It is well known that disc cartilage does not slip or prolapse in itself preventing anyone to play sports, but all that happens is a hernia in the wall cartilage resulting in a leak in the gelatinous substance cartilage. And then slippage of this material and leaking from the cartilage of the lumbar spine to mostly the back or less commonly forward.
There are several reasons for disc cartilage prolapse (herniation) to occur. Here are a few:
1. The gelatinous part (one-third of the cartilage) is located in the back of the cartilage , making it easier to slide backwards.
2. The front cartilage thicker and stronger than the back , making the backward part weaker.
3. The consistency of the back of the cartilage is weaker than that of the front cells.
4. The posterior vertebral ligament of the spine decreases down from the top and becomes less vulnerable going down to the bottom, leaving 25% on both sides of the spine without support .
5. The most important is that the gelatinous substance moves forward with forward movement. And moves backward when the movement is forward. So since the dominant movement of the lumbar vertebrae is the forward movement, the gelatinous substance always slip back.
How to play Sports with Disc prolapse
Hence, we can divide the patients with lumbar disc sliding into two parts,from the viewpoint of physiotherapy: The first patients are front lumbar disc prolapse and those are a few. In order to ease the rules for playing sports, the abdominal exercises fit with the front group. The back exercises they fit the back prolapse patients.
Since the majority of patients with lumbar disc prolapse slip backwards, the best exercises for lumbar vertebrae posterior herniation are back exercises. While abdominal exercises increase the gelatinous substance leaked out backwards, so they are prevented from performing abdominal exercises .
Walking is another good option as well. But jogging is not preferred in the first stages of improvement .
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