Bulging discs in my neck - advice?

[John Jordan]

Tim, thank you - the McKenzie exercises are the shit.

[John Jordan]

Joe your post is giving me hope, that's some determination after the slipped disc in the back as well.

Brandon could you give me some advice on how you worked around the injury in terms of lifting? Everything I do seems to make the pain in my arm and neck worse. Thanks man.

Also you may already be familiar with this guy but his videos have helped a lot http://www.yogaforbjj.net/ he breaks everything down and has videos for the inflexible- very accessible.

[Paul Bar]

I've had lower back issues for years. I had an MRI done and there were some bulges but it was basically not great but not bad enough to get surgery.

When I aggravate it the basic formula I follow is:

Stop weight lifting and Jiu Jitsu
Start taking Advil and Arnica (homeopathic stuff that my wife introduced to me that I was dubious about but actually seems to work pretty well for me) before bed every night, getting at least 8 hours of sleep
Daily stretching exercises such as Mackenzie or Sphinx and upward dog yoga stretches
Once not experiencing constant pain slowly introduce body weight exercises 2-3 times per week such as pushups, pullups and burpees
Start light weightlifting, high reps, low weight. Get rid of any exercises that increase the pain and do something else.
Gradually increase weight, once near original lifting weight, go back to jiu jitsu but telling my training partners not to smash me and tapping early to any kind of back danger such as a twister or someone flattening me out from behind

Good luck...