Herniated Disk and Rebounding

A herniated disk refers to a problem with one of the rubbery cushions (disks) between the individual bones (vertebrae) that stack up to make your spine.

A spinal disk is a little like a jelly donut, with a softer center encased within a tougher exterior. Sometimes called a slipped disk or a ruptured disk, a herniated disk occurs when some of the softer "jelly" pushes out through a crack in the tougher exterior.

A herniated disk can irritate nearby nerves and result in pain, numbness or weakness in an arm or leg. On the other hand, many people experience no symptoms from a herniated disk. Most people who have a herniated disk don't need surgery to correct the problem.

Important

• Never rebound while having an acute injury.

• If you have back problems and / or a herniated disk, always see your trusted health care physician first and get his 'ok' to rebounding.

• Many physicians recommend exercises that strengthen the muscles of the back and the core in order to relief the spine.

• On this website and in our phone counseling, we are never giving medical advice. We are no doctors and therefore cannot give you any medical advice. We just make our experience and the experience of our customers available to you so that you can widen your knowledge about health issues and exercising.

Experiences from bellicon users with herniated disks:

• Regarding your question on feedback from people who have herniated disks, I had three slipped disks in the lower back, of which two had to be operated. The last operation is 15 years ago. As I've been taking postures classes and had lots of physiotherapy, my back is better than ever. Rebounding certainly doesn't cause me any problems. (M.O. March 2015).

• I have a disk that bulges if I jump with a weight. Two of the 6 lifts I do with my weights training coach involve this, but he has modified my workout to exclude the jumps. I’ve been rebounding every day since November 20, 2014, first with medium bungess and then (and now) with strong bungees. I’ve had no problem with the disk. I usually do two to four 4- or 5-minute workouts every day. I  practice Iyengar yoga daily as well.  I also do speedwalking several times a week. I have to pay a great deal of attention to maintaining cervical alignment when my rebounding workout becomes complex. Then I have to slow down and reorient before going on with the exercise. (J.K. March 2015)
  

• In regards to cervical herniated disk:  I actually had an almost slipped or herniated cervical disk injury on January 1, 2013. I had already been rebounding for a couple of years and the injury was unrelated to the rebounder.  I found that I had to take it easy, especially because I didn't yet have a bellicon and I had too hard a bounce on my former rebounder.  After the injury, I needed to remain very aware of how I moved my body when bouncing and had to bounce a bit more gently for a couple of months.  One thing I did not do, however, is stop bouncing!  I did solicit the advice of my chiropractor who was treating me for the cervical injury, and he mainly advised that I not move my head in certain positions on or off the rebounder, and to keep my head fairly straight while rebounding, also not a lot of vigorous arm/shoulder movements and absolutely no weights.  I feel that, along with temporary anti-inflammatories, heat and ice packs, laser therapy, and very gentle and slow stretching and ranging of the neck, the rebounder helped to heal the disk injury, but I did have to remain very, very aware as I jumped.  It took a total of 10 months for it to heal, and now I'm fine, with only very slightly less flexibility on that side of the neck vs. the other side.  Once I got the bellicon this past January, what a huge difference!  It has the PERFECT bounce, and I thank  you for your recommendation on the bungee strength in particular when I gave you my weight.  I had no idea I'd been bouncing on far too hard a surface ever since day 1 of rebounding back in 2011.  I really love my bellicon  :) (K.D. March 2015)