Studio Australia Barcelona Blog
How to recover from a herniated disc in 3 weeks
Part 1
Director Natalia Laing was diagnosed with a challenging back injury 5 years ago, but not only that, she was also told that she had serious degenerative issues due to her career as an athlete and contemporary dancer and she would need to understand that these problems were permanent and could complicate her recovery.
The irony was that this type of diagnosis is her specially as a health professional and now it was her body that she needed to repair and care for.
This 3 part blog series is her story about how it happened, how she recovered, information that you would want to know about disc injuries, what she learnt as a rehabilitation specialist and her ongoing maintenance program.

Medical terms for back injuries
Before we get to Nat’s diagnosis it’s probably helpful to understand the terms that doctors or rehabilitation practitioners may use to describe back and spine injury.
Being diagnosed with disc problems can be confusing.
Medical practitioners use all of the descriptions listed here to describe disc injury depending on the severity of the damage to the disc:
- Herniated
- Slipped
- Ruptured
- Prolapsed
- Compressed
- Protruding
- Bulging
Coming up in Nat’s disc injury recovery program
• The first 14 days – how to manage the pain and the fear.
• What exercises you can do to help yourself at home?
• Other complementary treatments Natalia recommends for your recovery.
• Tips for the ongoing maintenance program you can rely on.