Pinched Nerves, Bulging Discs, Herniated Discs, Now What

Pinched Nerves, Bulging Discs, Herniated Discs, Now What
You're suffering from a pinched nerve, a bulging disc or even a herniated disc? Have you been told you may need surgery or injections? Are you seeing a chiropractor several times a week, with slow improvement? Do you understand what is actually causing your pain
Most people do not really understand the cause of a pinched nerve, a bulging disc, or even a herniated disc. Usually our vertebrae are blamed for the distress in our body. What we fail to understand is our bones cannot pinch anything without our muscles. In fact if you were to remove your muscles, your bones would just collapse. So how can your bones be the cause of your pain
Let's take a look at your back and neck, where most pinched nerves and disc problems occur. On each side of your spine lay 2 muscles that run from the base of your skull to the top of your pelvis. From the moment you stood up on 2 feet, you disc started to degenerate as the pressure grew from your body growing. Just picture a stack of blocks with rubber spacers between them. On the outside of the blocks there are 2 rubber bands connected to the top and the bottom of the blocks. As I shorten the rubber bands the blocks will come closer together, squeezing on the rubber spacers, literally flattening them out. If I tighten one side more than the other, the stack will lean. This will cause pressure on one side to be greater than the pressure on the other.
What you are visualizing is your back moving each day of your life. The only thing that will take that pressure off is to stretch your back muscles with Active Isolated Stretching. I am not talking about traditional stretching like you see in the gym, it just doesn't work.
Traditional stretching requires you to hold a stretch for more than 2-3 seconds. This engages your stretch reflex in your muscle causing it to contract to protect itself. It becomes more of a isometric strength training exercise which actually shortens the muscle. Active Isolated Stretching(AIS), only requires you to hold the stretch for 2-3 seconds then repeat 10 times.
Now back to your back! Once you open up the muscles in your hips and shoulders, you will start to take pressure off your spine. This will relieve pressure on a pinched nerve stopping the pain. For a bulging disc, the pressure will be relieved and blood flow will return to the disc allowing it re-lubricate. Now it will slide back into place. This will stop the pain. Herniated discs are discs that have been cut by the pressure applied to the vertebrae. Once you take that pressure off, the disc can heal and go back to its job.
Many people use inversion tables or tables that stretch out their back. These work momentarily until you stand back up. Yes you did take the pressure off the spine, but you did not lengthen the hip muscles or the shoulder muscles, so once you stand back up the pressure is re-applied.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5230317