb the pain and increases blood flow. Apply it and open the area where the hernia is located. Probable your GP can explain you. A herniated disk will go trough 3 phases, the inflammatory phase which is very painful. Your auto immune system will be set in motion to recycle the herniated material. Next you have the tissue repair phase, the ruptured annulus fibrosus is being repaired and in this phase you can start up the Mckenzie procedure. After you went through this procedure you will end up in the tissue remodeling phase in which you need to start the correct exercises to remodel the new scar tissue so it becomes flexible. In all cases it’s of critical importance to be guided by a good GP. I ‘am not a health care provider, just an other victim who read the Mechanical Diagnostic & Therapy books of Robin Mckenzie. If your pain increases, go one step back. Assure you posture is correct at all time during the day, mind your lordosis! Remember, you’re not alone and self education is the key to succes. You need to understand your condition in order to deal with it in your everyday live. Good luck, I’m also still recovering. Oh, and if you run into a doctor that tells you a condition is for the rest of your live, you best seek help elsewhere. Very few conditions are for live, the body has an enormous capacity to heal itself. It only needs the right circumstances. One last tip, in the inflammation state, make tea from ginger, fresh curcuma root and black pepper. Flood yourself with it, it has remarkable benefits.

Omg! Thank you! I felt like you were speaking directly to me. I’m praying I can heal over time.

You are giving me some hope. I see the world falling apart infront of me.

Thank you so much for your testimony!! It was Super encouraging and I’m so glad you’ve had a successful recovery. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you so much for uploading this :) truly gave me hope, I’m going to commit and be consistent and get out of this! Congrats on your recovery, it must be so gratifying to see results after a long time.

Thank you so much for sharing your success story. As an over50-year old Ballerina, I pushed vigorously in the Forward Fold position of Yoga in order to stretch my hamstrings, touch the floor with my palms, and forward split as low as I could. My Yin Yoga Teacher, Ballet Teacher, and Primary Care Physician never told me the possible disc harm I was self-imposing. So, I kept pushing through the pain yo get my results and now I’m out of Ballet and in Physical Therapy to deal with a 1mm bulging disc between L4 and L5. I am depressed and feel hopeless, until I came across this vi

Emma thanks so much. I got a disc bulge a month and some weeks ago and this video really helped. Thankbyou so much from the bottom of my heart.

Great story! Makes me feel so much better and upbeat about my recovery and healing process.

I've had a very similar arc to my injury and this video really brings me a lot of validation and optimism. Thank you.

Thanks for sharing your recovery story, it certainly gives hope to the like of us who are going through similar situation! ❤

…this video. Thank you SO much for providing your insights into your journey. I look forward to being healed completely and entering the Ballet once again.

Thanks Emma for sharing your experience.

Hi Emma . Thanks for sharing your story. You story has motivated me to never give up and try harder to recover from my back injury. I just re injured my back again doing incorrect stretches I got from from my physical therapist . 2 months ago I injured my knee at the gym . I am very active and landed on my knee wrong. I was sent by my doctor to start physical therapy. I was given a regiment stretches to do from my PT. For two weeks i did them without fail , and somehow bulged out another disk . My doctor is thinking L3 causing my upper legs to pinch in and burn. I been like this for 2 months. I been seeing my chiropractor and he feels it’s another disk injury. I will start PT again on Tuesday at Kaiser. If that doesn’t work . My doctor will send me to physical medicine to see a doctor for a steroid shot . I rather heal it natural like you did . You give me hope . You are amazing Emma for Sharing your courageous story with all of us of your journey recovering from your back injury. Thanks again . Be safe and be well 🙂

Physiotherapist here. Great work Inspiring and excellent way of sharing your experience with others! Really Helps to show there is a light at the end of the tunnel. My bug bare is consultants telling their patients what they can’t do and how they have to change their life. Utter bullocks. People CAN live a full life and if not even more then what they did pre bulge with a diagnosis of a lumbar disc bulge or herniation. Most of us carry bulges without even realising. There is not taking away the horrendous pain you can have when one is acutely flared but be reassured MOST do settle and you can get back to your life! 🙏❤

Thank you so much Emma for sharing your story with the world! Stay always happy and well! God bless you!

Thanks a lot for sharing your succesful recovery journey.

It’s great to hear you are pain free after such a long journey. I currently have a herniated L5 pinching my nerve, running down my right side. Initially hurt my back last November but worked through it, good days/ bad days. I’d been training for an Ironman race taking place this Sunday! Had been going to physical therapy and getting acupuncture twice a week and things were going well training wise, swim was great, my bike was coming along, that’s where I had most of my pain, my right hamstring & glute really tightened up but we’re getting better after doing the prescribed stretches. I’d done most of my run training on the treadmill up until about seven weeks ago. Then after a couple of long road runs everything seemed ok. I literally sat into my car one morning and the pain in my hamstring/ glute was excruciating. I could barely walk. I’m currently only really pain free lying down, I have been doing the Mackenzie method and sill going to physio. I had an MRI and I had both an epidural and a steroid shot into my spine. It gave some relief but I still cannot walk more than 30/40 feet without having to lie down and stretch. Going for surgery next Thursday 18th. Hopefully it will take the pressure off the nerve and be pain free 🤞. It was great to hear your story and I hope you stay pain free.

THank you so much for sharing your Success Story. I have been suffering for almost 6 months now and I needed positive stories to keep me consistent and hopeful about a good future.

Thank you for giving people with back pain hope. Thanks for telling us to be positive and proactive. And for telling us to do the work! ❤️ thank you thank you for giving us hope. It can be such a depressing experience.

Thank you for this video and congrats that you recovered

This is almost exactly my story - right up to the cortisone shot, which I have scheduled for tomorrow. 3 months of pain and PT and I'm hopeful I can make a full recovery. This is very encouraging!!

Emma thanks so much for sharing your story!

Thank you, I needed this. I recently injured my spine squatting heavy with poor form. 4 weeks later and I am still in discomfort every day. I am getting serious about my road to recovery now and my ultimate goal is to return to squatting and deadlifting pain free -- even if Im doing less weight than before. I'm really happy for you that you got over this issue. You are truly an inspiration. Best of luck in your journey and god bless.

Thank you so much for this. You give me hope ❤

You just helped me soooo much! Day 43 of herniated and bulging C5-7. Ego checked and unable to exercise at all at the moment (dreaming of the day i get back to it). But you’ve given me hope. Thank you!!!

Thank you for this. You have given me hope when I needed it.

It’s been about 4 years since my back surgery for my herniated disc and seeing this honestly gives me some hope🙏🏼 since my surgery I’ve had some set backs with other injuries and a hernia surgery that didn’t go well and prevented me from doing PT for over a year. But now I’ve been in pt again for the past year and I’m finally seeing some progress. I’m actually squatting a 20 lb dumbbell for 20 reps. Not much but for the longest time I couldn’t even carry a case of water from my car to my apartment. My sciatica has also gotten a lot better then where it was before but it’s still a work in progress trying to manage it. Idk if that’ll ever fully go away but I’m just happy my lower back is finally feeling somewhat okay again and now after seeing this I really think I can get to a point where I can squat my body weight one day. Still working up to try and jog. Kind of scared since it’s been 4 years since I’ve jogged or ran but I gotta take the leap of faith eventually🙏🏼

Thanks for sharing! Just one note on the cobra pose though: I learned from reading Dr. Stuart McGill's books that the cobra pose only helps people with more than 70% of disc height remaining, if you have significant disc height loss, the cobra pose can make it worse.

Thank you for sharing. I’m going thru almost the exact thing. People don’t believe me when I tell them the pain is so bad it makes you feel like taking your own life some days.

Wow. Thank you for sharing this. You are so right. You have to check your ego. I've had a bulging disk for a year and 4 months. I am finally getting better because I have been listening to what they are saying. Amazing video!

Thank you so much for this information its been a month since and I am so glad i got to see this video ❤I was so depressed and now i literally see a ray of light😇 😊😊

Regained so much hope watching this video. Thank you so much

Thank you for giving me a hope ❤.

I appreciate this video. Thank you! It really resonated with me.

L4l5 and l5s1 2 disc bulge over strech spinal ligamental and hurt to facet joints grater on the left mine were not jut disc bulge they were disc protusions worst then just a disc bulge and i was of pain in 12 weeks,guys keep moving u stay in bed ur f...ed walk if u dont get pain while walking walk! U gota keep the blood flow to heal faster what i did was i did alot of core muscle training Superman back extention Bridges Planks Cat cow Push ups Every morning on bed i would do bridges to active my lower back muscles then start the day with a hot shower foucus the hot water on my lower back, heat on the lower back will help with blood flow around that area. Im doing back muscle guys u need to make back muscle to support ur spine make a better core u need mack muscle and abs, dont bend foward im a machanic and still get the job done if i have to work on a lower area i squat or get on my knees,if pick up somthing from the floor i bend my knees and squat a little everything helps,i got injured on feb 26 of this year and im pain free as of now am i 100% heald i dont think so am i going to stop working out or paying attention to my back i dont think so ima keep up helping my back why cause i need my back dor the rest of my life! Guys im pain free i dont take pain pills and i have no surgery and i didnt even get the shot for my spine when dr offer it💪🏾 ima tell u guys somthing body makes u feel pain for a reason so u wont get hurt more and stop doing bad stuff that hurts it so what do u think its going to happen if u dont feel pain cause u have shot of anestesia in ur spine ur going to make it worsti see it this way those shots are like a band aid ur not fixing the problem ur covering it. A disc problem heals in 6 week to 6 month if u have 2 disc problems or more it can take a year so dont rush to surgery stay strong guys i know how u feel i couldnt walk for days at some point,i was even crawling from my bed to the restrooms was on bed for days i had to research and took maner to heal my selft faster cause drs dont care about u my dr didnt even bother to read my mri and didnt explain it to me,i had to look for some one to help me under stand my mri, and that person even helped me with work outs and stuff his name is remi sovran look him up in youtube he has bad disc to and he heald his back and now even dead lifts near 400lbs. There is hope guys,dont rush for shots and surgery!!! U mest up ur back little by little now u gota fix it and let it heal little by little. Im hear if u guys need some words i know how u guys feel i was on depression for 2month plus the week i got my i jury my grand pa passed away a man who was like my father sence my dad left me when i was 5 years old and my grandpa took care of me so trust me i know how u guys feel thinking am i going to be normal, am i going to have xxx, am i going to walk, am i going to be able to work, i understand u guys give ur selft a break and if u cant walk right now and ur in bed use that time to think everything on how u plan to heal on what food are u going to eat like a diet think everything to not hurt ur body and take care of ur selft meditate and also what helped me alot was to pray God hears guys even my pt trainer told me God hears! God bless u all and ur bodys 😇🙏

Thanks for making this. Having a very similar journey.

I needed this! Thank you!

I’m glad you made it through

thanks for sharing! i am very new to this and i felt down lately because of the idea of not doing sports again. you gave me hope :)

Thank you for you inspiration such a long story. You giving me a hope.

This helps a lot thank you. Just got diagnosed today.

Thanks for the inspirational story. I’m a few months behind you with the same story and hoping for the same success 🤞🏻

Wow, so glad I found your video! I’m going through this now.

Thanks for sharing your journey

Great video! thanks so much for sharing!

Thank you so much dear for this sharing. I feel the heartbreak too, when they doctor said you cannot do this and that. All the things that he said was my favourite activities such as treadmill, badminton and zumba. 😭😭 It hurt me so much, when i read that slip disc do not have cure and the doctor also said you can only recover up to 90% or less depending on the individual. It hurt so much hearing that. The worst is this put so impact on my work. Im working in so much pain. Im crying everytime the pain come. I have meet doctor for recovery and also did MRI. And im diagnose with L5-S1. 😭😭 He said i need to do yoga and planks everyday, take vitamin b12, physiotherapy 3x/week and also nerve medicine. We will meet again in 3 months. Hope it works, pray for me ya! Watching your video, give me motivation to not give up and it is not impossible to cure. Thank you, again!

Thank you Emma, I identify with almost everything youv'e said and it is very encouraging to see the light in the end of the tunnle 😅

Thank you for your pozitivity!!

Thanks for sharing your experience! All the way from India.🙏🙏🙏

it is indeed very important to give this feedback of recovery. There is not enough feedbacks of these discs issues months after conservative therapies. Even about what the pain exactly looks like. Tingling is too vague for example... I am suffering from a lot of discs diseases 3 on the cervical spine, 3 in the thoracic spine and 1 in the lumbar spine. I can tell you it is the hell on earth everyday. I am continuing physiotherapy, some cox method chiropractor and yoga body 21 day challenge (hips and back). I am still crossing my fingers to be able to live again. Your video gave me hope ! Thank you

I’m blessed to find you. At this moment I feel some hope. Thank you so much. I live in New York. As well I will look forward. To. Find your doctor

Thank you, useful information. I am waiting for the MRI scan at present and Naproxen (anti-inflammatory) is keeping the pain at bay without the need for strong painkillers (Zapain), I was on before. It is good to hear your experiences in a positive way, I don't feel so alone with it now, thank you again.

Thanks for this really thoughtful video. Currently 8 weeks into rehab. It’s slow and monotonous. Videos like this are greatly appreciated when going through the setbacks, fluctuating symptoms and grind of early stage rehab. Also a really good point at the end about chronic pain and the mental component that is often part of the problem.

Thanks a lot Emma, for sharing this positive experience. I have been carrying myself a L4 L5 bulged disk for the past 7 months, but seems it's now on its way to recovery. Now, I need to get back to my routine (or a new one) because, I have lost a lot of flexibility over these past 7 months.

Thank you for giving me hope. I cant barely stand.

Thanks for the inspirational story...

Thanks for your words. A month and a half ago I was in a car accident and the MRI results show that i have a herniated disc (C5-6 ) on my neck and 3 more neck discs bulging . I had been feeling frustrated because I can’t workout and is (was) the only ME TIME. The pain is not so bad ,but I don’t want to get worse. That’s why I stop working out for good but I was thinking that it must be a way to workout without getting worse. That’s how I found you … looking for a routine that even with this neck injury I might be able to do 😢😊

Thankyou for sharing really helpful 😊

Super helpful. Thank you.

Hi, I loved listening to your story and have been going through the videos of wonderful and inspirational souls like you who have gone through the journey that I will probably. Thanks a lot for being of so much hope, cannot thank you enough. I’m in a similar situation where an MRI has detected a herniated L5/S1 disc broad based posterior herniation) and a bulging L4/L5. I’ve started with Mckenzie exercises and am feeling that there is some improvement - in about three days. I have two specific questions which have been bugging me and haven’t gotten helpful answers yet. helpful to have comments from this community (apologies for the long reads): 1. I was doing snatches about 4 weeks ago and felt my back tweak. Post the tweak, I continued with the session while avoiding snatches. I definitely had screwed up posture the two days before this snatch session. Once I came back home, I was walking around like a crane (if you know what I mean). A couple of days of rest and I was feeling ok - I went out and climbed up a few stairs and felt great. Gradually, I started climbing stairs - Added a 25 kg pack to increase intensity of my exercises - managed about 100 floors in two weeks following the tweak. I also road bicycled a couple of times. I was feeling great during and after the exercise (but would assume poor posture later). About 3 weeks since the incidence, there was some remnant pain - I decided to get an MRI and bam! The question is: does this mean my posture is the bigger factor (which I know was poor) than the exercises and I can potentially improve quickly? Also, there has been no tweak in my back since that initial tweak - so has exercise helped me (or at least not worsened me) since the tweak? I did manage to get fitter in the 3 week period before the MRI - so find it strange to believe that the body did not send me a signal. 2. Sometimes I think there is something on the back of my thigh or calf - but that hasn’t been discomforting (but just present sometimes - but I wonder if that’s just the muscle ‘existing’). I am not entirely sure if I am making it up or really having remotely sciatic pain. Is this relatable? Overall, I feel lucky to have discovered this before a debilitating injury, and more importantly, to find a community who have gone through a similar journey and keeping each other strong. I personally will now be taking charge and responsibility for following the process to get out of this and come out wiser and stronger.

Thank you for the hope you gave me!

Thanks for sharing, really inspiring.

Thanks for sharing! I got diagnosed with L5 slip disc. After 2 months of rest and physical therapy, i feel a LOT better. Aim is to take it slow and get back to normal in 2-3 months. Hopefully I'll be able to do an mount everest base camp next year :) Also - I didn't know patients would be able to lift again. Kudos to you!

This is exactly how my experience was. No shot just needed rest first, then physical therapy. I did it backwards and stayed in pain through all the physical therapy. When I got rest I got better. The body is amazing and can do a lot but still needs rest.

I’m glad I finally have someone breaking it down. At 15 I was doing football, wrestling, Olympic lifting, working on a farm. I did 4-6 hours of exercise a day bench was 275 squat was 565 and deadlift was 710 all while maintaining a 6 min mile. Then I had kids young stopped working out starting working regular jobs and now at 30 I have an outbreak of a neurological disorder that lead to weakness and inevitably doing what I always do bulging disc and an annular tare. Now a days just carrying laundry to my laundry room makes my back sore but I’m noticing days that I stay lightly active and do some walking I’m not as sore. Something about the activity that helps but thanks to your advice I’m gonna work on getting back to pts and finishing this.

Finally a video with hope.

This is really inspiring!It’s been 6 months since I’ve lifted in the gym.I herniated my L4-L5 disc and I’m improving everyday and your story inspired me a lot more!Currently doing McGill’s Big 3,the McKenzie stretch and glute bridge so that I don’t leave any stones unturned and come back stronger.Lots of love from India🇮🇳♥️

Thankyou for sharing your story, which is full of so many gems! I'd be curios to know if you move any differently now, compared to prior to your injury, or is the only difference a stronger core?

This gave me some hope. It’s been over 3 months since I even set foot in the gym but yes checking my ego was a bit of a challenge. After watching this, I’m glad I did it early on. The doctor has told me I’ll never be working out again but I am not going to give up so easily. Have been doing the exercises at home and will get into physical therapy this week. Hoping for the best. Thank you for sharing your journey.

Thank you so much for your sharing, it is so inspiring. I have just come across your channel through this video and I see more recent ones show you bending, lifting and twisting in ways I wouldn't dare to even think of trying now and most times I am pain-free, it's only when I bend forward that I feel some pain. But I would still like to ask you if you currently have any limitations in the range of movements you can make and postures you can take or activities you can do? I just want to go back to dancing, doing my yoga and making love without the fear of making it worse 😃

You deserved a million like. I been there and it’s killing me a live it’s unbearable cuz I am a chef and has to stand for 10 hours a day! I finally has a surgery today I feel so much better.

This was inspiring, thank you! I have hope to get back to my normal self :)

Thanks for sharing. Very helpful.

Thank you for explaining. It is my first month with this issue and yes I'm trying to keep my ego down by taking rest and following Doctors instruction.

Inspirational ! I’m 3 months into my recovery journey. Herniated my L5/S1, also got an epidural shot and started my therapy 2 weeks ago and I can hienetly say I’m about 70% back to recovery. I can resume my normal life activities, which is a big blessing for me and my toddler boy. So far, working on core workouts, like planks, prone press push ups, dips, and sciatic stretches for the nerve pain I used to have. Hopefully I can have a full recovery and continue my fitness journey.

Excellent!

Thank you Emma 😘♥️

Thank you so much for this.

Thanks for this! I have a herniated disc and can get out of pain with rehab but I kept relapsing due to rushing back to lifting heavy. I wasn't giving it neer enough time to heal, needed to hear that check the ego part and how it took you almost 8 months just to get back to body weight deadlift.

Thank you so much for this video

I just did my surgery today I been in pain fir almost 1 year and finally I just did my surgery. I hope I it fell better and never come back tha pain! I fell you Ema

I loved this video. I have c6 c7 protrusion and it is so awful. I got better in 3 month and i went through everything you said... still in pain, not able to do my daily routine. But got hope to feel better and live a pain-free life...

Very lovely video, thank you, I’m going to my 9 weeks now, my problem is that I don’t like to take meds(pills) since I listened to your video, I’m constantly taking my anti-inflammatory pills, muscles relaxers, doing my stretches(inverted table) next week I will have a Steroid injection, really taking care of myself, thank you so much for your encouragement ❤️

Great advice!

Thanks a lot for sharing ur story! I got my MRI diagnosis today with 2 herniated disks. And of course the doctor said I should forget abt weight training. Ur video helped me a lot to understand what I should do now.

Thanks for your positive video , made me feel better. Going through what you went through for 8 months or more , did not take injection though and am 55 years lld

Thank you I got inspired by your story I'm also trying meditation during this process

I have a herniated disc and slight bludge. I got the shot too. It's been about a month after the shot the pain was a 9 before the shot after the shot it was a 6. I agree some days are better than most. I been doing cardio 3 days a week losing weight too as they asked me to do and not do any lifts that do spine flection. It seems to sum what your saying is it's gonna take a good amount of time till it heals. I been trying to stay patient to let it heal, I was avoiding ibuprofen till now because I didn't want to be dependent on it. They doctors keep suggesting surgery I been trying to avoid it and I don't want to do it but I'm hoping it will self heal like yours too but the issue is I just don't have that time to wait 3-6 months to heal because I have to find work. I can't even work in this condition hard enough to walk.

The Mackenzie extension (cobra pose) works only if your herniated/bulging disc has at least 70% of it's original height. It is not a panacea for back pain.

This just popped up on my feed because I’ve experienced the same thing, herniated L4-L5, bulging L3-L4, for several years now but the worst one Christmas weekend 2022. I had to cancel all my vacations. I realized the issue stems from years back and never truly doing anything about it besides regular chiropractic adjustments. Getting the MRI and PT was the answer and modifying my exercises and even daily movements made a difference. Oh, and the 2 biggest things I stopped: Deadlifting and Squats. Those were the workouts that consistently cause flare ups and more pain. Now I’ve incorporated the PT exercises in my daily exercises and it’s been extremely helpful. No injections for me.

Really inspiring, Emma. How much of your recovery do you attribute to the steroid injection vs. PT?

Your story gave me some hope. I have a 14 mm herniation and my doctors are suggesting surgery.

Thanks for this. I was diagnosed 2 weeks ago with a bulged disc at l5 to s1. No pain yet but there is little numbness in my right feet sometimes in my left hand. I have started seeing a physical therapist right away after my diagnosis as I do not want to feel the pain. I am currently on my 6th session with proper movement and core strengthening. We all can do this.

Thanks fot the Video - Im so relating to not checking the ego. Everytime I get a little out of pain I destroy myself going right back into turkish getups heavy. Ive starting doing the L5 execises from AthleanX. Im committing to just swimming and body weight for next year.

Thanks for your honest story. It gives me hope! I’m going 6 months with excruciating sciatica pain from herniated L4 and L5 confirmed by MRI. Can you do a video about your experience getting the shot? I hear some concerns for them but at the same time many people have gotten a shot. Thanks!

Thank you so much. I needed to hear the "do the exercises everyday" . I think when my pain lessens I do less of the exercises because it doesn't feel urgent. I herniated a disc in 2019 when I was playing tug with my dog. Would love to heal completely so I can do things like deadlifts.

Unfortunately but fortunately this is what I needed to hear. Going on a year of no progress with my herniated disk. Going to PT but not doing it as diligently as I need to. Need to just suck it up and stop with the weights for now. Appreciate you sharing your story.

Hey thank you so much for sharing! Your story gives us hope. Do you take any mri after u feel real pain free? Just to confirm that your herniation is gone?

I’m only 20 years young scared and hopeless at times. Especially during the worst times when the pain was unbearable, where oddly enough I truly felt like dying would have been the better choice😅 I am now being treated and getting seen and doing therapy for it. Slowly but surely getting better. I still have pain but definitely am trying to stay strong. I love to know others have had same experiences and seeing them with no pain and feeling back to normal, it truly gives me more hope it’s been a life changing experience🙏

Thank you for your recommendations, I'm seeing a spine doctor today.