How to Get Relief From Degenerative Disk Disease

Dr. Alyssa Kuhn shows us how:

Giving your spine the support it needs

While exercises can’t do much about the actual degeneration of the disks in question, what they can do is support your spine such that much less pressure is placed on them during everyday life, because the muscles of your back are lifting them up.

Naturally, it is important to do the exercises carefully, because you don’t want to do the opposite of take pressure off the spine, and do yourself an injury while unduly pressuring it during exercise.

So, here’s how to balance those needs and get where you need to be:

1. Pelvic tilt with alternating leg lifts: lie on your back, tilt your hips backwards to press your lower back into the floor, bend your knees, lift one leg, then the other while keeping your lower back flat and preventing it from arching.
2. Modified side plank: lie on your side with your knees bent, prop yourself up on your elbow with your shoulder directly above your elbow, lift your hips from your knees, squeeze your glutes, and hold the position.
3. Stair calf stretch: place the balls of your feet on the edge of a step with your heels hanging off, stack your feet if comfortable, lower your heels to stretch your calves, and hold the position.
4. Standing high knee march: stand tall with your shoulders rolled back, lift one knee as high as you can without leaning forwards, lower it, then alternate sides while keeping your chest upright.
5. Resistance band row: secure a resistance band to a sturdy anchor, hold both ends, stand tall with your shoulder blades back and elbows close to your sides, pull the band towards your torso while squeezing your shoulder blades together, pause briefly, then slowly return your arms to the starting position.

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

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For a much deeper understanding of treating back pain, here’s a great book that we reviewed a little while back:

Treat Your Own Back – by Robin McKenzie ← he’s a physiotherapist and not a doctor, and/but with 40 years of practice to his name and 33 letters after his name (CNZM OBE FCSP (Hon) FNZSP (Hon) Dip MDT Dip MT), he seems to know his stuff. His work is very well-respected, and almost any English-speaking physiotherapist will have read his books.

Take care!