What is the best way to prevent a herniated disc?

introduction

In the case of a herniated disc, one or more intervertebral discs move out of their physiological bearing due to the action of force and slide in the direction of the spinal cord, which they ultimately compress.
This causes severe pain, up to paralysis and complete loss of function.
In most cases, a herniated disc will progress with milder symptoms. Nevertheless, everything should be done to prevent a herniated disc.

root cause

Anyone who has already had a herniated disc doesn't want to have one again anytime soon. So many patients ask if it is Exercises with which one can prevent a herniated disc. A herniated disc is not an isolated occurrence, but usually has a multifactorial basis. Causes include one permanent incorrect loading of the spine, frequent sitting (Office work) in combination with little movement. Little sport and being overweight are also among the causes of a herniated disc.

If you know the causes, you can almost answer the question of prevention yourself.
General is a healthy lifestyle, with plenty of exercise, correct posture and a balanced diet crucial. For example, overweight patients with a BMI of 27.5 or more have one Twice the risk, one disc prolapse to suffer. Years of sitting or years of improper exercise also lead to Degeneration of the intervertebral disc. The inner core of the intervertebral disc - which actually works like a kind of water cushion - dries out and becomes porous. In this way, the intervertebral disc can be moved and is no longer fixed in its original position.

Correct sitting

Even though we know that frequent sitting is not good for you Intervertebral disc is, it looks different in reality. In the office it is usually unavoidable to sit in front of the PC for hours, which is extremely problematic for our intervertebral discs if we sit “wrong”.
A correct sitting posture To prevent a herniated disc, it looks like this: If you look at the PC screen while sitting in an upright position, the top line of the screen should be approximately at the level of the Visual axis up to a maximum of one piece above. If you now place your hands in front of you on the keyboard and mouse, there should be a 90 degree angle at the elbow so that the height of the table and chair are not too much height-adjusted. There should also be a space between the upper and lower legs when sitting 90-degree angle surrender.
Depending on the size of the monitor, a Viewing distance of at least 50 centimeters. The rule of thumb applies to larger monitors Screen diagonal in inches by three, so that a distance of a good 60 centimeters would result for a 22 inch monitor. This not only protects your eyes, but also your entire body, as subconscious, frequent slipping in the chair is prevented.
Last but not least, your feet should also be on a firm surface, possibly on a stool. At first, this sitting position appears relatively static and cramped, but it is easy to train with a little discipline and practice.

Appointment with a specialist for a herniated disc?

I would be happy to advise you!

Who am I?
My name is dr. Nicolas Gumpert. I am a specialist in orthopedics and the founder of .
Various television programs and print media report regularly about my work. On HR television you can see me every 6 weeks live on "Hallo Hessen".
But now enough is indicated ;-)

A herniated disc is difficult to treat. On the one hand it is exposed to high mechanical loads, on the other hand it has great mobility.

Therefore, treating a herniated disc requires a lot of experience.
The aim of any treatment is treatment without surgery.

Which therapy achieves the best results in the long term can only be determined after looking at all of the information (Examination, X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, etc.) be assessed.

You can find me in:

• Lumedis - your orthopedic surgeon
  Kaiserstrasse 14
  60311 Frankfurt am Main

Directly to the online appointment arrangement
Unfortunately, it is currently only possible to make an appointment with private health insurers. I hope for your understanding!
Further information about myself can be found at Dr. Nicolas Gumpert

Sports

Sport plays an important role in the prevention of a herniated disc, since it does Sports and special gymnastic exercises the Back muscles can be specifically strengthened. It should be noted that exercise in general does not necessarily bring an improvement.
Playing football or jogging as a hobby, for example, has hardly any effect on the back muscles, which should be strengthened in order to prevent a herniated disc.

So not all sport is the same.

Rather are Sports that strengthen your back make sense.
One of these is besides yoga, also Strength training and sports that naturally challenge the back, such as Climb or Judo.
Often times, learning a sport is more fun than lifting weights in the gym. When climbing, the entire back is stressed because you always work with your arms upside down. In the last few years climbing gyms with high safety standards and experienced staff have sprung up in almost every major city in Germany.
If you don't want to climb, you can also go to the swim or Judo try. These are very low-injury and joint-friendly sports that the Back muscles stress and thus build up.

Read a lot more information on this topic at: Sport during or in spite of a herniated disc

Exercises for / against a herniated disc

Of course there is also the option to go through isolated exercises to strengthen your back. In the following there are several examples:

You lie flat on your stomach and stretch your arms frontally forward, so that you have stretched out to the maximum. Now in this position both arms are raised at the same time, while the rest of the body remains flat on the stomach. Depending on how strong your Back muscles is pronounced, you can raise your hands more or less high and do more or less repetitions. To start with, raising it ten times is a good value.

This exercise can be varied: advanced users lift both arms and legs at the same time so that only the stomach and pelvis are on the ground. Again, ten repetitions per set are considered a good value. The position can also be held for half a minute or a full minute, for example. It is important to do it correctly and slowly. If there is pain, the exercise should be stopped.

Exercises should never be carried out hectically or according to the principle of "as many repetitions as possible in the shortest possible time". It is much more strenuous to do an exercise slowly than it is fast. If you lift a very heavy suitcase first quickly and then very slowly, what is more strenuous? The exercises should be done exactly according to this principle.

For another exercise, lie flat on your back. Now bend both legs and place them on the floor in front of you. Now push your pelvis up so that the weight of your upper body rests on your shoulders, the weight of your lower extremity on your bent legs. Now the pelvis is pushed several times from the starting position towards the ceiling until approx. 10 repetitions have been achieved. This especially strengthens the Core muscles and the Abdominal muscles. Both are important for the stabilization of the back and can help you disc prolapse prevent.

You can find many more exercises under our topic: Exercises for / against a herniated disc

Weight training for the back

Strength training is certainly a great way to build strong back muscles. In doing so, however, you should pay close attention to the correct execution of the exercises, since injuries that can cause lasting damage to the body can occur to a considerable extent in the gym like nowhere else. If you have never worked out in a fitness studio, it may be advisable to use studios where individual personal advice is given.
Most of the time, the employees know exactly which exercises are useful if they target the move want to strengthen. Of course there is also the possibility to hire a personal trainer.
The advantage of Weight training in the gym is that you can vary the weight individually, while with exercises at home the body weight is more or less always the same. There are also completely different options here, such as assisted pull-ups with only a few kilos. The aim should of course not be to build up mountains of muscles, but to strengthen the many small muscle groups that make up the back.

yoga

Most of the newer fitness studios also offer yoga classes. yoga is a sport that involves a lot of dead weight and isometric Exercises works. Isometric means that the body is in an extreme state of tension during the exercise, which means a high expenditure of energy. An example of isometric strength would be trying to lift your car. The car doesn't move, of course, as it weighs over a ton. Therefore, the arms do not move, because the car cannot be lifted. Nevertheless, the whole thing is extremely exhausting. Find it intramuscular tension changes instead of without the muscles themselves moving.

Yoga is a sport that works a lot with its own weight and states of tension and can therefore be very strenuous. The great advantage is that injuries are hardly possible and, moreover, a psychological balance takes place through concentration on the body and meditation-like states.

Cervical spine and lumbar spine

The cervical spine (short: cervical spine) is much less often affected by a herniated disc than the lumbar spine (short: lumbar spine). The ratio is about 10 to 1.

The part of the spine that lies between the cervical and lumbar spine - the thoracic spine (short: ESPE) - is affected by a herniated disc 10 times less frequently, so that the ratio of lumbar spine to cervical spine to thoracic spine is 100 to 10 to 1.

A herniated disc on the lumbar spine is a good hundred times more common than that on the thoracic spine. How come First of all, the lumbar spine is much heavier than the cervical spine. The vertebral bodies are correspondingly much more massive. A degenerated intervertebral disc body causes problems much more quickly because the weight of the entire upper body rests on it.

The cervical spine is much more filigree than the lumbar spine. It must also bear the relatively high weight of the head, but on the other hand it must also remain flexible for a wide variety of head movements. This “compromise solution” means that the cervical spine is also relatively often affected by herniated discs.
To make matters worse, the cervical spine is particularly affected by incorrect movement patterns and incorrect strain. The neck muscles are also not as well developed as those of the rest of the back, which makes it difficult to relieve the muscles.
The following exercise is therefore recommended for the cervical spine: Stand up straight and cross your arms behind your head. Now pressure is applied to the crossed arms with the back of the head. After half a minute, take both hands and press them frontally against your forehead. The head holds against it, so that a balance is created. The pressure is variable. This exercise is easy to do at home and is used to strengthen the cervical spine.

However, continuous training with correct execution is important for all exercises.

Please also read our topics:

• Herniated disc of the cervical spine
• Herniated disc of the thoracic spine
  and
• Herniated disc of the lumbar spine