How to Fix an L4/L5 Disc Bulge in Record Time
In April 2024, I suffered an L4/L5 disc bulge in my back. It was one of the most painful injuries I’ve ever had, but I managed to repair it in only three weeks. Here’s how I did it, and what I learned, so that you can fix your own L4/L5 disc bulge quickly…
How the L4/L5 Disc Bulge Injury Happened
It was a Friday, and I was just about to do some alternating dumbbell snatches from the floor. I was using a 20kg dumbbell, which is well within my capabilities – I’d regularly done this exercise with a 32kg dumbbell, so I certainly wasn’t pushing my limits here.
A few reps in, I felt a ‘pop’ in my back as I bent over the pick the dumbbell up off the floor. In all honesty, it wasn’t even that bad. I knew I’d done ‘something’ to my back, but I wasn’t sure the nature or extent of the problem.
My girlfriend, Rachel (who is a physio), advised that I do some extension work to help ease the pain. She was able to diagnose an L4/L5 disc bulge. This was important, because when you know what the problem is, you can get granular on the fix.
The following day, I was in some discomfort, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The problem was that I had a long drive (2 hours) ahead of me, so I’d be sitting down for a while.
To make matters worse, in only three weeks’ to the day’s time, I was due to fly out to Fuerteventura to run my fitness retreat. I’d be weight training, running, cycling, doing yoga and the like. There was no way I could cope with a 4.5-hour flight, plus the huge amount of exercise if my back was injured, so time was of the essence.
I had to fix my L4/L5 disc bulge QUICKLY!
From Bad to Worse
The car drive itself wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, and I had lots of walking to do afterwards. If I’m being completely honest, I naively thought I’d gotten away with anything too sinister, but Rachel warned me that whilst walking was a good thing to do, disc issues often take a day or two to really kick in.
Oh my word, was she right!
Two days after the injury, I was in agony – it was in my glute, though, not my back. I could find some relief if I positioned my leg at certain angles, but the second my leg moved, I’d have searing pain in my glute. By day three, I couldn’t find any relief.
Trying to do basic tasks required me moving around to find the least painful position possible. Even brushing my teeth was a problem, because if my feet weren’t in a precise position, I’d be in pain again.
I developed a level of sympathy for back pain sufferers that I didn’t know existed!
Treatment During the Acute Phase is Impossible
Even though I live with a physio, there’s nothing you can really do when the injury is in the acute phase. I was in far too much pain to do any manual therapy, so it was a case of managing symptoms at first. Painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications were the start. It was also helpful if I kept my lower back warm, so hot water bottles were employed.
After around 4 or 5 days, I found that the initial inflammation had gone down, and I could find ‘comfortable’ positions again. Sitting was a problem, and even lying down was an ordeal, because the getting up and down part was agonising.
I resorted to standing pretty much all day. As a personal trainer, it’s easy to stand up all day. As a copywriter, it’s a bit more challenging because I didn’t have a standing desk, but it’s an easy workaround. To be honest, I would have found a way to stand anyway, because it was just too painful to stand up!
Sleeping was the next issue. I sleep on my left side, but that was just an absolute no-go; it was far too painful. Instead, I had to ‘train’ myself to sleep on my right, but after a few days, it worked.
I made gradual improvements over the next couple of weeks, and by the end of the third week, I was basically back to normal again. I even took a 4.5 hour flight to Fuerteventura and took part in and coached my week-long fitness retreat.
So, here’s how I did it…
How to Fix an L4/L5 Disc Bulge
Here’s a step-by-step guide to fixing your L4/L5 disc bulge as quickly as possible. If you follow these steps, you should be able to shave off at least a week, if not more off your recovery. As with any advice, this is personal to me and was guided by a physiotherapist – by all means follow the protocol, but make sure you see a qualified physiotherapist when injured.
Week 1
Unfortunately, this is the worst week. It’s when the pain is as its worst, so you have to manage symptoms as best as you can. Here’s how I did it…
- Find the most comfortable positions and spend time in them. Don’t make the issue worse.
- Manage pain and inflammation – I did this with a combination of medications and heat, never cold.
- Improve your posture – I had k-tape on my back to stop me from slouching!
- Move as much as you can – I walked when I could, which helped me.
- Keep hydrated – discs need water!
This is about as much as you can do when the injury is at its worst. Don’t be a fool and rush to do more than you can in this phase.
Week 2
By the second week, if you’ve followed the first week’s protocol, you should start to see a slight decline in symptoms. By this point you might be able to reduce the pain meds, but I’d urge you to stick with the heat treatment.
- Re-establish movements. I found I could extend my spine (extension), but bending over (flexion) was off the cards. I spent a lot of time on my front, keeping my back in extension.
- Stay standing as much as you can. The sitting was still painful – getting up and down from a chair or bed needed me to ‘psyche’ myself up to move, such was the pain.
- The tape was gone, but I wore infrared base layers (I wore the shorts and the t-shirt) to help maintain circulation and promote healing.
- Walk as much as you can, but don’t lift weights yet. I found swimming was really useful – exercise without impact, and completely non weight-bearing.
By the end of the second week, I could feel my glute ‘firing’ again – the fasciculations almost reassured me that the disc bulge was healing, and the nerves were doing their job again. In all honesty, it felt great! I really enjoyed the sensation, as if life and movement were returning to the injury site.
Week 3
In week three, I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was off all pain medication (although keeping up with the heat and infrared), and beginning to reintroduce more structured training. I didn’t go back to anything silly, just standing movements, but the training didn’t make things worse.
- Get back to movement – just be safe. Start with light weights and movements you know won’t cause any issues. Back away at the slightest feelings of pain.
- Increase the amount of therapeautic movements – in my case, back extension. This was really helpful. I was doing 4 x 12 back extensions on the floor, 3 times per day.
- GENTLY test your back in other movements, just to see how it reacts. If it’s painful, stop away immediately.
- Use a sauna – I was in the sauna 2/3 times and the massive driver of circulation seemed to really help me.
By the end of the third week, I was 95% pain-free. There were still the psychological (and some physiological) hurdles to overcome, but I was so much better than I was. I was able to move, sleep and work as normal without any issues at all.
I was back doing everything I usually would. I built up strength gradually, but all of the movements were fine, and I managed to do everything on the retreat without issue. I limited my long-distance running, but that was a judgement call on limiting risk, rather than because I physically couldn’t do the runs.
Here’s the proof of me sprinting up a dune – check the date!
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Lessons Learned Managing an L4/L5 Disc Bulge
The biggest takeaway is that you can’t just be a victim of circustance. If you want to fix an L4/L5 disc bulge quickly, you’ve got to get proactive. Sure, it’s incredibly painful and it’s very limiting in terms of movement, but you’ve got to do what you can, when you can.
You don’t win any gold medals for being in pain, so take the medication. It doesn’t make you any less of person, and in fact it improves your mental state significantly when you’re not spending every second of the day struggling with the most basic of movements.
Heat helps more than you think. I discovered this whilst in the shower – it was the first time in hours I’d seen my pain reduced, so heat and infrared became my new best friends. It turns out, there’s research backing up the use of both…
How and why heat helps with back pain, and how and why infrared helps with back pain.
Having back pain sucks, and before you write yourself off as ‘having a bad back’, really look at your options and what you can do to help yourself. In some cases, the worst thing you can do is not exercise – you structurally weaken your back, making it more vulnerable to re-injury.
Strength training (done well) makes you more injury-resistant.
There are some incidences of back pain where surgery is probably the most successful route, but for cases like mine, where there’s only a disc bulge and not a full rupture, you can get practical and help yourself fix an L4/L5 disc bulge quickly.
The takeaways are as follows…
- At first, don’t make it worse. Manage pain and posture. Apply heat.
- Get moving where you can, as safely as you can. Use infrared clothing to help.
- Bring more advanced movement back, guided by pain. Use sensible increases in weight.
If you’re suffering from an L4/L5 disc bulge, you’ve got my sympathy. I know exactly how it feels. The good news is that it won’t last forever, and if you follow my advice on how to fix an L4/L5 disc bulge in record time, you’ll be back to full fitness in three weeks!
If you want to follow me and my life in more detail, come and catch me on Instagram!
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