Healing My Herniated Disc: My Personal Journey with Low Back Pain and What Helped Most

I want to share a very personal story: my recent battle with acute low back pain and everything I’ve done to recover from a likely disc herniation with nerve involvement (radiculopathy).

Whether you’re a fellow healthcare professional, an athlete, or someone who just woke up with a stiff, painful back, this journey may offer insights that could help you feel better faster and avoid some of the mistakes I made.

How It All Started: A Perfect Storm

It began about 3.5 weeks ago while I was doing a leg press at the gym, during my menstrual cycle. This is important because during menstruation, joint laxity increases, making women more prone to injury (yes, there’s research behind this, think higher ACL tear rates around certain cycle phases).

I was also in a cut phase of training, meaning I was in a caloric deficit, not ideal for muscle building or recovery. I wasn’t lifting my heaviest weight, but I was trying to increase my range of motion, based on some coaching advice.

Unfortunately, the combination of increased joint laxity, depleted nutrition, and aggressive range of motion led to what I strongly believe was a disc injury.

The First Few Days: Signs of a Disc Injury

Right after the lift, I felt immediate pain in my low back, centralized, not one-sided, which made me suspicious of a disc bulge. I tried to walk it off and even finished some gentle glute exercises. The next day, the soreness continued, so I trained upper body only and focused on hip mobility.

Mobility Tools I Used:

• Pigeon pose
  
  
• Foam rolling (IT bands, adductors)
  
  
• Gorgeous ball for psoas release
  
  
• Deep quad, calf, and adductor stretches
  (Held for 2+ minutes each side, repeated 2x)
  

The Flare-Up: When Things Got Worse

After a vacation break, I returned to the gym and even played in my adult league hockey game. That was a mistake.

Mid-game, my leg weakened, and I knew immediately, the disc had moved more and was now pressing on a nerve. I experienced tingling and pain radiating down my leg (classic radiculopathy). I tried McKenzie extension exercises (Cobra pose) right away to help “centralize” the disc.

Interventions I used:

• Shockwave therapy
  
  
• Red light therapy (20-80 min daily)
  
  
• Cold plunging
  
  
• KT Tape for lumbar stabilization
  

Despite my efforts, I pushed it too hard and had a significant setback after attempting to skate again during playoffs. From there, things spiraled, more pain, muscle spasms, and even a rib misalignment that required chiropractic care and dry needling.

What Actually Helped My Healing

After several missteps, here’s what finally moved the needle:

1. Ditching Everything and Focusing on Extension Only

Thanks to a colleague at CJ Physical Therapy, I was told to stop all mobility work and core strengthening until the disc had fully reduced. Instead, I focused solely on passive spinal extensions.

• Cobra pose every 1–2 hours
  
  
• Standing backward bends
  
  
• Relaxing the glutes and abs during each rep (10 reps per session)
  

2. Once Pain Centralized, Reintroducing Core Work

When my leg pain subsided and pain became centralized in the low back (a good sign), I reintroduced my core stabilization program, including:

• Bird dogs
  
  
• Bridges, clams, reverse clams
  
  
• Sidelying hip abduction and adduction
  
  
• Bridge marches
  
  
• TA (transverse abdominis) isometric holds
  
  
• Supermans and alternating supermans
  

Bonus Supportive Therapies

Here’s what else I leaned into consistently:

• Red light therapy (directly over lumbar spine)
  
  
• Salon Pas medicated patches (lidocaine + menthol)
  
  
• Swimming, especially breaststroke and freestyle
  
  
• Walking 15k–20k steps/day
  (Walking helps “hydrate” and reposition the disc, plus it felt amazing!)
  

What I Learned as a Physical Therapist

This whole experience reminded me of a few key lessons:

1. Disc injuries must be treated differently than SI joint issues (which are more common in women postpartum and through menopause).
   
   
2. Extension-based rehab (à la McKenzie method) work, but only if done early, consistently, and without aggravating activities.
   
   
3. You can’t strengthen your way out of a herniated disc without first mechanically reducing the disc.
   
   
4. Healing takes time, humility, and patience. I had to pause lifting completely and go all in on recovery. But it worked.
   
   

As of this week, I’m finally feeling like myself again. I even swam laps today and got through my full core workout. While I’m not 100% yet, I’m so much closer, and I’m walking this recovery road with a lot more empathy for my patients.

If you’re dealing with back pain, especially centralized pain or pain that radiates into your leg, don’t wait. Seek help from a pelvic floor or spine-savvy physical therapist and consider starting with simple extension-based movements. And if you’re not sure where to start, reach out, we’d love to help guide your recovery.

Your spine can heal, if you give it the right input.