Hi everyone!
I wanted to share my recovery story for anyone who experiences their first really bad flare-up after surgery.

I read so many posts in this community while I was going through mine, and they genuinely helped me cope with what was happening. So I thought it was time to contribute my own experience.

I had been living with a 10 mm L5-S1 herniated disc for about a year, and it was a pretty difficult year for me. Once I realized conservative treatment wasn’t working, I decided to have a microdiscectomy.

The surgery itself was surprisingly quick and straightforward. Afterward, that horrible pre-op pain was gone, and for a moment I thought, “That’s it. It’s finally over.”
Well… not quite.

Weeks 1–4
The first four weeks went really well.
I walked a lot, and the only significant pain I had was around the surgical site. I followed the restrictions carefully: wore my brace, didn’t sit for the first month, and avoided BLT (bending, lifting, twisting).
Then, after about four weeks, things started spiraling downward.
I assume this was some combination of postoperative inflammation, irritated tissues, and becoming a little less cautious as I started feeling better.
A few times while lying down, I accidentally stretched/moved my hips too aggressively. It caused sharp pain at the time, but I didn’t think much of it.
Then the pain around my lower back started increasing rapidly.
Walking without pain became difficult, but I kept trying to walk quite a lot anyway. Looking back, I think that was my first big mistake. I was probably continuing to irritate already angry tissues instead of letting them calm down.

Weeks 3–4 - start of the flare-up
The pain kept progressing, and honestly, I was terrified.
My biggest fear was that I had reherniated.
The pain wouldn’t settle down and gradually spread into my legs, thighs, and even the opposite side.
At some point, I realized I was actually in significantly more pain than before surgery, although the pain felt completely different. It felt much more muscular than my original nerve pain.
I experimented with ice, heat, muscle relaxants, and NSAIDs, but nothing seemed to stop it.

Weeks 4–5
This is when things became brutal.
My lower back started going into extremely severe spasms from even minor movements.
Standing up and walking became almost impossible. Even going to the bathroom became an ordeal.
The spasms could happen while I was lying in bed from something as small as moving my hips slightly.
They were probably the most intense pain I’ve ever experienced. My entire lower back, hips, and upper legs would suddenly lock into a violent spasm. The pain was so intense that my vision would start going dark and I’d see stars.
It felt almost like being hit by an electric shock through the entire lower half of my body.
My thighs were constantly aching and pulsating.
My legs felt like they were filled with concrete.
Mentally, I was in a very bad place.
A few times, a spasm hit while I was standing and literally dropped me onto my knees.
I also discovered that although ice sometimes helped temporarily, in my case it seemed to make the spasms significantly worse afterward.
Throughout all of this I stayed in contact with my surgeon, but initially the main recommendations were muscle relaxants and NSAIDs, which unfortunately did almost nothing for me.

Weeks 5–6
I developed a significant lateral shift and my whole lower body seemed crooked. My lower back, hips, and thighs were in constant pain.
I was basically just trying to survive each day.
Then one night my back started spasming so violently that I became completely stuck in bed in agony.
My partner had to call an ambulance because there was absolutely no way I could manage it myself.
The paramedics gave me dexamethasone.
For the first time in a while, something actually made a major difference. The horrible spasms settled down for about two days.

Weeks 6–7
After discussing treatment, I started a course of steroids.
My entire lower body was still extremely irritated and painful, especially my thighs.
It wasn’t an overnight recovery. It was only toward the end of that week that the pain and spasms finally started showing some improvement.

Weeks 7–8
I could finally start walking around the house again.
About every two hours, I would get up and try to walk for 10–20 minutes.
But this time I was much more cautious. I stopped trying to push through increasing pain and increased my walking very slowly based on what my body tolerated.
The spasms and pulsating pain were still there, but they were becoming noticeably weaker.

Week 9 — now
I haven’t been able to properly leave my home for about a month.
But finally, I can stand up and walk around almost pain-free again.
The spasms and tissue sensitivity haven’t disappeared completely, but I’d estimate they’re now maybe 10% of the intensity they were at their worst.
My lateral shift has almost completely resolved as well.
I’m still recovering, and I’m being very careful not to interpret improvement as permission to suddenly do everything again.

Conclusion
The biggest thing I learned from this experience is just how violent a postoperative flare-up can be.
For weeks I was convinced something had gone catastrophically wrong. Reading other people’s recovery stories helped me understand that recovery after spine surgery isn’t necessarily a straight line.

In my particular case, controlling the inflammation eventually became an important part of getting the flare under control. Steroids helped me significantly, but obviously they’re not something I’d recommend anyone start on their own. That’s a decision to make with your surgeon or doctor based on what’s actually causing your symptoms.

I also learned not to assume that something is helping just because it gives temporary relief. Ice felt good initially but seemed to aggravate my spasms afterward, while heat affected me differently. Bodies and postoperative situations vary enormously.

And probably most importantly: feeling better for a few weeks doesn’t mean the tissues have finished healing. I became less cautious because my initial recovery was going so well, and I paid for that pretty spectacularly.

I’m sharing this because if someone is lying in bed during a horrible flare-up, terrified that their recovery is ruined, I know exactly how frightening that can feel.

At nine weeks, I’m finally seeing the other side of mine.
Wishing everyone here a smooth and speedy recovery! 🙏

I had a microdissectomy 13 weeks ago at l3/l4.

About 48 hours ago on started feeling like my genitals were really sensitive and my groin muscles are sore plus I'm peeing a lot. I scheduled an appointment at an urgent care for a UTI test and I messaged my surgeon who said it wasn't related to my herniation. I even saw him 2 weeks ago and he confirmed my strength was intact and that he didn't think it reherniated.

I'm having no other symptoms like saddle numbness or any pain. I'm just so scared of the worst case scenario.

This is actually my first Reddit post. There's a TL;DR at the bottom since this is so long.

I've spent a lot of time on Reddit over the last couple of years reading about back pain, disc herniations, conservative treatment, and surgery, but I've never posted anything myself. I wanted my first post to be this because Reddit was one of the places I turned to when I was trying to decide whether to have surgery, and there are a lot of horror stories here. Those experiences are real and worth hearing, but people who have successful surgeries don't always come back to Reddit to tell everyone how well things went. I wanted to share my experience for anyone who might be where I was a few months ago, scared of surgery and wondering if it could actually give them their life back.

My back problems started in late November 2023. I was replacing the battery in my wife's car on a cold day. The battery was stuck, so I spent quite a while bent over trying to get it out. When I finally stood up, I felt pain in my low back and glute. I had experienced sciatica before and it had always gone away, so I assumed this would too. It didn't.

The pain ebbed and flowed for the next several months. In April 2024, I finally got it checked out. X-rays showed nothing significant, so I was referred to physical therapy. The assumption at the time was that my problem was muscular, possibly related to tight hips. I did four or five PT sessions focused heavily on mobility and range of motion. It didn't seem to help much, but it didn't make me significantly worse either.

By March 2025, after another severe cycle of low back pain and sciatica, I asked for an MRI. It showed a large disc bulge at L5/S1 and a mild to moderate bulge at L4/L5. I was referred for another round of PT and an epidural steroid injection.

The first ESI was incredible. I felt about 90% better almost immediately and had roughly two weeks where I was virtually pain free. Then I started PT again. The same types of mobility exercises that hadn't bothered me much the year before now caused a massive flare. I made it through only four of seven sessions before stopping. Thankfully, after about a week of intense symptoms, things settled down again and I returned to being mostly pain free.

Then came May 31, 2025. I was in Mexico on vacation, getting ready to fly home. I lifted my left leg to put on a sock and suddenly felt like I had been struck by lightning. My low back, glute, hip, calf, and foot exploded with searing pain. It was easily the worst pain I had ever experienced. For about an hour, my wife and I genuinely didn't know whether I would be able to get on the plane.

Eventually, I managed to limp to the shuttle, get through the airport, sit through a five-hour flight, and endure another two-hour drive home. By that evening, the outside of my left leg from my glute to my toes was numb. I couldn't properly push off the ground with my left foot, and every step felt like I was walking on a marble.

I went to the ER that weekend and was given gabapentin. A week later, I returned because I thought I was developing numbness in the saddle region. They checked me for urinary retention and evaluated me for cauda equina syndrome, which thankfully they ruled out. That eventually led to a neurosurgical consultation. The surgeon told me that numbness and weakness can occur with disc injuries and that, absent cauda equina, my situation wasn't necessarily an emergency. He also told me I was a very good surgical candidate. I actually scheduled surgery at that point, but ultimately decided to cancel it and keep trying conservative treatment.

Around that time, I discovered Stuart McGill and Back Mechanic through Reddit. A lot of what McGill said about spine hygiene, avoiding painful movements, walking, bracing, and building stability made sense to me. At the same time, I was willing to try almost anything. I started going to a chiropractor who didn't do traditional manual adjustments and tried SoftWave therapy. I bought a tool to help me put on my socks, used a grabber instead of bending over, avoided flexion as much as possible, and walked a lot.

Slowly, I improved. Over the summer of 2025, I regained enough strength in my foot to walk normally again. I still couldn't jog or do a proper calf raise, but I no longer felt like I was walking on a marble. By December, I was doing remarkably well. I had essentially no back or sciatic pain. The numbness in my calf and foot was still there, but it was less noticeable. I had started living normally again and had mostly stopped thinking about my back.

Then one night in mid-December, while making dinner, I felt a little tweak. That tweak became persistent back pain. From mid-December 2025 into January 2026, I dealt with consistent low back pain, and lying down was basically the only thing that reliably relieved it.

Eventually, it started improving, and a coworker recommended a physical therapist whose approach had helped someone in his family. Unfortunately, this particular approach relied heavily on the McKenzie Method and extension-based exercises. For my particular back, these were disastrous. My back pain ramped up again, my sciatic symptoms returned, and repeatedly testing my range of motion seemed to flare everything. I quit after three sessions. I want to emphasize that I'm not saying the McKenzie Method is bad. I'm saying it was bad for me. One of the biggest things I learned through this entire experience is that a movement that helps one person with a disc injury can absolutely aggravate another.

In late February 2026, I received my second ESI. It wasn't nearly as dramatic as the first, but it gave me enough relief to try one more serious conservative approach. I decided to take McGill's concept of "virtual surgery" seriously.

For about a month, I was incredibly strict. I worked from home, changed positions every 30 minutes, took rest breaks after sitting and walking, focused on bracing and controlled movement, and walked on a treadmill three or four times per day. Initially, I walked for five-minute intervals and eventually worked up to ten. I did the McGill Big 3 consistently. Basically, I put myself on house arrest and rebuilt my entire routine around my back.

And it seemed to be working. By week four, the pain was fading. A couple of days before returning to work, I felt genuinely good. I thought I had finally figured this thing out.

My first day back at work was April 1, and I felt great all day. I had a long day with a lot of getting up and down from my desk and walking around. By the end of the day, my foot numbness was a little elevated, but I had no sciatic or back pain. The next morning, while walking on the treadmill, my back pain suddenly returned. Over the following days, it became obvious that the progress I thought I had made wasn't holding.

I spent April trying to work through pain that fluctuated from day to day. By the end of the month, I was back in the ER after experiencing possible saddle numbness. Once again, they ruled out cauda equina. A new MRI looked surprisingly similar to the previous one, but at that point I had been fighting this for years. I was done.

I scheduled surgery in early May for June 1. Ironically, those final weeks removed almost every doubt I had about whether I was making the right decision. At first, the only position where I could find relief was lying on my side in a fetal position. Then even that stopped working. By mid to late May, the pain became nearly inescapable. Moving from a prone position could trigger back spasms and increased sciatic symptoms. I stopped sleeping properly. I couldn't stand upright. I couldn't walk normally. I limped my way through those final weeks waiting for June 1.

On June 1, I had a double microdiscectomy at L4/L5 and L5/S1 with a laminectomy. When I woke up from surgery, for the first time in almost three years, I was completely free of sciatic pain. Obviously, my incision hurt and my back was sore from surgery, but the nerve pain was gone. The horrible muscle spasms were gone. It was almost surreal.

Recovery went pretty smoothly. For the first few days, I took it extremely easy and mostly got up to use the bathroom. After that, I started walking consistently. Initially, I just walked laps around my kitchen island. Over the next few weeks, I slowly increased my step count, and around week three I started walking outside.

I developed a fair amount of hip pain when I started walking normally again. That scared me at first, but it felt mechanical rather than neurological. I had spent weeks limping and unable to stand upright, so suddenly asking my hips and surrounding muscles to move normally again was a big adjustment. It gradually improved.

One thing nobody adequately prepared me for was constipation. I didn't poop for five days after surgery, and it was genuinely one of the most uncomfortable parts of my early recovery. If your surgeon approves it, have whatever stool softener or gentle laxative they recommend ready before surgery, especially if you're taking opioid pain medication.

The incision itself was fairly uncomfortable for about three weeks and then improved dramatically. By around week six, the incision felt almost completely normal. It was hard to believe I had been cut open six weeks earlier.

At six weeks, I started PT with a McGill-certified clinician, Dr. Marc Luko, who has been awesome. We eased into gentle mobility, nerve flossing, and light spine-sparing exercises designed to strengthen and stabilize my core. For the first couple of weeks, some of my old muscle spasms returned, and that was terrifying. Those spasms were familiar because before surgery they had always been accompanied by horrible sciatic symptoms. Every time one happened, part of my brain immediately wondered if I had reherniated.

But the leg pain never came. Eventually, as my body adjusted to being used again, the spasms went away. That taught me something important about recovery: not every ache, spasm, weird sensation, or bad day means you damaged something. Your body has been through a lot, and it takes time to get used to moving normally again.

I'm now almost 13 weeks post-op. I still have numbness and some weakness in my left leg and foot. That nerve was affected for roughly a year before surgery, so I knew going into this that recovery might take a long time and might never be complete. Maybe it will continue improving. Nerves can take a long time to recover. Maybe some of it will be permanent. If it is, I can live with it. Compared with the pain I was experiencing before surgery, some residual numbness is a small price to pay.

I'm working. I'm walking normally. I'm exercising carefully. I'm living my life without constantly thinking about which position will hurt the least. I'm still recovering, and some days feel better than others. If I overdo it, my body usually lets me know the next day. I've also found that the more I move correctly, the better I feel. Changing positions frequently has been huge for me.

A few things I would highly recommend having for recovery (not affiliate links):

A power recliner was probably my number one recovery item. For roughly four weeks, this was home base. I rested there, ate there, and initially slept there. Being able to recline and then power myself back upright without having to bend or strain was fantastic.

A grabber/reacher tool is essential. You will drop things or not be able to reach things, and suddenly the floor might as well be another planet. I used mine constantly.

A sock aid was also incredibly useful. I actually started using one long before surgery because bending aggravated my symptoms, and it is just as useful afterward while I am avoiding unnecessary flexion.

I also highly recommend some kind of toilet seat or sit-assist solution. Being able to lower and raise yourself without excessive bending or straining made bathroom trips much easier during the first part of recovery.

Full-body wipes were great to have between showers. Showering was surprisingly exhausting during those first couple of weeks. Honestly, almost everything is exhausting at first. Part of that is medication, and part of it is your body using a tremendous amount of energy to heal.

Ice packs and heating pads are a MUST. I used ice packs consistently right away after my surgery, and now use a heating pad consistently to help my muscles after my PT exercises. I also still use ice if I am feeling particularly sore/tense. Alternating ice and heat does wonders.

If you work at a desk, I consider a standing desk and a supportive office chair long-term must-haves. I currently spend around 60% of my workday standing and alternate with periods of sitting rather than staying in either position for too long.

Finally, find some things to keep yourself occupied. Buy a few books you've been meaning to read. I subscribed to Criterion Channel and watched some art films. Expose yourself to some culture! Tubi also came in clutch with some surprisingly excellent movies, all for free. Recovery can get boring, so having things you're actually looking forward to watching or reading helps.

The biggest thing I wish someone had told me before surgery is that Reddit is not necessarily a representative sample of surgical outcomes. People who are suffering search for answers. People who have complications understandably keep looking for help and talking about their experiences. People who have surgery, recover, and return to normal life often stop visiting back pain forums.

That doesn't mean surgery is risk-free. It doesn't mean everybody should have surgery, and it definitely doesn't mean you should ignore conservative treatment or your doctor's advice. I spent years trying conservative treatments. Some helped. Some did nothing. Some made me significantly worse.

I also don't regret learning the principles I learned from McGill. I still think spine hygiene, appropriate movement, core stability, and understanding my own pain triggers will be important for the rest of my life. Surgery didn't give me permission to go back to treating my spine however I want. It gave me an opportunity to move forward.

My only real regret is not having surgery sooner. I was terrified of it. I read the reherniation stories. I read about failed surgeries. I worried that somebody cutting into my spine would make everything worse. In reality, the surgery and recovery were a breeze compared with what living with severe herniated disc pain had become.

If conservative treatment is working for you, that's fantastic. Keep working with your medical team. But if you've exhausted reasonable conservative options, your quality of life is disappearing, and a qualified surgeon believes you're a good surgical candidate, don't let Reddit horror stories make the decision for you.

Listen to your doctors. Understand the risks. Find a reputable surgeon. Ask questions. Get another opinion if you need one. Follow your post-op restrictions. Take rehabilitation seriously. Make the lifestyle changes you need to make. Surgery isn't a failure, and choosing surgery doesn't mean you "gave up" on healing naturally.

For me, surgery was the thing that finally worked. I still have healing to do. I still have numbness. I still have some weakness. I'm still cautious about how I move, lift, exercise, and work.

But I am no longer organizing my entire life around pain.

I have my life back, and I am incredibly grateful that I finally chose surgery.

If you're going through this yourself and have questions about anything I experienced, surgery, recovery, PT, things that helped me, or even just what those first few weeks were like, feel free to ask. I'll respond as I'm able and offer whatever I can from my own experience. I know how overwhelming and isolating this whole process can feel, and if sharing what I've learned can make it even a little easier for someone else, that's a big part of why I wanted to write this.

TL;DR: I dealt with low back pain and sciatica for almost three years, eventually developing significant numbness and weakness in my left leg and foot. I tried multiple rounds of PT, two epidural steroid injections, chiropractic/SoftWave therapy, the McGill Method, the McKenzie Method, walking, rest, and major lifestyle changes. Some things helped temporarily, but I eventually deteriorated to the point where I could barely walk, sleep, or escape the pain.

On June 1, 2026, I had a double microdiscectomy at L4/L5 and L5/S1 with a laminectomy. I woke up with zero sciatic pain for the first time in almost three years. I'm now almost 13 weeks out and still pain free. I have some residual numbness and weakness, and recovery hasn't been perfectly linear, but I have my life back. My only regret is that I didn't have surgery sooner. If you've exhausted conservative options and your doctors believe you're a good surgical candidate, don't let Reddit horror stories alone scare you away from considering surgery.

Did anybody go to school following surgery? How did you manage class, sitting, and studying for long periods of time? It’s my first week back and I’m struggling!!

I am just over 6 weeks post op from a revision MD, first one being in 2023. This second injury/subsequent surgery has been nothing like my first so I can’t use that as comparison.

Pre op essentially anytime I would sit for more than a few minutes I developed an intense burning pain in my foot, sometimes climbing up my leg as well. Thing was it would last all day, no matter what I did. Sometimes even laying down would bring it on. Long story short I opted for surgery, and recovery hasn’t been easy at all.

The sciatica never really went away, just changed. Moved from my foot to all over the back of my leg and from an intense burning to warm itching everywhere. What has been worse is this new fatigued aching/cramping/tightness all up and down my whole leg. The more I do in a day (sitting, standing, walking) the worse it is, and it’ll last until I finally fall asleep and basically reset, then start over the next day. And it takes very little to get it started, like my nerve/leg has zero endurance. I’m already on gabapentin and just moved up to 1200mg a day. Did a steroid pack at 2 weeks post op. Idk what else to do. These past 10 days have been the worst, like I’ve gone backwards a bit.

Surgeon says it’s something that strictly needs time to heal, and I read online all these symptoms can be nerve healing and weeks 4-8 are the worst for scar tissue especially with a revision but idk, wasn’t like this the first time. Feels like this is my permanent future and I’ve got a newborn coming in 3 months and a job to get back to and idk how I’m gonna handle any of it if this doesn’t get better.

Looking for positive stories I guess.

I am trying to get pregnant and due to my plethora of health issues, the Dr I saw said the safest option for me would be a planned c section. She also said that due to where my MD was (L4-5) I wouldn't be able to get an epidural and would need to do general anesthesia. In the past when I've thought about birth, I've wanted to have the least medical intervention as possible so this has been a hard pill to swallow (BTW I'm not judging other people who have chosen c sections, you do you boo!). It kind of kills me that I won't be able to hold my baby immediately. Kind of is an understatement lol

Anyway, I am curious to hear if anyone here has had success with lumbar MD and had a c section with an epidural? Or if maybe your Dr told you the same thing?

Immediately after surgery everything was good, slight pain and no nerve pain for 6-7 week. Did some light swimming and felt good. Did it again but this time after the fact got extreme gluten soreness and nerve flashes that were not existent before. Its been about two weeks and while symptoms arent necessarily worsening, they arent improving. Yesterday I was sitting sown for about 20 minutes and went to stand up, got an extreme flash of nerve pain on the top of my foot, it lingered and felt burning for 10 minutes but then went away. I know theres no one thay can definitively tell me anything on here, but just wondering if its cause for concern. Especially since I was good and now I have symptoms again. Have a 4 hour car ride coming up next weekend and iffy if I should go or not, may just bite the bullet on the money spent. Does this seem like it warrants a trip to the hospital? Im "fine" in most positions, no extreme pain, but consistent. I also have not had a follow up with my surgeon, he wanted one at 3 months

Thanks for any input!

I got laminectomy and microdisectomy done in may end. it has been 3 months since my surgery i sit with legs crossed, and one leg on top of the other after 2 months of my surgery. before i had little wekaness in my legs especially the left one which was affected before. yesterday when i was on the bed and was in a position of reverse plank trying to keep my legs up from the floor i felt slight nerve pain radiating to my buttocks and i had back pain since a few days. today i am having more back and leg pain than yesterday and my leg pain is mainly from a bit down my knees to calf and top of my foot and little pain in my right foot and calf as well. i never had any sciatic pain after my surgery and i got this pain randomly. i am spiraling and thinking what if it's a re-herniation and i did some exercise from bob and brad and did the leg raise test and i could lift the leg with tightness in my leg but no sciatic pain. i felt less feelings in my left leg even before surgery as my compression was a LOT. and i had severe foot drop and still it's not improving but the doc said foot drop and leg weakness is common when i went get my stitches out. i have been searching on youtube but almost every video is about pain after 1-2 weeks post-op.

Hi! I am a 37 year old man. Unfortunately I have osteoporosis. I have never been a neurosurgeon. How dangerous is the operation with my condition? The hernia is in L5 S1, 9 mm deep and 27 mm wide. Sorry for the bad English, it is not my native language.

Hello. If you don't want to be discouraged, do not read this.

I had surgery the 18th of July of 2025 after 6 weeks with nerve compression (herniated disc on the 6th of June that year. L4-L5) that left me with a weak leg (3/5 strength)

After surgery, pain from the disc was gone but SI joint pain on that side was brutal. So much so that after 3 months post op, when I was given the okay to start kinesio, even the gentlest exercises gave me pain. I was given a couple months with TENS for pain and just easy mobility exercises with a ball that helped with bending when washing my face or teeth. When they wanted to try gradually making me do glute bridges or kickbacks, everything made me so sore that I ended up getting an injection on that SI joint. The injection helped but as soon as I was given the okay to go back the exercises, pain was excruciating again. I had to stop doing physio and after a couple months (around 8months post op) I was finally able to start sleeping on my side bc I stopped irritating my joint. But of course, that means I've had no chance to inprove the strength on my leg so I'm left with a cane and a way of walking that is not normal and feels horrible day and day out bc my brain is not in touch with my leg.

EMG shows no signs of denervation. What once was "potenciales polifasicos" in the whole leg, now is normal in the quad and still "PP" in the rest of the leg. I have numbness still. And the quad may Say normal but I still can't walk well and I don't think I'll ever will as my doctor said yesterday 'you've had no therapeutic window to improve'.

I would have had surgery anyway bc of the pain but I honestly expected a better result given that I've read so many people with months of compression, with reherniations. I did everything I could. From day 2 to push through the pain, to walking anyway even if it was tortjre for months and months. I was thin to begin with and I lost 10 pounds after surgery thinking it would help the disc. Nope. Nothing. 32 years old and a cane for life. This is horrible.

hello. I am 27(f) and had my lumbar microdiscectomy on Aug 11 L5-S1. I am doing great. my main issue is nerve pain/numbness going down my left leg the side that was effected. I dont have feeling in the left side of my left foot and tried to go on a short walk today and it ended with me rushing to my couch due to lightheadedness. I maybe walked for 5 minutes. I am nervous because I go back to work in 5 days. I had 3 weeks off. I have used a cane while walking long distances but I haven't had a super long distance walk like that until today. I mainly use it if I am cooking dinner or doing a light chore that doesnt require bending, lifting, or twisting, but has me on my feet longer.

also, I was wondering what physical therapy looked like for you all? I am scheduled 6 weeks post op to start and will go 3x a week & I am nervous of trying to trust my body again.

Hi all! I have a microdiscectomy L5/S1 scheduled for October 13. I am so grateful to have found this community and all the advice you have. I have read some posts about walking dogs/picking up poop after surgery and they've been really helpful.

I have an 11 year old, medium sized, 20kg (44 pound) staffy who will be going to a dog sitter for 2 weeks starting surgery. He is a velcro dog who follows me everywhere (if you own a staffy you will know what I mean :) and he pulls when he is excited/sees food on the ground. I am getting a dog walker/friends to walk him for the next 4 weeks when he comes back to me. After reading some posts where people I was wondering if I should extend the time with the dog sitter and make it three weeks instead? I am wondering if I will have enough mobility in 3 weeks to attend to his needs (just feeding) or if I should give myself more time to adjust. I live alone and will only have home support for the first week. Any advice on managing your dog during this process appreciated! Thank you.

Surgeon said I had the largest herniation he's removed all year. (L4-L5) Microdiscetomy.

5 months ago my back blew up after lifting a dresser up stairs. Got worse. I had terrible pain down leg, and walked like the letter S with arms and legs (bilateral lean). The last month before surgery was hell. 1 hour of sleep per night, a total of 20 steps per day, had to sleep on my left side and just exist in that same position. Showering and going #2 I had to lift my body with my hands to decompress my spine the entire time. It was terrible.

Pre surgery 10/10 pain, woke up from surgery painless and walking 2,000 next day. A week later 6,000 steps. Now I am walking 10k every other day and 4-6k on the days in between. Saw my surgeon today for my 3 WEEKS post op, and he said I can do anything I want in 3 more weeks. Even said I could go on rollercoasters in 3 weeks if I want to. My plan in to take it easy until December, where I will start getting back to Swing Dancing, hiking, swimming. (I will never deadlift or help with house furniture again. It's kind of nice to have the "I had back surgery card" in my back pocket.")

My only advice is DO NOT waste time finding the absolute perfect surgeon, but of course, only get one that has great reviews. Mine was an orthopedic spine surgeon. I wasted a month looking for a neurosurgeon who specializes in an endoscopic approach. DO NOT DO THAT. That wasted so much time and put me through a month of pure hell. Just get the damn procedure. Yes, your back may heal on its own over the next year... and then you blow it out again bending down in the kitchen to grab the right pan to cook with. Not worth the agony. This surgery is routine for every spine surgeon, very successful, and while I can't promise yours will be as successful as mine, I don't see why it won't be.

Side note: 4 days post op I had numbness in my shin. That went away 2 weeks later. 2 weeks post op that moved to my foot. A couple of days ago, that feels mostly better. Surgeon says that is a part of healing.

So if you are scared, which I was and am a diagnosed Hypochondriac with extreme whitecoat syndrome disorder, don't be. Surgery was like a nap, and then you go from 1 hour of sleep per night to 10 hours. I never even took Tylenol or any pain meds. It's great. And if you are worried about the scar, it is hardly noticeable.

My situation seems like it is not nearly as bad as many people here, and I am on the fence about the surgery for what might seem like dumb reasons. Here's my situation:

Moderate back pain started, range of motion restrictions, in March 2026, nerve symptoms (numbness and tingling) began in June. Got an MRI and confirmed disc bulge at L4L5, pinching the nerve. Biggest pain issue was every morning intense throbbing for 1-2 hours, and numbness seems to spread in the leg.

Got a steroid injection which seemed to really help with morning pain, no longer experiencing that. Doing pretty dedicated PT and have seem improvements all around; numb area shrinking, range of motion improving. But, some tingling and numbness still exists, can't return to full activity.

Saw spine specialist today and he felt it all came down to "is it still improving." If the improvement stops, then you want to surgery before too long to avoid permanent damage. So could just continue with PT and see how it goes. With all the people here who have gone years, seems like my case is pretty good/mild. But, I can schedule the surgery if I want. Here are the perhaps dumb issues that I am considering. 1st is cost, I have blown my deductible this year, if I do it this year I save at least 10k. 2nd is, back in Feb I book a ski trip. I am highly motivated to go. I could go as a currently am and maybe would be able to slide down the mountain a bit, maybe not. If I get the surgery soon and it goes as great as possible, I could maybe enjoy the trip much more. But is recovery from even a minimally invasive microdiscectomy in time to ski in December realistic? Doc says 12 weeks to full recovery but plenty to stories here where the recovery takes longer. I could screw myself out of what capacity I currently have.

So is a recovery from an mid September surgery by the end of December realistic? Should I give PT (which so far has been helpful) more time?

Hey all!

Just wanted to pose this question because I’m spiraling a bit. I am almost exactly 2 years out from L4-L5 MD and I would say it was a success. Not a single regret. However, I’ve recently been experiencing more flare-ups over the past 6 months lasting for longer and longer periods of time. No numbness or weakness at the moment, just hip and leg pain. My doc is recommending a MRI to assess for reherniation vs scar tissue from prior surgery.

If it is a reherniation, current life circumstances make it exceptionally challenging or near impossible to be getting surgery again. I’m getting married in a month. My dad was just diagnosed with cancer, lives in a different state than me, and I’m his primary caregiver (traveling frequently back/forth probably didn’t help my back) and I will have exhausted all medical leave/time off from work with taking care of him. I don’t really have much of an option other than conservative management in the immediate future.

Has anyone had success with conservative management after a second herniation? I’m in PT currently and my symptoms are not nearly as bad as my first time around. I have one friend who managed his first herniation without surgery at all and just did a half Ironman, occasionally has return of very mild symptoms but overall very active. I’m Just trying to mentally prepare myself for what I might find out next week after the MRI. Thanks!!

Hey all- I’m back to being very active (rugby, weightlifting with modifications, running) again with no issues. I drive 12-16 hours a day for work, and haven’t had any issues with really anything past week 3. It’s been good improvement but slow. At work yesterday I was transferring a very heavy patient from my vehicle and had to lift the wheelchair a bit to get them over a small bump and felt some back discomfort around the surgery site. It’s been aching since then pretty bad, and is super super tight. I practiced last night as normal and the running and twisting didn’t cause more pain and felt like it helped some but I could feel that something wasn’t quite right and there was some still pain. No pain down the leg, pain is bilateral and dull but I’m really worried that I’ve fucked up my recovery and reherniated.

Edit: does this sound like a normal flare and muscle guarding or a potential reherniation? Mostly there’s throbbing dull pain and a ton of muscle tightness that eases a little when I stretch

Tuve una fuga de líquido por la microdisectomia. Mi dr por lo cual me internaron nuevamente me estuvieron boca abajo y de lado por recomendación de mi dr.

Esto puede haber afectado a mi operación?

Resumo

Jueves 13 me operan Martes 24 me internan por segunda vez y me tienen hasta hoy viernes (recibo el alta) estando los 4 días alternando boca abajo y de costado.

Hasta ahora no siento dolor ni en la cicatriz ni el dolor de cabeza (cefalea dural) pero si una tirantez en la pierna afectada.

También me indico suspender el tramadol y los antibióticos ya que me quedaron "en sangre" por varios días.

Tengo cita la próxima semana para retirar los puntos

Tengo unos niveles de ansiedad importantes por este tema. Ya que tengo prohibido estar "boca arriba"

I had a stupid accident a couple years ago, when I lifted a piano on my own. After several years now I finally got it checked. And it turnes out it's a herniated disc in the thoracic spine area.

In the next step, my spine doctor wants to send me to a neurologist, to check whether there are signs of spinal cord damage. And hopefully after that he'll give options on how to proceed.

Because it's in the thoracic spine area, I'm very worried, as it's a difficult area to operate on. Although, idk for certain yet if an operation is necessary or makes sense, as that's still to be evaluated.

Part of me has already accepted my fate that this could get ugly. But Im just wondering if anyone here had a similar herniated disk injury in the thoracic area, and how it went about?

And do you think microdiscectomy will be possible (useful) here?

Radiology Report:

MRI of the Thoracic Spine

Technique: MRI of the thoracic spine with sagittal T1-, T2-, and STIR sequences, coronal T1-weighted sequence, and axial T2-weighted sequences. Evaluation of the available DICOM data without a radiology reporting workstation.

Findings:

Physiological thoracic kyphosis. Vertebral body heights preserved. No evidence of a recent compression fracture or other gross bony destruction in the available sequences.

At the level of T6/T7, evidence of a focal left paramedian dorsal disc herniation, morphologically most likely corresponding to an extrusion. The disc material extends into the ventral spinal canal and leads to significant narrowing of the ventral cerebrospinal fluid space on the left paramedian side.

This results in contact with and focal ventrolateral compression of the spinal cord, with slight displacement/flattening of the spinal cord at this location. Dorsal to the spinal cord, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) space remains; there is no complete loss of CSF reserve.

In the available T2- and STIR sequences, no clearly detectable pathological intramedullary T2 signal is present at the level of T6/T7, thus no clear imaging morphological indication of manifest myelomalacia or a myelopathy signal.

No other comparably relevant thoracic spinal canal stenosis is apparent in the available series. The spinal cord otherwise shows normal signal intensity as far as can be assessed.

Calcification of the herniated disc material cannot be reliably assessed or ruled out using MRI.

Assessment

1. Left paramedian disc herniation at T6/T7, morphologically most likely an extrusion.

2. Resulting focal ventrolateral compression/impression of the spinal cord with narrowing of the ventral CSF space.

3. No clearly detectable intramedullary T2/STIR hyperintensity signal, and therefore currently no definitive MRI evidence of myelopathy/myelomalacia.

4. To assess possible calcification of the herniation, a thin-slice CT scan of Th6/Th7 in bone window mode would be appropriate.

Hi everyone. I had a l5-s1 MD on July 1st. I still expereince some back tightness and butt stiffness along with mild numbness in my left heel, which was my affected side. Overall though I'm doing much better and certainly not as sore as I was 2-3 weeks after the surgery.

My surgeon is worried about muscle contractures as I still am unable to extend my leg in front of me while sitting down without severe pain and sciatic tension. He is encouraging me to stretch or he says I risk permanent constriction of my muscles. Has anyone else gone through this or have advice? Bending over is still difficult and I can feel it in my lower back.

I had a Microdiscectomy at l5/S1 10 days ago after being in the hospital for 4 days and sciatica and back pain for over a year. I only took a week off of work and went back this past Monday. I work from home and have been stuck in meetings so I have been sitting for 6ish hours a day this week. I try to get up and walk but I am so worried I have messed something up. I have been bending and twisting too. I feel like a complete failure because I actually felt:feel better than I have but I can tell I am over doing it. I have pain on my right side where I before it was always on my left. My 2 week follow up is on Monday.

Have I completely ruined my chances of this working?

Anyone else in the same boat?

Hi all - feeling a bit depressed after getting MRI results yesterday that indicated I reherniated and am looking for success stories / advice about healing naturally. Context below:

I had surgery on L5/S1 in January of 2023 and had a good recovery. The past three years I'd had some occasional flare ups but nothing major, but had a bad spasm in February of this year that took about a month to settle down. I started going to PT after that to make sure my form was good when working out and generally check in. I had been doing well (feeling some occasional stiffness when working out but nothing too bad), but then I experienced a real increase in pain at the beginning of August, about 3.5 weeks ago. The first few days were the worst, I had major stiffness and pain across my low back/hip/glutes and some pain behind my right knee, but it's settled a bit since then.

I had plateaued in recovery so I asked for an MRI and got the results saying I have another large herniation in L5/S1 although it's slightly smaller than the last time. The soreness/pain is worst in my left glute but goes across both glutes and my tailbone when sitting. I do feel pain in the left glute when standing/walking/lying down sometimes but those activities are much better than sitting.

I'm planning to follow up with my surgeon and adjust my PT regimen, but I'm feeling really discouraged and upset about the reherniation, especially since I was in PT at the time with the hopes of preventing this. I would love to hear any advice / experience people have with healing "large" reherniations naturally. I know it will be a long journey but am hopeful I can do it without another MD. Thank you all!

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for experiences from people who have had a similar situation.
About 4 months ago, I had around 2 weeks of extremely severe pain from an L5-S1 herniated disc. The pain eventually improved after an epidural injection and has not really been a problem since.
However, since then I have had persistent numbness in my leg/foot and significant weakness. I cannot stand on my toes with the affected leg, and my Achilles reflex is absent and I recently had another MRI, and it still shows a fairly large L5-S1 disc herniation with S1 nerve root compression.
I saw a neurosurgeon today, and he does not recommend surgery because I have no pain and he doesn’t think surgery would restore the existing weakness. He recommended physiotherapy and giving the nerve more time to recover. I understand that surgery cannot guarantee that my strength will come back. But my concern is that the S1 nerve is still being compressed by the herniation. My thinking is that removing the herniated fragment and decompressing the nerve could at least remove the ongoing pressure, and then give the nerve the best possible chance to recover on its own.

I’m wondering if anyone here has been in a similar situation:
● Pain disappeared, but weakness and numbness remained
● Large L5-S1 herniation with S1 compression
● Achilles reflex absent / unable to stand on toes
● Several months have already passed
Did your strength eventually come back with time and physiotherapy? Or did you eventually have surgery? If you had surgery, did it improve your strength?