How to Heal a Bulging Disc Naturally

The spinal cord consists of a series of vertebral columns, each separated by a disc for shock absorbance. Over time, the outer layer of these discs weakens and allows the inside to bulge out. While it happens naturally, many factors, such as osteoarthritis, poor posture, and exercise, can also push the discs out. 

A bulging disc can cause mild to severe pain in your lower back, making it challenging to carry out day-to-day activities. Fortunately, the condition can be treated naturally with anti-inflammatory medicines, steroid injections, and muscle relaxants. 

However, if your bulging disc worsens, you may need proper invasive treatments like surgery. For those who don’t want surgery, orthobiologic treatments are the best natural alternative with painless and quick recovery. 

What Causes a Bulging Disc?

Your treatment for a bulging disc depends on its causes. Here are the most common ones:

Spinal Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis in the spine is a common factor behind a bulging disc. The condition inflames your lower back, causing intense pain and stiffness in the affected area and damaging the spinal discs. 

Wear & Tear

As you age, your spine goes through natural wear and tear, making the spinal discs less elastic and leading to degeneration. Over time, it results in a bulging disc. 

Injury

A sudden injury in the spine during sports or car accidents can lead to a bulging disc. These incidents put intense stress and shock on the spine, making the discs degenerate quicker than they were supposed to. 

Poor Posture

Maintaining a poor posture when sitting, standing, and walking can make your spinal discs more susceptible to degeneration. Without sufficient support, the spine bears intense pressure, resulting in quick wear and tear of the discs. 

How to Heal a Bulging Disc Naturally

The pain caused due to a bulging or herniated disc requires immediate medical treatment to get better. Just as you suspect inflammation or irritation in your lower back, you can try some at-home remedies to encourage healing.

A Healthy Diet

Including anti-inflammatory, high protein, and collagen-rich foods in your diet can help you heal a bulging disc at home. A healthy diet is the key to keeping your entire body active and moving, including the spine. 

Some great foods to include in your diet are bone broth, fish, garlic, eggs, and veggies. 

Rest & Exercise

Resting is the most sensible method to relieve pain caused by a bulging disc. However, it’s also essential to work out a little. Complete inactivity can stiffen joints and weaken your muscles and immune system. This results in slow healing. 

The best exercises to naturally heal bulging discs are walking, swimming, hiking, or working on a stationary bike. 

Chiropractic Care

If your pain persists even after the above at-home treatments, you should seek help from a professional chiropractor. Chiropractic care is a natural healing option for various musculoskeletal issues and injuries, including those related to discs. 

A chiropractor works with the body’s natural healing potential, restoring its healthy functioning naturally. The professional uses natural techniques like therapeutic massage and manual spinal adjustments to realign the spinal discs. These methods reduce the pressure on your nerves and spine. 

Physical Therapy

Physical therapy offers a natural solution for bulging discs with the help of therapeutic exercises. These activities help you relieve and manage pain and alleviate stress and strain from the spine.

The expert physical therapist will work with you to regain muscle strength and provide support to your spine. This helps you distribute your weight evenly and improve your posture. With consistent efforts, you can easily heal your bulging disc naturally. 

Stretching

You can also practice low-impact stretches to relieve your bulging disc pain. These include the following activities: 

• Cobra Pose. To practice the cobra pose, you should lie flat on your stomach while keeping your legs together and palms underneath your shoulders. Now, push your chin up and stretch your spine. This will relieve pressure off your spinal discs. 

• Cat-Cow Pose. This pose is another great way to alleviate pain due to bulging discs. Put yourself in a cow position, on your hands and knees, while keeping your hands straight below your shoulders. Meanwhile, put your knees directly below the hips, relax your stomach, and arch your back while looking up. Then, exhale, round your back in a different direction, and tilt your chin toward the chest. 

• Knee Hugs. It is a low-impact pose to relieve pressure from the spine and disc. Lie straight on your back and extend your legs while keeping both heels on the ground. Now, pull one knee up to the chest and put the hands on your knee in a self-hugging position. Finally, change your leg and bring the opposite knee toward your chest. 

Orthobiologic Methods

Another natural way to heal your bulging disc is orthobiologic methods based on regenerative medicine. At CELLAXYS, our board-certified surgeons perform two types of orthobiologic treatments: cell-based therapies and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy.

Cell-based Therapies

Also known as stem cell therapies, this method requires the doctor to extract healthy cells from your body, process them, and reinject them into the injury site. Depending on your bulging disc’s condition, your surgeon will harvest the stem cells from adipose tissues or bone marrow. 

• Minimally Manipulated Adipose Tissue Transplant (MMAT). In this process, the doctor takes cells from the adipose or fat tissues and reinjects them into the affected spinal site to promote healing.

• Bone Marrow Concentrate (BMAC). This process involves extracting highly concentrated cells from your bone marrow and reinjecting them in the injury site. 

Both procedures take around 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. Your doctor will allow you to go home the same day, as cell-based therapies are outpatient procedures. 

Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP)

PRP has been a popular treatment for spine-related issues in athletes for decades. The surgeon takes your blood sample, isolates platelets, processes them, and reinjects them into the injury site. 

Platelets are the essential healing components in our body that perform three critical functions. First, they release 10 growth factors; second, they attract healing cells from the blood; and third, they produce a web-like scaffolding called fibrin. 

A high number of platelets in the injury site ensures early recovery and pain relief. PRP takes about 45 minutes to complete and is also an outpatient procedure. Both cell-based therapies and PRP ensure quick and painless recovery from bulging discs in the most natural way possible.