1. Home
2. Symptoms & Conditions
3. Disc Herniation

Disc Herniation

Between 60% and 80% of people will experience low back pain at some point in their lives. A high percentage of people will have low back and leg pain caused by a herniated disk. Most of disc herniation do not require surgery, physiotherapy treatment can be used to correct this problem.

Cause of disc herniation

Disc herniation is the most common and degradation associated. Disc wear and tear is called disc degeneration. With aging, the water content of the disc will be reduced. This will make them even a slight strain also makes the disc tear.

Disc herniation is also caused by incorrect posture or accidental injury caused by excessive force to bend over to get heavy and incorrect posture will increase the pressure on the spine, this will make the disc wear and tear. If the disc is herniated at your neck, your shoulder and arm will feel numbness. Sometimes even when you cough, sneeze you will feel this numbness or tingling.

Sign/symptom of disc herniation

Arm or leg pain. If your herniated disk is in your lower back, you'll feel the most intense pain in your buttocks, thigh and calf. It may also involve part of the foot. If the herniated disk is in your neck, the pain will typically be most intense in the shoulder and arm. This pain may shoot into your arm or leg when you cough, sneeze or move your spine into certain positions.

Numbness or tingling. People who have a herniated disk often experience numbness or tingling in the body part served by the affected nerves.

Weakness. Muscles served by the affected nerves tend to weaken. This may cause you to stumble, or impair your ability to lift or hold items.

Risk Factors

• Wearing high heels for a prolonged period
• Obesity - weight cause your disc to withstand the extra pressure.
• genetic
• bad posture
• elderly- cause degeneration of spine

How does physiotherapist treat with my disc herniation?

When you begin your treatment, our physiotherapist a will give you tips on the posture and how to do your activities without putting extra strain on your hips. Our physiotherapist will also perform:

• Heat to increase blood circulation and relax the muscles of the affected area
• Shortwave, ultrasound , shock wave will help to reduce inflammation.
• Flexion and traction technique- Use way to correct the position of traction in different direction to speed up recovery.

Exercise for disc herniation

Trunk Curl: Trunk Curl strengthen the abdominal muscles.

1. Keep the knees bent and the lower back flat on the floor while raising the shoulders up 3 - 6 inches.
2. Exhale on the way up, and inhale on the way down.
3. Perform this exercise slowly five times with the arms across the chest.

Pelvic Tilt. The pelvic tilt alleviates tight or fatigued lower back muscles.

• Lie on the back with the knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Tighten the buttocks and abdomen so that they tip up slightly.
• Press the lower back to the floor, hold for one second, and then relax.
• Be sure to breathe evenly.

Hamstring stretch: Help to stretch the muscle groups of your low back.

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent. Raise one leg slowly and place your hands behind your knee.
2. Straighten your leg as much as you can, and gently pull it toward your chest.
3. Hold for a few seconds, then return to the starting position and repeat with the other leg.

Each set of these exercise should be repeated five times per set and three sets per day, this could strengthen and stretch your back muscle group.