How To Rehabilitate A Disc Bulge in 3 Weeks

In this blog post I’m going to share how I managed to rehabilitate a disc bulge in 3 weeks.

A disc bulge, or ‘slipped disc’ is something I’d heard about, but (thankfully) never experienced. Earlier this year though, that changed. During a workout I caused the injury, and it led to an understanding of injury cause and rehab. Let me tell you how I managed to rehabilitate my disc bulge in 3 weeks.

I’ll share with you how the injury occurred, what I did and how you can do it too.

Disc Bulge – The Cause

In April 2024 I was doing a workout. Nothing crazy, just moderate weight, high rep stuff to work up a sweat, getting my heart rate up and burning a few calories. And this point is important – I WASN’T LIFTING HEAVY.

There’s an assumption that you cause injury when you push your limits, or try to max out. I learned the hard way that it’s not always the case.

I was coming towards the end of my workout, and I was doing sets of 20 alternating dumbbell power snatches. I was using a 20kg dumbbell, and for perspective I’ve performed the exercise using 30kg dumbbells in the recent past. I wasn’t ego lifting or pushing my boundaries – I was lifting WELL within my capabilities.

As I was returning the dumbbell to the floor to switch hands, I felt a ‘pop’ in my lower back. I knew it wasn’t ‘good’ news, but the pain wasn’t immediate. It was a mild discomfort, and I hoped that it wasn’t going to turn into much.

I immediately spoke to my girlfriend (who is a physio), and she said I might I have injured a disc. We did some basic diagnostic tests and exercises, and she was she was fairly certain it was an L4/L5 disc bulge.

Joy.

The following morning, I woke up with some discomfort, but honestly it wasn’t too bad. I managed to move around OK, and even went into work to train a couple of people. I wasn’t pain free by any stretch, but I thought I’d gotten away with it being really bad.

I was wrong.

Later that morning we drove to York (around 2.5 hours), and when I got out of the car I had to ‘unfold’ myself. My back was stiff, but even then I could find some relief. I managed to walk into the city centre from our hotel (around 1 mile), walk around all day and walk back.

I wasn’t comfortable, but I could find certain positions where the pain was relieved slightly. It was definitely getting worse, but I was managing. A gym member had given me some Naproxen (a high strength anti-inflammatory) and it was helping.

The following morning was entirely different. I was in AGONY.

I’d gone from being able to find relief in certain positions, to not being able to avoid the pain. No matter how I stood, leaned or lay, I couldn’t get away from the discomfort. It was consuming all of my thoughts, and all painkillers and anti inflammatories could do was take the edge off it.

Research and physio advice said movement would be good for it, so I did the walk into York again, kept on my feet, walked back etc. I was OK (ish) with the walking, but when the evenings came and I had to lie down, I couldn’t find a comfortable spot. It was better if I lay on my right hand side, but it wasn’t exactly a heaven-sent relief. It was just slightly less agony.

Any single task was painful. Showering, brushing my teeth, getting dressed, driving etc was an ordeal. There’d always be a movement that triggered the pain, and I had absolute full sympathy for anyone who had ever had the same issue. Mine was only a disc bulge, not a rupture, but it was horrible.

Physiotherapy and Diagnosis

Upon returning home from York, I immediately booked in to see Paul Derrick, the physio who works at my gym. He confirmed the diagnosis of an L4/L5 disc bulge and looked at my movement, anything that aggravated or eased the pain. He also did some neural tests on me.

We found that certain postures helped to ease the pain, so Paul applied a stiff band of tape on my back to help ‘remind’ me to maintain the posture.

It’s important to point out that this tape wasn’t used to help heal the injury (the effectiveness of tape has been disputed), it was merely used to help maintain a posture that gave me some relief. It certainly helped to reduce the frequency of the pain flare ups because of me standing or sitting in a way that aggravated the injury.

I was told to do the cobra pose across 3 sets of 10 help relieve the pain and try to reduce the disc bulge, and they helped. I was also religiously doing them – 3/4 times per day.

My research and explanation of the injury physiology told me that the disc bulges, and that presses on a nerve. Certain positions alleviate the size of the bulge and amount of pressure on the nerve, which reduces the pain. 

That’s why you can fond certain positions which give some relief – because the disc bulge isn’t pressing on the nerve as much.

Time Horizon for Rehab

Another important point I haven’t mentioned so far was that three weeks to the day of injury, I was due to lead a health and fitness retreat in Fuerteventura. I couldn’t go on a 4 hour flight and train twice per day in that condition, so I needed to rehab the injury FAST.

I wasn’t expecting miracles, but I couldn’t go on the retreat and not be involved in the activities.

Having this time pressure changed how I approached the rehab. I couldn’t take shortcuts or risks. I did everything by the book, and listened to those guiding me. There was no place for ‘I know best’ – the race was on!

Living With a Disc Bulge

I was still in absolute agony with my disc bulge. Movements such as getting in and out of bed, up from a chair and getting dressed would cause me a lot of pain.

I was managing to sleep on my right hand side, dosed up on anti-inflammatories.

Driving was another problem, but I couldn’t avoid driving. I had to work, and my kids have sporting commitments. I had to change my seat position in the car, but in all honesty it was like throwing a thimble of water on a bushfire. It did almost nothing to ease the pain.

I found sitting was a real issue, so I spent almost all of my working day on my feet. That helped, and I was performing my rehab exercises 3/4 times per day still. Outside of that, my only training for the first week was walking.

How to Rehabilitate a Disc Bulge – The Diary

This section shows the progress of the injury, and the progressive steps I took to rehabilitate a disc bulge as quickly as possible. Remember, this is my timeline and progress – yours might be slightly different. It’s certainly a reasonable guide though.

A Week In

I felt almost no relief for the first week, but around the 7th-8th day post injury, I noticed a significant drop in my pain. I wasn’t out of the woods by any means, and all the movements that hurt before continued to hurt, but significantly less.

It’s impossible to put an accurate figure on the pain relief, but I’d estimate it was around 30% lower.

At this point I started to add more variety into my training. I was still avoiding hinge movements such as deadlifts, kettlebell swings, cleans etc, but started to include pull ups, push ups, side planks, leg extensions and leg curls, dips, lat raises and bicep curls in my workouts.

I was still doing my rehab exercise 3/4 times per day, and walking 15,000 steps.

At this point I added a weekly sauna into the routine (I’d avoided it before because I couldn’t climb onto the top steps to get into it!)

Although getting up and down, getting dressed, driving and getting in and out of bed was stiIl painful, I could see a light at the end of the tunnel. I maintained the anti-inflammatories, but took the tape off that Paul had put on my lower back.

The Two Week Mark

After maintaining the same protocol all week, I was noticing the pain was significantly better. Again, you can’t put a precise figure on it but I’d say I was probably 60% better now. I was adding bodyweight squats and lunges into my training. I decided to put a couple of swimming sessions in – nothing crazy, just 1km or so. Still no hinge movements.

I was using the ski erg (something I’d avoided because of the hinging beforehand), but decided to re-introduce it because I wanted to see how my back would react to some light hinging. It was fine, so that stayed. I also used the air bike without issue.

Everything else stayed the same. The advice I was following was give the injury time – don’t rush back. If you want to rehabilitate a disc bulge quickly, you can’t take risks.

In all honesty, I had to give it every possible chance because of the upcoming retreat. I wasn’t willing to take any risks at all, because the setback would have been devastating to the retreat. I continued the rehab movements and the regular exercise. I was also still working standing up.

Week Three – Leading Up to The Retreat

My optimism really increased in the week leading up to the retreat because the pain was decreasing again. I was effectively 80-90% better now and was really optimistic that I would be able to do everything on the retreat. I had hope that the steps I’d taken to rehabilitate a disc bulge were working.

I kept my workouts the same in terms of the movements, but started to add a little more weight. I upped my swimming to around 1 mile (1.6km). I was doing some additional stretching, anticipating that the reduced movement, and the injury site trauma would have had an impact on my mobility.

By the time the retreat came round, I was effectively pain free. I was still cautious around the weights I’d lift on certain movements (no heavy deadlifting, no heavy kettlebell swings, no Olympic weightlifting, no heavy squats), but at this point no movement as such was off the table.

The flight wasn’t an issue, and I was able to drive. On the retreat I took part in every workout, I swam, cycled, lifted, did yoga etc and didn’t have an issue with my back!

How To Rehabilitate a Disc Bulge in Three Weeks

I’ll start by saying I’m sure that every disc bulge is different in terms of location, severity etc. This is what worked for ME, and it was guided by a qualified professional. You should seek the help of a professional too.

Start with a diagnosis

When you know what you’re dealing with, you know how to fix it. I had a diagnosis almost immediately, and it was confirmed with a second opinion a couple of days later.

Keep movements appropriate

At first, I was only walking. I didn’t try to be a hero – I was focused on getting better, but not at any cost. Speed was important to me, because I only had three weeks. That meant there was no room for risk. Move, but start with basics.

Eat and drink appropriately

One thing that I learned when I broke my hand is that nutrition is really important to speeding recovery. The better the food you eat, the faster and more effective your body can repair itself. I increased my protein intake and drank a lot of water.

Don’t be scared of movement

I mentioned a moment ago that you need to keep movements appropriate. That’s true – and what’s also true is that you need to scale them up when you can. You can’t ignore movement patterns forever, because the likelihood is you’ll need to perform them again one day. When you can, return to squats, hinges etc. Just don’t rush it.

Use anti-inflammatories

Some people have a ‘hero’ attitude towards medication, and I’v never really understood it. You’re not proving anything to anyone – you’re just suffering. Taking the medication allowed me enough relief to move, and the movement was what helped my recovery. It’s that simple.

Lessons Learned From My Disc Bulge

Prior to my disc bulge, I’d assumed that most people suffered the injury because they either had a systemic weakness or were pushing their limits in training. I didn’t really fit into either one of those categories. So here’s what I learned…

Weight isn’t always the causal factor for injury

I was lifting a moderate weight. I wasn’t trying to hit a PB, or do anything crazy. I’d performed (literally) thousands of reps of this movement in my training. My technique was good. What conspired against me was my range.

End range of movement is where the danger lies

Throughout my training years I’ve lifted at end range a lot. I’ve performed heavy deficit deadlifts, belt squat etc. I just hadn’t done them for a while. When I felt my injury occur, it was when the dumbbell was on the floor – that’s obviously further than my back wanted to go. I should have built up the range more appropriately.

Don’t shy away from movements – adapt them

The obvious solution to the problem would be to simply not perform the single arm snatches again, but that’s an issue. It means I never get to fix the problem, and hiding away doesn’t work. Instead, I’ve adapted. I still perform single arm snatches, but now I do them with a kettlebell, which is a slightly shorter range of movement.

Respect age and mobility

One thing we have to respect as we age is the impact that it has on our physical capabilities. Now, that’s not to say you surrender to age – far from it. You just need to respect it. I’m switching from deadlifts to trap bar deadlifts. I’m also not lifting heavy at end range. I’m still training hard, I’m just not being stupid.

Stretch more

It’s important to maintain tissue elasticity as much as possible, so my aim is to include more stretching into my weekly training routine. Stretching isn’t a direct way of solving or preventing a disc bulge, but it’s helpful as part of an overall strategy that includes appropriate strength training and movement.

Rehabilitate a Disc Bulge in 3 Weeks – It’s Possible

If you’re reading this having endured the injury for longer than this, my sympathies are with you. I know first-hand how awful it is.

What I’d urge you to do is to look at the steps I took, and see if you’ve done the same. Have you had a proper diagnosis, or have you only referred to Dr Google? Are you sitting too long? Are you moving at all? Is your injury more than a bulge – is your disc herniated? Are you eating well?

The idea behind this post is to give you hope. Hope that you’ll get better, and steps showing how to rehabilitate a disc bulge in 3 weeks. Hope that although you’re in agony now, you won’t always be. Hope that you’ll be on your feet and moving properly again soon.

Follow the steps I’ve shared on how to rehabilitate a disc bulge as quickly as possible – and don’t give up!