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You have been diagnosed with a disc bulge in the lower back like L4 L5 or L5 S1 and are looking for ways to rehab or strengthen the back or get those stability muscles stronger and stabilized to prevent further injury. In this video, I am going to show you two great exercises to help improve coordination stability of the lower back muscles, especially in this disc bulge injury situation like L4 L5 or L5 S1 disc bulge. Hi, it’s Dr. Walter Salubro, I’m a chiropractor in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. At our office we have helped hundreds of people recover from conditions related to chronic spinal degenerative conditions like L4 L5 disc bulge, L5 S1 disc bulge, even C5 C6 disc bulges in the cervical region which is the neck, leg pain, sciatica, numbness and tingling of the arms and legs. Also other conditions like scoliosis and poor posture. If you are new to this channel, go ahead and click on that subscribe button below and tap that notification bell. You will be notified on all the brand new content I put out on a regular basis. I give strategies and tips on how to overcome chronic degenerative spinal conditions, as well as give tips for stretches and exercises and introduce people to corrective chiropractic care methods.
So in this video I am going to show you two great exercises that are very important when it comes to stabilizing and strengthening the lower back, especially for disc bulge injuries. These are great for all low back conditions, but especially for disc bulge injuries. One of the exercises is really important if there is leg pain, that travelling shooting pain down the side of the leg, down to the foot that can be triggered by a disc bulge especially a posterior lateral disc bulge. You may have seen on your MRI that the disc bulge may be posterior lateral, which means back into the side and when that happens, that irritates the nerves that come up from the foraminal or that neuroforaminal, which is the opening on the side of the spine where the spinal nerve emerges from. So when a disc bulge is posterior and lateral, back into the side it can irritate that nerve. One of these exercises will really help to relieve that pain associated with that nerve irritation from that posterior lateral disc bulge that travels down to the back, into the leg and foot.
Let’s say there is a posterior lateral disc bulge at L4 L5, that will specifically irritate the L5 nerve root. A L5 S1 disc bulge will irritate the S1 nerve root. Let’s say it is on the left side, so either one those nerves will cause some type of pain down the left side. So if there is a left posterior lateral disc bulge, you will do a mobility exercises where you will bend your body to the opposite side.
What that does is, it creates a lateral bending in the lumbar spine and helps to gap away the disc bulge on the opposite side. It’s opening up the disc on the opposite side and relieving pressure on that nerve root. Now, if for any reason you’re doing this and it’s causing more irritation, then do not continue further. You never do an exercise that triggers more pain or more irritation. You should always get cleared by your physician or by anyone who knows your full clinical case to see if these exercises are suitable for you. It’s a very simple exercise, so again you are bending to the opposite side. Do this 5 or 10 times, as far as you an go without causing pain or discomfort. This exercise can be done standing or seated on a chair. When I give these to my patients to do either standing or seated, they tell me the left side pain and leg relief they begin to feel.
Exercise number two is more of a stability and strengthening exercise for the lower back specifically for the multifidus muscle. The multifidus muscle is one of the most important muscles of the lower back for stability, strengthening and supporting the lumbar spine and in fact gets activated with specific motions. So this muscle is a stabilizer of the lower back and if it’s not activated and utilized fully because of injuries or low back muscle conditions, then it’s not functioning properly and not supporting your back fully. So what happens is the multifidus muscle goes along the lower part of your spine and gets triggered with motion. So if I raise my left hand, the right multifidus muscle begins to get activated as a stabilizer.
If the muscle is weakened or “sleepy” it is not being activated and is not functioning properly. What you can do it put your thumb behind your lower back, just to the side of the bony prominence of the spine and lift your arm up to the side. You should feel that part of your spine begin to activate or bulge out. You can also get a weight, a 2 lb weight and lift your arm up laterally to begin activating that opposite multifidus muscle. That creates some stability and strengthening of that lower back muscle. You can start without the weight, it’s the hand motion that we are focused on, or you can use a weight whether it’s a dumbbell or a can of beans. Raise your arm up 5 to 10 times and then switch sides, this will create coordination and stability of the lower back especially for an injured disc bulge. When there is an injury to the spine, the multifidus muscle and other muscles as well will not activate properly and are not supporting the spine properly.
I hope you found this to be valuable and useful. Make sure to check with your therapist, chiropractic, or doctor to see if you can add this into your program and if it’s suitable for you. Again, make sure to subscribe and click that notification bell. Thank your for listening and watching and I’ll see you in the next video.
