Read full video transcript below:
In both L4 L5 disc bulges and L5 S1 disc bulges, they can both give symptoms into the leg, down into the leg, into the calf, the heel, and even into the foot. It could be a numbing sensation or a tingling sensation. Often, it can cause trouble with walking, standing, moving around, sitting and even sleeping. In this video, you will learn when a disc bulge symptom is getting worse and when it’s getting better, a very important concept.
Hi there. I’m Dr. Walter Salubro. I’m a chiropractor in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada and what this channel is about, is to give tips and strategies on how to strengthen and stabilize the back. So if you are struggling with your back and are looking to get back to a normal life and want to learn how to bend, move, and lift easier without pain and limitation, then subscribe right now by clicking the red button below and tap on the notification bell like this, so you don’t miss out on the great new content that I put out regularly.
If you follow any of my videos already, you’ll know that a disc bulge injury in the lower back like L4 L5 and L5 S1, can cause a tremendous amount of pain, disability, and limitations, not just by causing local back pain, but also leg pain. One of the things I look for when someone’s under care in my office is to measure how things are changing and improving. There are a lot of different ways we measure that, but from a symptom perspective, there’s one specific thing I’m looking for which I’ll talk about in this video. Before I continue, you will need to understand the anatomy of the spine which you can find at 1:25 of the video.
As mentioned in the video, when the lower lumbar and sacral nerves are irritated, the pain can shoot down into the leg and foot. That is called peripheralization. When there is peripheralization of symptoms associated with a disc injury, that means that the problem is progressing and getting worse which is what we are trying to avoid. It is very painful and can cause a lot of limitation. Other signs of peripheralization can be shrinking of the muscles like around the calf, the girth of the muscles, as well as the girth of the thigh. I’ve seen that with our patients. That means that the nerves are literally choking off and those muscles are shrinking and dying. Other aspects of peripheralization can be alterations in deep tendon reflexes, diminished light touch sensation, or even weakness in the lower extremities like the foot in terms of lifting the foot which is dorsiflexion or plantarflexion, or in the big toe. We check for all these because they are are all signs of peripheralization.
Now here’s the key. This is very important, that you need to look for when you’re doing therapies or rehab or any type of care for your lower back, for your discs conditions. When the peripheralization is reducing, minimizing and returning back from down the legs to the lower back region, that’s called centralization. That’s a sign that the condition is improving away from peripheralization, towards the source of the problem. Sometimes during centralization, there is more low back symptoms and less leg pain symptoms, and during peripheralization there are less low back symptoms and more leg pain symptoms. The purpose of this video is to give you a distinction of centralization, peripheralization, what it means when the disc bulge is getting worse and when it is progressing and how you know that the symptoms and conditions are improving. When there is these types of degenerative conditions on the spine, it is always important to get it corrected and analyzed properly.
So if you’re ever looking for corrective care chiropractor, which is the kind of work that I do in my office, leave a comment below and I’ll help and direct you towards a directory of corrective care trained and certified doctors around the United States, Canada and other parts of the world. Hopefully you can find one in your area. Let me know what you thought about this video, comment below. Don’t forget to subscribe and click that notification bell. If you’re looking for more exercises to do for your lower back and you haven’t seen this yet, check out this video linked below that has four great exercises for the lower back for L4 L5 disc bulge.
Low Back Exercises for L4 L5 disc bulge:
Best Exercise For L4 L5 Disc Bulge Best Exercise For L4 L5 Disc Herniation
