Does a Herniated Disc affect your Walking? How Can You Make It Better!
What's Inside This Article
Can a Herniated Disc Make Walking Hard?
Imagine if the jelly donut you had for breakfast was like the discs in your spine. The doughnut is tough on the outside, but the inside is filled with soft jelly. Now, what if you squished that doughnut and the jelly squirted out? That's kind of like what happens when you have a herniated disc. The soft inside pushes out through a tear in the tough outside. This can pinch the nerves in your spine, and it can make your muscles feel weak. This can make walking really hard, and you might even start to limp. If it gets really bad, you might have trouble lifting your foot, which can make you stumble.
Ouch, That Hurts!
If the herniated disc is in your lower back, it can make your lower back, buttocks, thigh, and calf hurt. You might even feel pain in part of your foot. This pain might get worse when you cough, sneeze, or move in certain ways. The pain can feel really sharp or like something is burning.
Why Are My Muscles So Weak?
The nerves that control your muscles go through your spine. When a disc herniates and pinches these nerves, it can make your muscles weak. This can make you stumble or make it hard for you to lift or hold things. You might not even know you have a herniated disc unless a doctor takes a picture of your spine.
How Does a Herniated Disc Mess With My Legs and Feet?
A herniated disc in your lower back can really mess with your legs and feet. This is because the nerves that control the muscles in your legs and feet go through your lower back. When a disc herniates, it can pinch these nerves and make your muscles feel weak.
For example, if the herniated disc is in your lower back, it can make your lower back, buttocks, thigh, and calf hurt. You might even feel pain in part of your foot. This can make walking really hard, and you might even start to limp. If it gets really bad, you might have trouble lifting your foot, which can make you stumble.
Why Did This Happen to Me?
There are a few things that can make you more likely to get a herniated disc. If you're overweight, it can put extra stress on the discs in your lower back. If your job involves a lot of lifting, pulling, pushing, bending sideways, or twisting, it can also increase your risk of getting a herniated disc.
Why Does a Herniated Disc Make My Muscles Weak?
Muscle weakness is a common problem if you have a herniated disc. This is because the nerves that control the muscles in your legs and feet go through your spine. When a disc herniates and pinches these nerves, it can mess up the signals from your brain to your muscles, which can make your muscles weak.
This weakness can show up in different ways, depending on which nerves are being pinched. For example, if the nerves that control the muscles that lift your foot are being pinched, it can lead to a problem called foot drop. This is when you have trouble lifting the front part of your foot, which can make walking really hard. You might start to drag your foot or trip over things.
How Does a Herniated Disc Make It Harder for Me to Move?
A herniated disc can make it harder for you to move, especially in your legs and feet. This is because it can pinch the nerves that control these muscles. When these nerves are pinched, they might not be able to carry signals from your brain to your muscles as well as they should. This can lead to weakness and make it harder for you to move.
This can make walking really hard. For example, if your leg muscles are weak, it can be hard to lift your foot off the ground. This can make you shuffle when you walk. If your hip muscles are weak, it can be hard to swing your leg forward, which is an important part of walking.
Why Do I Feel Wobbly When I Walk?
A herniated disc can also make you feel wobbly when you walk. This is because the nerves that control the muscles that help you balance go through your spine. When a disc herniates and pinches these nerves, it can mess up the signals from your brain to these muscles, which can make you feel wobbly.
For example, if your ankle muscles are weak, it can be hard to balance when you're standing on one foot, which is an important part of walking. If your feet are numb, it can mess up your body's ability to sense where it is in space, which can make you feel even more wobbly.
What Can I Do to Feel Better?
Can a Physical Therapist Help?
- A physical therapist is like a detective for your body. They can figure out which parts of your body are causing your herniated disc.
- Depending on how bad your herniated disc is, you might start to feel better after 4-6 visits to the physical therapist.
- Physical therapy can help reduce inflammation and make it easier for you to move if you have a herniated disc.
Will Medicine Help?
- Medicine like Ibuprofen can help with pain.
- Medicine like Codeine can help with really bad pain.
- Medicine like Gabapentin can help with nerve pain.
- Medicine like Metaxalone can help with muscle spasms.
Will I Need Surgery?
If your disc injury is really bad, you might need regenerative medicine or surgery.
What's a Decompression Belt?
Our favorite solution is the decompression belt. It's a low-impact, easy at home solution that can help your body heal and reduce the risk of herniation. You can find more about it here.
How Can I Keep This From Getting Worse?
Should I Exercise?
Walking is a great way to keep your disc from getting worse and to help your body heal. Walking also helps to keep your back strong and healthy.
How Should I Stand and Walk?
Standing and walking the right way can help make the pain and discomfort from a herniated disc better.
Does My Weight Matter?
Keeping a healthy weight can help take the stress off the discs in your lower back.
From our point of view, understanding how a herniated disc can make walking hard and knowing what you can do to feel better can help you manage this problem. Remember, it's always a good idea to talk to your doctor before you start any new exercise if you have a herniation.
Dr. Allan McManus,
