About a year and a half ago I severely injured my back. It was the most intense physical pain I ever had to deal with in my life. The weird thing about it was that I could walk ( through some pain ), but I couldn’t sit or lie down without pain going from my back all the way down my leg.
What I had was a herniated disc in my lower back, which I was told will require surgery to fix. Since I don’t believe in traditional medicine, surgery wasn’t an option. I personally prefer Chinese Medicine such as acupuncture and homeopathy, because the principles of this type of medicine makes the most sense to me.
I am obviously not a doctor, and the methods that I am about to share with you worked for me, but it might not work for everyone.
What I do know is, our bodies are very smart. When there is an illness present in our body, it immediately recognizes it and begins to the healing process. If you try to trick your body by treating the symptoms and not the root of the problem, the body looses the ability to heal it self.
Here is the step by step guide of how I healed my back:
1. I went to the acupuncturist ( you can go about once a month, more if you can ). Acupuncture works with nerves and harmony in your body. When you go to the acupuncturist be prepared to answer a lot of questions, very personal questions. I found this cool web site about Chinese Medicine and acupuncture ( it’s free ), check it out, this way you can get familiar with how they make a diagnosis and why it works. You can also have a free Online Diagnosis, which is pretty cool ( I am not promoting that website, and I am not affiliated with them in any way, I just found it very interesting and helpful )
2. Exercises for the disc you can do at home
- a. March in place ( not too fast ) with your knees high for about 5 minutes a day. Your hands should be by your sides. This really helps to align the spine and relieve the pain in your back.
- b. Using a balance ball appropriate for your height ( your knees should be at 90 degrees angle while sitting on a ball ), and perform mini bounces on the ball, also for 5 minutes, with your hands by your sides as well. This helps with pumping the blood to your discs, and also to relieve the pressure.
- c. Laying on your stomach, place your hands by your chest and lift your back as high as you can. Do 10 reps of that lift several times a day. I found this exercise to be in the top 3 for healing the disc. Every time I did it, it helped me with the pain. The exercise looks like this:
Here is also a very helpful pain relieving position, if you can lay like this for as long as you can, this will help you to relieve the pain even further and align your spine. Like this:
Stretching
Back stretches should be done everyday regardless if you have problems with your back or not. Our spine takes a huge toll while we stand or sit. Stretching your back not only will release the pain and tension, but it will also prevent problems in the future. It is the best thing you can do for your back. The stretches should be performed in the morning, mid day and evening.
Knee-to-chest stretches specifically stretch the muscles of the low and mid back and glutes. The key to knee-to-chest stretching is to relax before beginning to pull. Gently clasp your hands just below your knees, and pull with your arms, relaxing your low back, hold for 10 – 15 seconds and release.
Sleeping in the right position
If you have a foam roller you can use it underneath your back while you are sleeping, this will help to keep your spine in right position while you sleep. If you don’t have a foam roller, you can roll a towel, this works just fine. I actually still sleep like that every day. Don’ t sleep on your sides, this really deviates the spine.
Strengthen your abdominal muscles
The abdominal muscles provide approximately fifty percent of the support for the back. It is very important to keep these muscles strong. Every time you can find a couple of minutes a day ( let’s set on a commercial break while watching TV ), you can do few abs strengthening exercises. I recommend Myostatic Crunch, or anything similar to this exercise. Just as long as you keep using your abs. Tighten your abs while walking and sitting as much as you can, it becomes a habit after a while. This will really help you keep your back strong.
Your mind is everything
Remember that our body and mind is connected. The mind is a very powerful tool, once the illness effects the mind, the body will follow. So it’s very important to free your self from the root of your mind. It’s not always easy for us to do because the physical illness and pain makes it very real. I remember laying down on the floor and feeling so much pain, but I kept telling my self ” My body will heal “. It was an ongoing struggle with my mind.
Sometimes I did give inn to the pain, and I realized the more I gave inn, the longer it lived inside of me.
It’s been about 4 or 5 month’s since I recovered, sometimes I still can’t believe that I did, because I was told it’s impossible to recover unless I had the surgery. But here I am, healthy and loving fit