I’m not a doctor, consult your physician before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
This article is a training program for degenerative disc disease. I’m going to show you stretches and exercises to reduce spine compression and strengthen your body.
I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease 10 years ago at 21 years old. The doctor told me it would get worse as I age, and the solution is to avoid anything that loads the spine like running, jumping, or lifting weights. I'm now completely pain-free and stronger than I've ever been! I run, jump, and lift weights all the time, and in this article I’m going to show you how.
Applying this to Your Life
Your individual case is different from mine, and what has worked for me and my clients might not work for you, but what if it did?
What is Degenerative Disc Disease?
About 85% of back pain is nonspecific. This means doctors don't know exactly what's causing your pain, but they won't tell you that.
While it sounds terrifying, degenerative disc disease just means there’s a little bit less fluid in your discs. Calling it degenerative disc disease is like saying an old person with wrinkles has degenerative face disease - it’s descriptive, but not actually helpful.
Get a Functional Diagnosis
All back pain has a cause, and if your doctor can’t help you, find a functionally trained clinician at backfitpro.com to get a functional diagnosis.
This includes things like pain intolerance tests, posture and movement assessments, trigger point testing, and muscle testing. If you visit my website whatiswrongwithmyback.com you can access my free ebook that walks you through these steps.
The Journey
I've helped hundreds of people overcome chronic pain, and the people who see results are those stubborn enough to NEVER GIVE UP!
With all things in life, it's difficult to enjoy the journey when it's happening, especially with back pain. However, your attitude will determine your success. Use my story and look for other success stories to help you realize that IT'S POSSIBLE to get out of pain!
Degenerative Disc Disease Training Program
If you have degenerative disc disease, this training program will help you, but to get the best results you must complete a functional diagnosis to customize this program to your needs.
Pain-Free Posture
The first step is to identify the postures that provide relief. For example, someone with flexion intolerance, where rounding forward causes pain:
Will usually find relief by lying on their stomach:
In contrast, someone with extension intolerance, where arching back causes pain:
Would likely find relief from a child’s pose:
If tight hips are causing your pain, lying with your feet up the wall might feel great.
If lying on one side is painful, consider lying on the other side to find relief.
Awareness of how posture affects your pain teaches you what to do when your back hurts, which puts you in control! Treat your own back by Dr. Robin Mckenzie is a great book that goes into further detail on how posture exercises can relieve back pain.
Stretches for Degenerative Disc Disease
Distraction stretches can provide relief for some people by temporarily lengthening the spine. You do this by putting weight into your hands to provide a vertical stretch to your back.
The couch stretch will loosen tight hip flexor muscles. 2 minutes per side in the morning and night is a great place to start.
To stretch your upper body, perform the prayer stretch or hang from a bar
.
The pigeon stretch loosens up the outer thigh muscles and the frog stretch stretches the inner thighs.
If your hamstrings are tight, learn to roll your hips forward while sitting and any time you bend forward.
Performing a hinge from the hips with good technique is the best hamstring stretch you can do.
Stretch the areas that need mobility like the hips and thoracic spine before focusing on areas that require more stability like the low back.
Avoid stretches that only deal with the symptoms (back tightness) without addressing the causes.
DDD Stretch Program Summary | Perform 3 rounds of the mobility circuit. Rest as needed between sets. |
A - Couch stretch - 60 seconds per side.  | B - Hang from a bar - 60 seconds  |
C - Prayer Stretch - 60 seconds. | D - Pigeon stretch - 60 seconds per side. |
E - Frog Stretch 60 seconds | 1F - Hinge - 10 reps |
Strengthening Exercises for Degenerative Disc Disease
Sedentary living causes certain muscles to get short and tight while other muscles get long and weak. Certain muscles need to be stretched, while others need to be strengthened. If you go to the gym and tighten up muscles that are already tight, you’ll make your pain worse!
The exercises in this program are selected because they provide great overall strength benefits while limiting the load on the low back. Crunches are not going to help low back pain!
The core stability circuit begins with the deadbug, and if this is too challenging replace it with the curl-up.
Next comes the side plank, and if it's too challenging perform it on the knees or against a wall.
Next is the plank w/ leg raise, and if it's too challenging perform a bird dog.
Finally the core stability circuit ends with the glute bridge. These will strengthen your posture and prevent you from moving excessively at the low back.
The ATG split squat will strengthen the hip flexors in a lengthened position.
The prone y-press will strengthen the muscles just above the low back. If this is too challenging, try these variations.
The hip thrust will strengthen the glutes, which are the most important muscles for a pain-free back.
If you're just starting out, perform the glute bridge without weight and perform higher reps (20+) per set.
The TRX row strengthens the muscles of the back.
The box stepdown trains the legs while improving balance and the hip hinge.
The suitcase carry strengthens the core and improves your ability to carry something.
All of these exercises must be pain-free and you should be able to breathe throughout the duration of each exercise. If you feel pain, stop and adjust or seek professional help. Perform this workout every other day.
Core Stability | Perform 3 rounds of the core stability circuit. Rest as needed between sets. |
A - Deadbug - 30 seconds | B - Side plank - 30 seconds |
C -Plank with leg raise - 30 seconds | D - Glute bridge - 12 repetitions. |
Strength Training | Perform 3 rounds of each superset. Rest as needed between sets. |
2A - ATG Split Squat - 6 reps with a 5 second hold at the bottom on each side | 2B - Prone Y-press - 12 reps |
3A - Hip thrust - 12 reps | 3B - TRX Row - 12 reps |
4A - Box Stepdown - 10 reps per leg | 4B - Suitcase carry - 45 seconds |
Conclusion
With any new training, it’s important to take it slowly and listen to your body. The stretches and core stability exercises can be completed every day, and the resistance exercises every other day. If you're very sore, take a day to rest and recover.
That’s the degenerative disc disease training program! What do you think? If you have questions, please comment below or send me a message. Let me know what you’d like to see next!
If you want help on your journey, schedule a fitness consultation.
Hope this helps! Until next time! - Tom
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