10 Surprising Things To Avoid With Herniated Disc & Sciatica

This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in February 2025. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/1LyzhKBkq_8

Mike: If you're dealing with a herniated disc or sciatica, the wrong move or habits can actually make your pain worse or even slow down the recovery process.

Brad: That's right. And we're actually going to take a trip down memory lane, and we're going to show 10 surprising different things that you may be doing, some of them that can irritate and make your sciatica go on seemingly forever.

Mike: But make sure to stay tuned because after the 10 tips, we're going to come back to the current time and show you a bonus tip.

Brad: Now we're all confused.

Mike: Yeah. So anyway, I think we should just time-travel.

Brad: Yeah. Back in time, here we go. Bob and I are coming at you. Woo, woo, woo.

Bob: Hi folks. I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.

Brad: Brad Heineck, physical therapist.

Bob: Because we have the most famous physical therapist on the internet.

Brad: Oh, in our opinion, of course, Bob.

Bob: Yep, they're going to be glad they came to watch today, Brad, because we're going to talk about 10 surprising things to avoid when you have a herniated disc or sciatica.

Brad: Exactly.

Bob: Are you shocked that we're going to discuss this?

Brad: 10 of them. 10 of them.

Bob: Yeah. That's amazing. All right, first thing you want to do, Brad, is avoid prolonged sitting. People don't realize that this injury or this type of problem is often a sitting problem rather than a lifting problem.

Brad: Right. Exactly.

Bob: The more that your back is in this somewhat rounded out position, "C" posture, which Brad's going to demonstrate right now, that's putting stress on the disc, which is pushing it out towards the back.

Brad: Right here.

Bob: We've shown this many times. So you really want to avoid sitting. When I hurt my back the one time, Brad, where I threw out my disc, I actually did not sit; I would either stand or lie down.

Brad: Right. I know when I bothered mine, I took a table that I could raise up to do my notes on.

Bob: That's what I did. Yep.

Brad: Yeah, one of the tables that goes under the bed, I lifted it up, the tray table, and it worked well for my notes.

Bob: I know I was doing an internship at the time, and I would take my notes standing by a counter. All right, that again shows you how sitting can affect you, especially on long car rides.

Brad: Yeah. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine's wife is having back problems, and she cannot sit and do her computer work. And he's asking me whether I can get her one of the elevating computer desks so she can stand while she's working at the computer.

Bob: Sure. That's a good idea.

Brad: Yep. Yep.

Bob: All right, number two, a lot of people think, "Okay, I've got back pain, I'm going to do yoga, and that's going to help me." And there are just so many of the stretches in yoga that you can't do.

Brad: Right. I think some may be beneficial.

Bob: Some are fine, some are actually probably great for you, but, you know, it would take us a long time to go through which ones are bad. But obviously any ones that you're flexing.

Brad: So I see pictures of people doing yoga, and they're in this position. That's probably going to make that disc herniate more.

Bob: So, avoid yoga. Sorry, yoga people.

Brad: Right. Yeah, unless you're going to weed out the ones you should do and the ones you shouldn't do. But we don't have time for that right now.

Bob: All right. If you have to sit, we want to make sure you're sitting with support. So you're going to want to have some type of lumbar support. If you don't have one, all you have to do is roll up a towel, and Brad's got his famous little duct tape on there to help hold it in place.

Brad: Right. So, I think both of us should sit on a firm, upright chair. Avoid the soft, cushy furniture that's going to promote that poor posture.

Bob: Yeah. Like a soft couch or a soft chair is going to kill you.

Brad: Exactly. So here we have that firm chair, and I'm going to sit here, and you'll find, you'll put that lumbar support right about at the belt line. You'll know, because it's going to feel good. You may have to adjust it per individual. And right there. Now, right now, I can tell that this is a little bit too big; it's pushing my back out too far.

Bob: Yeah. You'd probably want more of a thinner one.

Brad: Oh yeah, that's better. I have one of these in my car, and I have another one; the two of these are taped together. And it depends on the day, sometimes I'll use the one, sometimes we'll put one with two in there. Sometimes I don't use it at all.

Bob: But I've been working with my back for a long time, so I kind of have it tuned in. You know, what I have found, Brad, with a lot of people is that when they're having a problem with a herniated disc, a lot of times they want more towels than fewer. When they're doing preventative, then they want fewer towels.

Brad: Sure.

Bob: That's the thing, you can take a towel, and you can roll it up as big as you want. And try it and see what helps, and maybe have two sizes in your car.

Brad: Exactly.

Bob: Now, if you're on a couch, you have to sit on a couch, take a throw pillow or something, and put it behind you. Or one of those recliners or whatever, make sure you have, like I said, a throw pillow, because you're really going to sink in otherwise.

Brad: All right, next.

Bob: So. This is what you do: you bend, and you twist. And when do you do that, Brad?

Bob: A lot of times, when you're shoveling. When you shovel like this, now I'm bent, and then I throw it over here, I'm twisting, so.

Brad: And then add on some heavy wet snow into that.

Bob: Right. And now you're going to hurt. So. Number five, Brad, sit-ups, full sit-ups. This is going to put your back in that position again. And you know, I thought people all knew about this. But I see instructors on the internet who are even doing this sometimes. So they're doing the full sit-up. This is terribly hard on your back.

Brad: Puts a lot of stress on the lower back.

Bob: Yeah. And then to make it worse, they'll do a sit-up with a twist, so now we're doing like a bend. My back just hurt right there doing that. You know? So.

Brad: Either way. No. No, but yeah, there are a lot of options to do sit-ups. I mean, that does work the stomach muscle.

Bob: Oh, it does, believe me. But it really puts a high amount of stress on the back. And so do things like this. Working this way.

Brad: Yep.

Bob: Number six, this is just kind of an obscure one, but if you are riding on a lawnmower. A lot of people are in a kind of bad posture when they're in it, and it's a shock absorber. And so you're putting a lot of stress on the disc while you're doing that.

Brad: I'm not a big fan of back belts, but if you're out riding a riding lawnmower, you have a bumpy lawn, I think that would be a good idea. You bet.

Bob: That would be a good idea.

Brad: You know, it's going to cinch you in and keep you up. Yep.

Bob: If you need to do it, you're actually probably better off doing a push mower, maybe.

Brad: Two acres of lawn.

Bob: Yeah, yeah. All right. We get a lot of questions about whether or not I can weight-lift. You know, when you have a herniated disc, I just don't think you can do it. I mean, you can do some, you could maybe do bench press.

Brad: Sure. Yep.

Bob: You can maybe do curls. But you certainly can't do squats. I mean, if you're doing a squat and you're bending down like this, I don't, even if you keep your back straight, you're putting a lot of stress on it.

Brad: It's not worth it.

Bob: Definitely not deadlifts. And definitely not, I don't want you ever doing bent over rows.

Brad: Yeah, I know, I see people do that a lot. The things we could talk about.

Bob: The things we could go on and discuss. Doesn't it go on and on, Brad? Okay, sleeping, the one thing you want to avoid with sleeping is I don't want you sleeping in a flexed posture all night long, Brad. So I don't want you lying on your side. And lying like this all night long.

Bob: You know, it's just, again, putting your back in that flex. Now, there's not a lot of stress on your back in this position, but it's just better to be a bit straighter.

Brad: If you're one of those really strong, broad men who have wide shoulders, I mean, that can put your back at an angle as well.

Bob: Right. And that's why we recommend that you take a sheet. We also have something pre-made here. But you put the sheet in a roll. You're going to spin it around like that. This is kind of crude right now, Brad. But some people actually tie a sheet around them, and then when they lie on their side, they get some support here. So they're not sagging here.

Brad: Right.

Bob: And when they lie on their back, they get some support and keep the arch there.

Brad: It's that hollow spot that's created by the pelvis; the back is going to zip down in right there. Where you have to fill it in, so that'll straighten and neutralizes that spine.

Bob: Good demonstration, Brad. Now there are pre-made products too. Do you want to show that one, Brad? That's a McKenzie, right?

Brad: Yep. This is the McKenzie sleep roll, they call it. You put it around here. This would be for a smaller person than me. But then you tie it here, and if I had the right size, it would come like here and then protect the back as well, or support the back, I should say.

Bob: Let's show one little trick, too, Brad, for sleeping.

Brad: Oh, I thought you were going to do a magic trick.

Bob: Oh.

Brad: You're killing me, Bob.

Bob: I'm going to make Brad disappear. Okay. Actually, I'm going to make you disappear. So what are you going to do is you're going to lie on your good side. Okay? So let's say my pain's going down my leg here, I'm going to lie on my good side, which is this side, I'm going to lie on my right side. And then, yeah, put the two pillows.

Brad: I'll help you out here, Bob.

Bob: Okay. One pillow or two pillows underneath you, like this, with the leg bent. And believe it or not, sometimes that helps arch the back up a little bit on this side. And it helps relieve the stress of the pain in the leg.

Brad: Right. But he would have pillows up by his head, too. I actually had a patient last year who I did this to, and she was just happy. It's like, oh, that feels so much better.

Bob: A lot of people have trouble finding the correct position to sleep in at night. I know a lot of people tend to sleep in a recliner when they have back pain. I don't know why it helps, but it does. I'd rather that you don't. Because you're sitting in that flexed position somewhat.

Brad: Right. And maybe someone has stenosis, and they think it's a disc, you know.

Bob: Then it would help. Yep. Exactly. Okay, avoid prolonged bending. You really don't want to be doing any task where you're hunched over, in this position here.

Brad: Right. And actually, slight bending, like brushing your teeth, that'll set a lot of people's back pain off. So make sure you're up tall.

Bob: Luckily, a lot of people know this already, because they get punished when they do it. But one thing, as a hint, if you have to bend over, grab something to support it, because it takes the stress off your back.

Brad: Sure. Right.

Bob: I even say, like for people who don't have back pain and are going to do some bending, just to put your elbows on your knees like this.

Brad: Right. Obvious if you've got the flexibility and you're strong enough, you know, if you can get down on your knees and maintain that. But there are a lot of people with knee pain, that's not an option.

Bob: Yeah. It makes it difficult. So. All right, the last thing we're going to mention, Brad, is vacuuming. Vacuuming, especially the wrong way, is very hard on your back because this is what a lot of people do. This is my vacuum, Brad.

Brad: I have to say it's a nice vacuum.

Bob: So they do this, they bend, and they move, they don't move their legs at all, they're just bending and twisting it the whole time. So instead of what you should be doing is you should be dancing with it. You're dancing with the vacuum, moving your leg. Every time the vacuum moves, your leg moves.

Brad: And you actually walk with it, too. Take a step. Walk with it.

Bob: There you go. You can do the waltz as you vacuum. Better yet, get one of those little Roombas or whatever those little circular vacs that go out and do it themself.

Brad: Yeah. Like a little robot.

Bob: Yeah, a little robot. Yeah. Then you don't have to bend at all.

Brad: All right, so, we're back into real time, Mike. Okay. Now, actually, we went through a pretty comprehensive list of things that you should not be doing to irritate it, but now we've got something new we're going to add from Rick Olderman, an excellent therapist who came up with this in the last few years, Mike.

Mike: So if you're having some pain, the side that is painful, what you're going to do is stretch it out, decompress the spine to hopefully give you some pain relief. Now there are many ways you can do this. I'm going to show it on a door frame. You can also use a pull-up bar, anything you can hold onto that's sturdy. Brad will show what the stick, if you happen to be shorter and you can't reach this high. So what I'm going to do on my painful side, I'm going to put my palm away from my body. I'm going to grab up top, and then I'm slowly going to bend my knees. This is elongating my spine here on my left side, and it's taking pressure off of that herniated disc. So this should feel good.

Mike: Now you just normally do the one side, you can hold it for 15 to 30 seconds. Make sure to relax and breathe. If you want to do this on a pull-up bar, you certainly can, but it might be kind of aggressive if you do a full hang and your feet are dangling off the ground, you'll kind of know. So just take it nice and slow and easy. From this point of view, you can kind of see my back actually stretching out more.

Brad: Right. But again, emphasize, if one side feels good and the other side doesn't, only do the side that feels good, particularly with the pain going down the leg. If you're too short or too tall or you don't have a very stable trim on your door, you can take a stick four to five feet long. You can use, actually, a viewer said a pool cue, which may work, but whatever you can put on a table, on a chair top. You need to have a rubber tip so it doesn't slip around, or simply take off your shoe, put it there, and that'll prevent that. And you could do exactly what I'm doing. Look at the back of your hand, palms towards the stick, reaching up as far as you feel comfortable. And just like Mike was doing, start bending the knees, feel the stretch here.

Brad: So as you can see, it's pulling the clothing on my shirt apart. It's doing that with your spine, it's just gently separating the vertebrae, allowing that bulge to go back in, taking pressure off of that nerve, therefore sciatica goes away. So you can do it that way. You can actually do this in a seated position. Again, the same thing with the tip, use a shoe if you need to. And when you do it this way, you simply lean like that. And I can feel that stretch right now. So two different options with the stick. You've got the doorway. Hopefully, you can manage with one of those. Did I miss something, Mike?

Mike: We have more videos on sciatica. So the video, "Why Sciatica Happens and How to Fix It!" shows why sciatica happens and how to fix it, so that one goes more in-depth and actually gives you exercises or tips to help alleviate your pain.

Brad: That's right. Sometimes it can be tough. All right, have a good day, and be careful with that sciatica; get rid of it as soon as possible.