Exercise

• Generally, the worst thing you can do for you back pain is to just lie down and do nothing. Rest for max two days. After that, you need to start moving, albeit carefully. Dr. Ron Daulton, Jr., a practicing chiropractor in Northwest Indiana, writes on his website Healyourbulgingdisc.com: "One of the most difficult things about healing a herniated disc is the fact that the discs of the spine do not receive a good amount of blood flow. The body normally depends on the blood to transport oxygen and nutrients to an injured area for faster healing."
  
  Daulton recommends that you go about your back therapy in the following manner: Start with bouncing exercise ten minutes per day. Do the first bouncing exercise this way: get a mini-trampoline, stand on it and march in place with controlled steps for five minutes. Then find a stability ball, sit and bounce on this ball for five minutes per day. Next, do stretches for your lower back (see Resources). Do these three exercises back to back every day for two weeks before moving on to the strengthening phase. You only want to do strengthening exercises three days per week and not on consecutive days because you need to rest your muscles on your off days. If you do not rest them, they will not get stronger.(ref 2, 3)
  
  The muscles you should focus on strengthening are your core muscles (deep abdominals) and the muscles around your hips such as the glutes and quads.Some good exercises to strengthen your core are planks, side bridges and all sorts of crunches. You want to make sure you do not use momentum when you do crunches, as this can aggravate your back pain. To strengthen your hip muscles, try bridges, quad lifts with a straight leg and leg extensions while lying face down. It is not necessary to lift your leg more than 10 degrees.
  
  

Considerations

• It is important to be aware that you cannot always treat your herniated disc the same way as your friend did. According to Peter F. Ullrich, MD of the website Spine-health.com, "The care of a patient with a lumbar herniated disk is far from standardized and, to a certain extent, needs to be individualized for each patient." The way to treat your situation often depends on how long you have been experiencing your symptoms and how badly your back hurts.