I suffered this hell back in 02 & it's legacy lives on. There are no easy fixes and rest and relaxation until the inflamation dimishes a bit is really the only way. I had close on three months off work, but that was whilst working in England - I agree that it would not be feasible for most to take the same amount of time off in Canada.

I found Osteopathy helpful in pain relief and mobility, Chiro-quackery absolutely useless and physio good in telling you what exercises to do to build up the relevant muscles. I haven't kept up with my exercises which is foolish of me. This thread is prompting me to go buy that Mackenzie book and resume them. The stresses of handling an 18 month old toddler cause the odd flare up.

For prevention rather than treatment I recommend the Jim Johnson book, the midiforis back solution. I still do the macKenzie in the mornings as prevention, but its really just to prevent any overnight buges while the discs are big from bending out. Physio independantly gave me same excercises (plus more) from Jim Johnson book. Its the excercise where you kneel on all fours and raise one leg and arm, can be found on any back injury web site, but the book is worth a read due to his evidence based approach and reliance of peer-reviewd double blinded published studies. Its also worth getting a physio to check your technique as I was swinign hips too much on one side (probably due to weak one sided muscles - either the cause of the bulge or the consequence of the bulge)

Currently I am doing:
McKenzie in am (plus no sitting for breakfast when discs are big)
Sometime in day (4 days on average per week) one above with leg and arm weights, bridges, single bridges, bridges on bosu, marching on ball with arm and leg weights , planks, side planks , kneel planks on big ball
Evening- 3 stretches for hip and hamstrings and easy flexion.

But then I have bulging rather than herniated disc. Oh, I also stand up to cough or sneeze.....

First time I did it I concentrated too much on all the stretching and yoga as I found it good pain relief for lower back but I didn't do all the necessary core strenghtning ones. Hopefully this time it will all work. Will be pretty disappointed if it doesn't.


Good luck!

Good grief! That sounds complicated. Have you considered Tylenol 3 and beer?

Yup, but it didn't work...............in fact it is still part of my plan I just missed it off

I agree, exercises make a big difference in the longterm, so does losing the love handles. I do all that plank, superman stuff everyday, along with proper pressups, pullups etc. Did the mackenzie stuff for a while but found it a bit too obsessive, don't want my disc to run my life.

Getting back to original posters questions. Talking to mates I don't think my experience was that unusual.
I saw three diff GPs in multi big surgery, none of them got off their bums, three physios who talked drivel and didn't seem to grasp when to stop or even what was wrong. One osteo who was a bit odd.

Of the first 7+ medical types I saw the only ones that used that little hammer on my legs and asked can you feel this, can you feel that and got tape measures out on my calf and thigh were the chiro and surgeon.

The concern for me was the shear volume of people missing what was wrong, not grasping how bad it was, not knowing when to stop and professional squabbling. I could give a monkeys about who likes who, I just don't want pain.

I am greatful for the chiro who said, mate thats knackered, you need a scan and sent me to the surgeon., That said my experience with chiros is not 100%. have seen 2 others since when work takes me away. One was brill, one nutter, had a copy of my scan and back was stiff. Told me needed to come in 30ish times and pay a grand for a discount. No thanks. When back to 1st chiro when got home, said, yup, there's a few of those and told me what to look for

So in end, if I have burning leg pain again and its not geting better, did they check it with that hammer when your leg flicks?, ask can you feel this, feel that in your leg with the pin thing, push here, push there to see how strong stuff is and measure your calf muscles? thats what the chiro did who sent me for the scan. Maybe get a scan?