So you’ve been diagnosed with a herniated disc. How will you cope with possible surgery? The good news is more than likely you won’t have to! 

Being a former herniated disc patient myself, I wondered why or how I led myself to have this much pain in my back and left leg. The physician that diagnosed this condition said that I may need to have surgery. I was a little worried and wondered how I got this debilitating condition in the first place and wanted to find any alternative treatments if possible instead of surgery.

Not wanting to ever get a herniated disc again, I studied intensely into the causes of herniated disc and found a few leading factors that bring this condition on and what may have caused my herniated disc.

It was interesting to find out that it is more common to see this condition in people aged 35 to 55. Being overweight can put extra pressure on the discs and even smoking can cause degeneration in the disc. Lifting heavy objects the wrong way by twisting suddenly is a more obvious cause. Not eating enough nutritional foods such as fruits and vegetables and drinking 8-10 glasses of water daily can really have an impact. We are always reminded that our health relies heavily on what nutrition our bodies get on a daily basis.

The bad news is that sugar depletes our body of vitamins and minerals. It causes your body to not effectively absorb calcium and magnesium. Both are vital to bone strength. So it is important to watch our intake of sugar, which can be tough for me when chocolate comes to mind!

Stress contributes as well. It’s really difficult to think happy thoughts when you have this condition, you want to stress more, but just know that there are very effective ways of eliminating the pain of the herniated disc that don’t have to be as drastic as surgery.

What was extremely helpful in my recovery was stretching and strengthening exercises and a traction machine that I rented from my doctor. This type of therapy relieved the pressure from the spine and muscles, ligaments and tendons surrounding it. So the pain significantly decreased and I my back was feeling more flexible again with less pain and eventually pain free.