Bulging Disc Therapy: How Effective Is Therapy For Pain Relief?

Physical therapy is one of the most typical treatments for a bulging disc prescribed, and many wonder how helpful it is and if it’s worth the time and effort you have to put into it.

The short answer is yes, it is worth it and it is helpful, but it is only a part of the puzzle when trying to heal a protruding disc.

Statistically speaking, physical therapy is helpful about 50% of the time with this health problem, but that is because most people are not told that they need to continue with their exercises even after they are released from physical therapy.

Most physicians will prescribe one or two months of physical therapy to a person who has been diagnosed with a protruding disc, but the fact of the matter is that it normally takes years for a disc injury to completely heal if it ever does. So, can you see the discrepancy?

Many will experience relief from PT, but the pain almost always comes back because they don’t understand that the exercises you learn are meant to be done for the long term if you want the best results. In addition to this, PT focuses on the muscles that surround the slipped disc (which certainly provides benefit), but it doesn’t directly affect the main issue which is the herniated disc itself.

The purpose of PT with this health problem is to strengthen the muscles that surround the injured disc, thus releasing pressure on the disc so it can heal properly. One of the major purposes of the disc is to act as a ligament, holding the spine in proper alignment.

If the disc becomes injured, this purpose can not occur because the disc is weakened. So, the muscles have to take on this purpose in order to stabilize the spine. In addition to that, if the muscles that surround the spine are weak, the disc will have additional pressure on it and it will become more damaged over time.

So, there is certainly good reason for an individual going through a program of PT when they have a bulging disc. The problem is that it takes at least 3 months before a muscle will show considerable improvement in strength, so if you stop after your prescribed treatment plan with your therapist, you aren’t experiencing the full benefit of their care.

In addition to that, strengthening the muscles that surround the injured disc is only a part of the solution. You have to realize that this health problem is very complicated, and if you don’t do anything to encourage the disc itself to heal, the problem will never heal properly even with PT.

There are actually a number of additional treatments that need to be performed at the same time you’re receiving physical therapy treatments if you are looking for the best results that last for a longer period of time. You can learn more about the most effective combination of treatments by clicking the following link (herniated disc therapy).

If you’ve found this article interesting, and you would like to get the answers to the 20 most frequently asked questions people have about herniated disc treatments, you can click the following link (bulging disc treatment).