Hi Susan!
Have you been to a physical therapist? They are always my answer to get back into the swing of things whenever an injury is involved! Your best bet! Or shall I say your SAFEST bet! They use different modalities to increase strength, regain mobility, and help return you to your pre-injury level of activity. They do it in the proper doses helping stabilize the lumbar spine muscles. They will help you get stronger and educate you along the way,especailly on how to decrease the workload that affects your disc and vertebrae. Once you are stronger and your muscles are more balanced ,it will help control your spine and minimize the risk or injury to the nerves and disc!
Here are some daily exercisess to assist you in getting stronger:
Hamstring Stretch—A passive exercise using little muscle effort. Lay on the floor with knees bent and feet on the floor. Find the neutral spine position and maintain it while slowly straightening one leg and lifting the heel toward the ceiling while supporting the back of the thigh with both hands. Hold for 10 to 30 seconds and repeat with other leg. Do 3 repetitions. Can make the leg muscles static too by using a wall to straighten the leg while resting the leg muscles.
Pelvic Tilt—An active exercise from one position, where the abdominal muscles are isolated and used to move the spine. Lay on the floor with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Tighten stomach muscle and pull the lower back to the floor. Hold for 10 seconds. Do 3 to 5 repetitions.
Arm/Leg Raises—A more dynamic exercise introduces movement of the arms and/or legs to challenge the neutral spine; this exercise is for the hip abductors. Lie on one side with lower arm bent under head and upper arm resting with hand on floor near chest. Bend both knees and flex hips and find neutral spine position. Slowly raise upper leg 8 to 10 inches and lower. Do 5 to 10 repetitions and repeat on opposite side .
Exercise Ball Bridges—An advanced stabilization exercise that introduces unpredictable movement that must be responded to (the movement of the ball). Lay on floor with both feet propped up on the exercise ball with legs straight and arms relaxed to the sides. Find the neutral spine position and hold while slowly tightening the buttock muscle to lift the buttocks off the floor 2-3 inches
Flexibility is key to successful lumbar stabilization training, because flexibility allows the muscles to assume the neutral position easily. Cardiovascular conditioning is also an important part of the total body muscle strength and endurance and should be combined with the lumbar spine stabilization program. This is where you can introduce the Bosu! You can do any step tape for cardio (start in small doses,) I recommend using a step and bosu together at first to get yourself acclimated to the surface ! Always maintain a neutral spine, the bosu will test your balance and you don't want to push it but you do want to build yourself up!(so find a happy medium
I recommend using Rob's Cardio Fusion and Candice's Synergy as 2 tapes that will benefit your goals! You can go to
www.bosupro.com
to order!
HTH
