Bring your spouse or friend. Optimal support to the spine when stretching allows the limbs to relax. Provides traction that the you can control. Herniations are most often posterior and lateral, the least supported area of the disc. Tears in the annular fibers often occur from repeated forward bending at the waist.
Pain can be unilateral or bilateral depending on the severity and location of the injury.
Nonpainful unless the disc has been compromised and torn. Also refers to degeneration in later years. Determined on x-ray by a physician. Spondylolisthesis- occurs in childhood and adolescence. Pain is usually a result of a disc lesion caused by the instability of the segments above and below.