Hi chris67bug

Glad you found it useful. I think it is quite normal to feel that way. After all our natural inclination is that when we are in pain that there is something wrong and if we do something that makes the pain worse we therefore must be doing physical damage. Then when you get a diagnosis of disc damage it is easy to consider the worst. In reality when it comes to back pain it all seems a bit more complicated than that

The McKenzie Method is an approach to managing pain that has some good evidence for it. A nice thing about it is that you know if you are going to respond to it fairly quickly and the physio can soon teach you how to manage it yourself. Based on the physio's assessment, it usually involves a series of repetitive movements of the spine in the "desirable direction" and education of posture and movement. A large number of physios will include the testing used in the that approach in their standard exam, but you could ask your physio if he/she uses the method and whether it would be helpful in your case.

so by all means give it a go. Personally I would tend to combine it with a more general fitness programme which is oriented to things that suit you and your lifestyle. Keeping fit, aerobically, and keeping your muscles in strong, including your spine and extremities is all good, along with exercises to maintain a better posture. This might be relevant to you if you have become more sedentary due to taking up a desk job.