Limit Lumbar Flexion

If you have a lumbar herniated disc you need to stop stretching your lower back into flexion. Your lumbar spine flexes when you sit and bend forward.

Standing and bending forward or sitting and bending forward to touch your toes flex your lower back. Lying on your back and pulling your knees up to your chest flexes your lower back.

What’s Wrong With Lumbar Flexion?

Yes, these stretches and exercises stretch the muscles along your lower back. This likely feels good, for a short period of time. Usually you get some pain relief for twenty or thirty minutes. These stretches feel good because they stimulate the stretch receptors in the muscle fibers along your lower back. So you get some moderate short-term pain relief.

The problem is placing your back in flexion then holding that position increases the compression force through the back part of your discs. If you have a herniated disc in your lumbar spine it is herniated out the back and/or side. Your MRI likely uses the term “posterolateral” or “paracentral” disc herniation or bulging.

Stretching into lumbar flexion literally has the potential to increase the disc bulge

At the very least placing the spine in an end-range flexed position and holding it will keep a bulging or herniated disc from healing optimally. This is why when you stretch or exercise this way you feel better for a short period but the pain comes back.

Limit Lumbar Flexion to Facilitate Disc Healing

To allow the disc to heal and to reduce pain consistently, over the long term you need to limit lumbar flexion. You need to maintain the natural lumbar curve during stretching and exercising. Lumbar extension is almost always a better option compared to lumbar flexion if you have a disc herniation.

If you have been stretching and exercising into positions of lumbar flexion, take these movements out of your program. You’ll notice less lower back pain within a few days.