McKenzie extensions healed my ruptured L-5 disc

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Les26

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Hello everyone, first post here. I wanted to share my story in hopes that it will help at least someone out there. I had ruptured my L-5 disc 7/25/07 which an MRI confirmed. The first guy I went to (orthopedic doctor) had me working out on 15 different weight/exercise machines-this darn near killed me! While I looked good, I told him that I had a lot of pain in the left lower back by the Piriformis muscle region and I thought that we should eliminate some of the exercises. Well he increased them both in repetitions and weight! I left there and went to a physical therapist who couldn't believe what they had me doing, and he started me out with just one exercise-the McKenzie extension. 8 days later I felt the pain of the disc pushing its way back into place, and he then slowly added more exercises until I was released in October. Please check out the McKenzie extension exercise not only to help with disc problems but also to loosen up your back. I'd hate to think where I'd be if I'd stayed with the first guy! Good luck to all in relieving your pain; it's not fun or easy to deal with sometimes.:)
 
Hi. It's great you got relief from proper back exercises!! That is what we all hope or hoped for. McKenzie is the gold standard in physical therapy for back exercises. For those that get benefit from it, it can work very well toward their healing or keeping a disc more in a controlled state.

I have all the books for McKenzie exercises and did this therapy on and off for over 3 years. Unfortunately, my disc just wasn't able to heal on it's own and I had no choice but to have a fusion surgery.

And this exercise is not for everyone. Such as myself now fused at l4/l5 with hardware, this exercise is not recommended by my therapist.

Hope you stay painfree guy! All the best to you.
 
You can Google it for more information, but it's basically an upper body "press-up" that I was told to do like this; lay on your stomach, put your arms out in front of you (not quite fully extended) and push-up so that your upper body only is "arched" off the floor-your waist and lower body stays flat on the floor. Initially I did this and held each pressup for a few seconRAB before lowering myself back down; as this worked okay I was told to take a deep breath with each extension, hold it a few seconRAB, and exhale as I lowered myself down. I did this 200 times a day in 3 divided sessions; I'm supposed to do this every so often now as "maintainence" but not 200 anymore. I was fortunate that this exercise healed the disc, but I would talk to your doctor about it or try it and if it hurts or makes things worse stop. Best of luck and hope that it helps. If you can tolerate it do it FAITHFULLY and remeraber that I was doing it to fix a problem that's why it was 200 times a day-you don't need that many if you are just doing it as an exercise!
 
Thank you and you're right it's NOT for everyone, but hopefully it can help HEAL a ruptured disc for others. I am now supposed to do it every so often for "maintainence" but as I do it now I find that it irritates me in the Piriformis muscle area! I am going back to the therapist Monday to talk to him about this and also get the orthotics checked that he made me last year; I possibly could be "misaligned" in the ankle or leg (I slipped on ice Christmas Eve day) but it definitely is not my disc-this exercise healed it thankfully!

I hope that you are okay with your back too!
 
I hope that things are okay with your from that fall Les. Keep me posted on what you learn.

Deb, McKenzie is a type or form of therapy that was developed by a physical therapist in New Zealand, named Robin McKenzie. This type of approach is geared as a series of exercises (no machines) that one can do on their own or through therapy to extenRAB the spine in hopes of bringing pain relief. For those it helps, its also continued as a form of prevention. This type of program usually does not benefit those that have stenosis or facet arthrosis and such.

Deb you can chat with your doctor about this type of exercise and find gobs of information on the web, library,etc.

Hope this helps.
 
Just got back from the physical therapist and he "reset" my Sacroilliac joint-it was "out" and that is why I was experiencing knee and back pain. So now I'm sore in the S.I. joint region but that will fade. And I'll start doing my "maintainence" exercises again! Hopefully I stay "good" for at least a little while! :jester:
 
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