I had 3 bulging discs. L3/L4, L4/L5, L5/S1. That was almost 24 years ago. That was complicated by a spondylolisthesis (unstable and sliding at L5-S1), a slight scoliosis and a few other things.

In the beginning my toes were numb and I couldn't do much at all. I couldn't do anything really. All my ligaments and muscles or whatever were all giant knots and so darn painful, my physio would come to my bedside and almost carry me to her car and take me to the hot pool. That was wonderful gentle movement in the pool. I was fortunate to have an excellent physiotherapist. These days there are some really good Osteopaths around and I would probably go to one of those for work on the muscles and nerves like jenniferowens mentions in her post (but NOT for any adjustments.)

My Neurologist and Orthopaedic doc. frankly were no where near as helpful. Just my experience though.

As I began to recover more, I did a fair bit of traction. I used to do it at a gym which was attached to a private hospital near where I live and it was set up specifically with traction beds for patients.

My sciatica was shocking for a very long time. I had a twinge yesterday in fact and I remembered that awful sickening feeling that I've not experienced for many, many years thank goodness. I lifted something the wrong way out in the garden yesterday and before I knew it I got the sciatica. It's good today though.

When I was unable to do the traction, I would go to my Physio's office and she had a ladder type contraption on the wall and would have me slowly stretching until I was basically hanging from my hands on the highest rail I could reach. I used to also get what I guess was ultrasound on the ligament knots when they were bad. She used to have me alternating hot and cold packs in the beginning. They were timed. Lots of massage as well.

So, as I got stronger, I ended up getting another opinion from a Rheumatologist. He was super. I have loose ligaments and he helped a lot by recommending certain types of strengthening exercizes, especially for my abdomen. This helped a lot to stabilize my spine.

Anyway, sorry to ramble. Everyone is different and you need to just be really careful with what you're doing. I used to be a crazy landscaping home gardener... laying pavers, rolling out the yard with a water filled roller etc.. NOT anymore lol

all the best.