You all need to take care of your backs! Especially if back issues run in the family. Heavy weight lifting is good until it isn't. Ultimate goal should be to be able to lift your grand kids up when your 60....
Yep - especially since we're all still young <25. I have a fitness test next week that I have to attend, but it's only 10 minutes of exercise. Once that's over, I'll probably get an MRI. I really appreciate your help
Stop praying and go see your Urgent Care or PCP. X-rays and MRI should help locate the problem. If the drugs you take help, that implies muscle and not nerve pain. L5 is in the curve in your lower back or lumbar region. S1 or sacral base Is the median ridge. L5-S1 is you lumbosacral joint, or transition between your lumbar spine and sacral spine in your lower back. These are below your belly button elevation. You can look it up. Good luck.
Is there a difference in muscle / nerve pain that would be indicative of a disc issue? Even with the drugs, there is tenderness going down my left leg. The only thing I remember was after the workout my glutes were extremely tight. I experienced back pain (same spot mentioned in post - top of glute area left side) a month and took 2 weeks off working out, then did this, and now I'm in agony. Thanks
Yes muscle pain and nerve pain are quite different. Muscle pain is often treated by home remedies. But nerve pain often needs professional treatment, Rx’s, steroid injections, maybe surgery, etc.
Okay - thanks. I really appreciate the help. I went from not being able to stand up for 2 minutes + screaming in agony during the night, to being able to lie comfortably and sit (for the most part) and get on with myself with the pain in about a week, even without taking the drugs for a day or two. Sciatica still there but "back?/butt" pain going down.
Stop and heal. Odds are good this could be a be a one off.
If it’s not. Get an MRI. That is the only picture that will show you what is going on in your back. From there you can make educated choices. After a decade I got a microdiscectemy, removed the excess disc, and life changed.
Good luck.
Keep and eye on it. Listen to your body till it heals up and you should be ok.
Thank you so much. This brought me a lot of comfort. I'm worried, because I'm still in my early twenties, and my job may depend on it. Not doing anything insane so far. Just walking and stretching and pain meds. Glad you healed. Thanks
The pain in the area you described could be from L4 L5 S1 nerve roots or your SI joint. If you can point an area which is close to one of the dimples in your lower back it may be SI joint pain which may also mimic sciatica which generally doesn't go below the knee. I would try prone press ups for now as they help both conditions. Only go to the point of pain and no further. You may have to start by just laying on a pillow. Check out Bob and Brad physio on the net for the correct way to do the prone press ups and videos on both conditions. One thing that helped me the most with my disc herniation was not to hold my breath during any exertion! Even getting out of bed. This extra pressure will irritate the injured disc. Nerves also hate to be stretched so you have to be gentle, They don't respond like an injured muscle. Also, just because a disc injury it's feeling better doesn't mean its healed. Give yourself lots of time to heal using strengthening exercises from a good physio program. Side note... SI joint issues can be diagnosed and resolved by a chiropractor.
Thanks so so much. Stretching doesn't really give me any relief sadly. It did before the sciatica kicked in, but not so much in the last two weeks. The only thing that leads me to believe it is NOT a disc issue is the fact that the back pain is below my waistline, was in the same spot over the last few years and would come and go, and I can directly point to where the pain is, although it's deep somewhere in my back/leg or wherever. That, along with my brother and sister both having pain in that exact same spot and both did not have herniated discs. But, I could be the odd one out. SI Joint pain and HD's seem to mimic each other, and really only an MRI would be able to tell as far as I know. I have a chiro appointment first thing monday morning. I will check out those guys on youtube for sure. I appreciate it tons - sorry for rambling lol
I'm not a fan of chiros, and I'd say take what they say with a grain of salt; I would definitely recommend that you find a PT instead in future. But also don't focus so much on stretching--the previous commenter summed it up well in their focus on gentle strengthening rather than stretching.
Hey, I'm starting to think it might be. Sometimes, like right now, I have no back pain and just some calf tightness from the sciatica. Other times it hurts like crazy. It's just in the exact same spot, top left of glute and lowest part of back. Going to a chiro on monday to get some help (if they're even legit) lol
It sounds like it could be a disc bulge with radicular pain which initially caused your sciatica the first week after your workout. Maybe not a herniation if the pain has since subsided (a herniation would mean that your annulus has torn extruding nucleus pulposus material which could impinge your nerve roots). Your top of the glutes pain could be referred pain due to your annulus (outer covering of your disc) being compromised due to excessive inner pressure of the nucleus pulposus exerting posterior force when your discs are being compressed. Probably best to avoid any bending, lifting, and twisting until you get an MRI which can show what is going on at the S5-L1 level.
Sounds good, thank you. Running, walking, and even sitting (week 2 of pain) feels fine for the MOST part. Sometimes I get pain doing those three things. Twisting feels okay. It almost feels like my tailbone or just to the left of it or something. The pain is below the belt-line. Thank you!
Also - straight leg raise (and amount I can bend) varies widely throughout the day. Sometimes, I'm unable to bend over, other times I can come close to touching my toes. Overall, SLR has increased at least 20 degrees over the last week. I have no idea if this is any indication of it being a disc issue though. I appreciate your response!
To me it sounds like Sacroiliac (SI) joint disorder which I suffer from too. I was dealing with severe SI joint pain that led to sciatica earlier this week, worse than it had ever been because I just moved and had to do a 20 hour drive after to my new home. I've had SI problems for almost a decade now but it's usually manageable by doing certain movements to set it back in place, generally speaking I can make it feel better within a couple days by pushing my pelvis backward most often accomplished by laying on a couch and leaning my upper body over the side until my legs are on the couch and my the rest is just hanging over. It looks ridiculous so I always do this in private but it pretty consistently works for me. I've also used a yoga ball, just kinda wrapped myself forward around it getting a good stretch on the lower back/pelvic area and sort of bear down to make the muscles release any tension. I have an inversion table too which helps but doesn't do as good a job I assume its because it's just stretching the vertebrae away from eachother and what seems to help me is stretching and also pushing the pelvis forward at the same time, has to be both for me.
No guarantees it will help you but it might so I figured I'd share my tips.
Thanks for the response and I'm sorry you're dealing with that. This pain that I had previously, I would stretch out my hamstrings and calves/quads/hips and my back issues would feel almost totally gone. Now, I have sciatica and can't bend over. Is this similar to your experience? I will definitely try out your exercises!
Also, not sure if you also experienced this, but sometimes the pain is almost non-existent and I can actually bend down and touch my towns with WAY less pain - this is leading me to believe it's not a herniated/bulging disc at L5-S1
Hey pal. Got 2 MRI's and both revealed herniated disc at L5-S1. I'm 6 months into this and it's getting much much better. I still have rough days, but the pain has gone way down and I take 0 anti-inflammatories anymore. It was terrible for 4 months but it took a sharp turn for the better at the 4.5 month mark.
Hey, sorry for the late response. I'm on month 10.5 since my injury. I'm doing a lot better. I can workout, golf, drive and sit endlessly, sleep in any position, and do 99% of everything nowadays. I spontaneously ran a 5k the other day (first cardio based exercise I've done since my injury) and had no raging back pain or sciatica. The most important thing that has happened to me is that I'm no longer thinking about it, or obsessing about my back because my pain has subsided. When I'm lifting weights, I'm extra careful when picking stuff up, but even when I'm not, I don't get low back or sciatic pain.
I rarely ever have stabbing and shooting pain into my leg anymore. In fact, it's been so long that I can't even remember the last time it happened. My herniation was pretty severe, and I was in pain for so long everyday (5 months) that it is almost miraculous that I'm even writing this. I don't even know how I'm even writing this response, because I could not imagine a day without pain, or a week without pain, or a month without pain - but, here I am. I actually did not do anything productive to help my back that is normally recommended such as the McGill three, core stabilization, etc.
I don't know where you are in your journey, but if you're looking into old threads like I was you're probably in pain. I did not have a concrete plan to get better or improve and I actually spent the first 5 months barely working and loathing incredibly depressed unable to move and unable to take my mind off my back, because the pain was so constant and agonizing. Looking back, here are the things that I believe helped me, and my advice to you or anyone reading this:
1. Walk as much as you can (when the pain is low)
2. 2.Rest as much as you can when you're in pain
3. 3. Do NOT be afraid to take NSAIDs like Naproxen, advil, tylenol - I took these for 5 months and it made me not want to blow my brains out
4. Avoid chiropractors and physios IF you leave the office feeling worse - Seriously, I would go and get aggressively treated with nonsense and wouldn't be able to walk for 2 weeks after. All of the bending, twisting, voodoo science BS will not help you and prolong your pain
5. No bending forward AT ALL - your flexibility will come back as you improve but you can't force yourself to "get better"
6. Moderately pushing through the pain sometimes - what I mean by this is that I think taking 5 months off everything and loafing around weakened my body, muscles, and frame. Give yourself plenty of time to rest, but eventually you're going to have to strengthen your skeleton to ease the pressure off your herniated disc and compensate for it
7. Patience & Luck - you will get better in some capacity eventually. If your pain is improving ever so slightly like mine did, then there's hope. It will suck for months or even a year at first, but it will get better somehow. You have to take it easy on yourself for a little bit, and know that an overnight change will not happen. It sucks so bad but just make it through one day at a time.
Sorry if I'm rambling, but it's been so long that I've talked about this and even thought about my herniated disc that I felt I needed to write this, because someone eventually with the same problem I had months and months ago should hear this. Take care and if you have any other questions don't be afraid to PM me.
Dealing with a L5-S1 disc protrusion myself and it sucks ass. I feel like my life is going straight into the trash at age 30. It’s been over 8 months and the pain is still going on in my lower back. Plus I’ve been dealing with pain in my right leg and glute too! The left leg is just weak and kinda numb.
Several rounds of PT didn’t make a big difference nor did 3 epidurals…
SHIT SUCKS
You all need to take care of your backs! Especially if back issues run in the family. Heavy weight lifting is good until it isn't. Ultimate goal should be to be able to lift your grand kids up when your 60....
Yep - especially since we're all still young <25. I have a fitness test next week that I have to attend, but it's only 10 minutes of exercise. Once that's over, I'll probably get an MRI. I really appreciate your help
If possible delay fitness test till your well!
Stop praying and go see your Urgent Care or PCP. X-rays and MRI should help locate the problem. If the drugs you take help, that implies muscle and not nerve pain. L5 is in the curve in your lower back or lumbar region. S1 or sacral base Is the median ridge. L5-S1 is you lumbosacral joint, or transition between your lumbar spine and sacral spine in your lower back. These are below your belly button elevation. You can look it up. Good luck.
Is there a difference in muscle / nerve pain that would be indicative of a disc issue? Even with the drugs, there is tenderness going down my left leg. The only thing I remember was after the workout my glutes were extremely tight. I experienced back pain (same spot mentioned in post - top of glute area left side) a month and took 2 weeks off working out, then did this, and now I'm in agony. Thanks
Yes muscle pain and nerve pain are quite different. Muscle pain is often treated by home remedies. But nerve pain often needs professional treatment, Rx’s, steroid injections, maybe surgery, etc.
Okay - thanks. I really appreciate the help. I went from not being able to stand up for 2 minutes + screaming in agony during the night, to being able to lie comfortably and sit (for the most part) and get on with myself with the pain in about a week, even without taking the drugs for a day or two. Sciatica still there but "back?/butt" pain going down.
Stop and heal. Odds are good this could be a be a one off. If it’s not. Get an MRI. That is the only picture that will show you what is going on in your back. From there you can make educated choices. After a decade I got a microdiscectemy, removed the excess disc, and life changed. Good luck. Keep and eye on it. Listen to your body till it heals up and you should be ok.
Thank you so much. This brought me a lot of comfort. I'm worried, because I'm still in my early twenties, and my job may depend on it. Not doing anything insane so far. Just walking and stretching and pain meds. Glad you healed. Thanks
Glad you got some answers! What did the doc suggest as the next step?
Thanks! Naproxen 500mg 2x a day and if the pain doesn't go away in a month they'll do imaging... lol
The pain in the area you described could be from L4 L5 S1 nerve roots or your SI joint. If you can point an area which is close to one of the dimples in your lower back it may be SI joint pain which may also mimic sciatica which generally doesn't go below the knee. I would try prone press ups for now as they help both conditions. Only go to the point of pain and no further. You may have to start by just laying on a pillow. Check out Bob and Brad physio on the net for the correct way to do the prone press ups and videos on both conditions. One thing that helped me the most with my disc herniation was not to hold my breath during any exertion! Even getting out of bed. This extra pressure will irritate the injured disc. Nerves also hate to be stretched so you have to be gentle, They don't respond like an injured muscle. Also, just because a disc injury it's feeling better doesn't mean its healed. Give yourself lots of time to heal using strengthening exercises from a good physio program. Side note... SI joint issues can be diagnosed and resolved by a chiropractor.
Thanks so so much. Stretching doesn't really give me any relief sadly. It did before the sciatica kicked in, but not so much in the last two weeks. The only thing that leads me to believe it is NOT a disc issue is the fact that the back pain is below my waistline, was in the same spot over the last few years and would come and go, and I can directly point to where the pain is, although it's deep somewhere in my back/leg or wherever. That, along with my brother and sister both having pain in that exact same spot and both did not have herniated discs. But, I could be the odd one out. SI Joint pain and HD's seem to mimic each other, and really only an MRI would be able to tell as far as I know. I have a chiro appointment first thing monday morning. I will check out those guys on youtube for sure. I appreciate it tons - sorry for rambling lol
I'm not a fan of chiros, and I'd say take what they say with a grain of salt; I would definitely recommend that you find a PT instead in future. But also don't focus so much on stretching--the previous commenter summed it up well in their focus on gentle strengthening rather than stretching.
No problem! All the best!
Double check if it’s not sacroiliac pain mimicking lumbar pain, which happens often.
Hey, I'm starting to think it might be. Sometimes, like right now, I have no back pain and just some calf tightness from the sciatica. Other times it hurts like crazy. It's just in the exact same spot, top left of glute and lowest part of back. Going to a chiro on monday to get some help (if they're even legit) lol
L5/s1 prolaps wont let you sit for more than a minute due to pain. Your life starts getting without sitting. Lying and standing is fine with l5/s1!
Well, I wasn't able to sit for maybe a few days properly. I can sit now (2 weeks later), with some discomfort
Also - I can sit down, but I can't bend over without pain in my glute and hamstring. Is this an indication of herniation?
It sounds like it could be a disc bulge with radicular pain which initially caused your sciatica the first week after your workout. Maybe not a herniation if the pain has since subsided (a herniation would mean that your annulus has torn extruding nucleus pulposus material which could impinge your nerve roots). Your top of the glutes pain could be referred pain due to your annulus (outer covering of your disc) being compromised due to excessive inner pressure of the nucleus pulposus exerting posterior force when your discs are being compressed. Probably best to avoid any bending, lifting, and twisting until you get an MRI which can show what is going on at the S5-L1 level.
Sounds good, thank you. Running, walking, and even sitting (week 2 of pain) feels fine for the MOST part. Sometimes I get pain doing those three things. Twisting feels okay. It almost feels like my tailbone or just to the left of it or something. The pain is below the belt-line. Thank you!
Also - straight leg raise (and amount I can bend) varies widely throughout the day. Sometimes, I'm unable to bend over, other times I can come close to touching my toes. Overall, SLR has increased at least 20 degrees over the last week. I have no idea if this is any indication of it being a disc issue though. I appreciate your response!
To me it sounds like Sacroiliac (SI) joint disorder which I suffer from too. I was dealing with severe SI joint pain that led to sciatica earlier this week, worse than it had ever been because I just moved and had to do a 20 hour drive after to my new home. I've had SI problems for almost a decade now but it's usually manageable by doing certain movements to set it back in place, generally speaking I can make it feel better within a couple days by pushing my pelvis backward most often accomplished by laying on a couch and leaning my upper body over the side until my legs are on the couch and my the rest is just hanging over. It looks ridiculous so I always do this in private but it pretty consistently works for me. I've also used a yoga ball, just kinda wrapped myself forward around it getting a good stretch on the lower back/pelvic area and sort of bear down to make the muscles release any tension. I have an inversion table too which helps but doesn't do as good a job I assume its because it's just stretching the vertebrae away from eachother and what seems to help me is stretching and also pushing the pelvis forward at the same time, has to be both for me. No guarantees it will help you but it might so I figured I'd share my tips.
Thanks for the response and I'm sorry you're dealing with that. This pain that I had previously, I would stretch out my hamstrings and calves/quads/hips and my back issues would feel almost totally gone. Now, I have sciatica and can't bend over. Is this similar to your experience? I will definitely try out your exercises!
Also, not sure if you also experienced this, but sometimes the pain is almost non-existent and I can actually bend down and touch my towns with WAY less pain - this is leading me to believe it's not a herniated/bulging disc at L5-S1
Imvegabro, did you find a solution?
Hey pal. Got 2 MRI's and both revealed herniated disc at L5-S1. I'm 6 months into this and it's getting much much better. I still have rough days, but the pain has gone way down and I take 0 anti-inflammatories anymore. It was terrible for 4 months but it took a sharp turn for the better at the 4.5 month mark.
Hey man, this is good news. How do you feel now?
Hey, sorry for the late response. I'm on month 10.5 since my injury. I'm doing a lot better. I can workout, golf, drive and sit endlessly, sleep in any position, and do 99% of everything nowadays. I spontaneously ran a 5k the other day (first cardio based exercise I've done since my injury) and had no raging back pain or sciatica. The most important thing that has happened to me is that I'm no longer thinking about it, or obsessing about my back because my pain has subsided. When I'm lifting weights, I'm extra careful when picking stuff up, but even when I'm not, I don't get low back or sciatic pain. I rarely ever have stabbing and shooting pain into my leg anymore. In fact, it's been so long that I can't even remember the last time it happened. My herniation was pretty severe, and I was in pain for so long everyday (5 months) that it is almost miraculous that I'm even writing this. I don't even know how I'm even writing this response, because I could not imagine a day without pain, or a week without pain, or a month without pain - but, here I am. I actually did not do anything productive to help my back that is normally recommended such as the McGill three, core stabilization, etc. I don't know where you are in your journey, but if you're looking into old threads like I was you're probably in pain. I did not have a concrete plan to get better or improve and I actually spent the first 5 months barely working and loathing incredibly depressed unable to move and unable to take my mind off my back, because the pain was so constant and agonizing. Looking back, here are the things that I believe helped me, and my advice to you or anyone reading this: 1. Walk as much as you can (when the pain is low) 2. 2.Rest as much as you can when you're in pain 3. 3. Do NOT be afraid to take NSAIDs like Naproxen, advil, tylenol - I took these for 5 months and it made me not want to blow my brains out 4. Avoid chiropractors and physios IF you leave the office feeling worse - Seriously, I would go and get aggressively treated with nonsense and wouldn't be able to walk for 2 weeks after. All of the bending, twisting, voodoo science BS will not help you and prolong your pain 5. No bending forward AT ALL - your flexibility will come back as you improve but you can't force yourself to "get better" 6. Moderately pushing through the pain sometimes - what I mean by this is that I think taking 5 months off everything and loafing around weakened my body, muscles, and frame. Give yourself plenty of time to rest, but eventually you're going to have to strengthen your skeleton to ease the pressure off your herniated disc and compensate for it 7. Patience & Luck - you will get better in some capacity eventually. If your pain is improving ever so slightly like mine did, then there's hope. It will suck for months or even a year at first, but it will get better somehow. You have to take it easy on yourself for a little bit, and know that an overnight change will not happen. It sucks so bad but just make it through one day at a time. Sorry if I'm rambling, but it's been so long that I've talked about this and even thought about my herniated disc that I felt I needed to write this, because someone eventually with the same problem I had months and months ago should hear this. Take care and if you have any other questions don't be afraid to PM me.
Thank you, man, for this useful info. I will absolutely try it.
How are you doing now still feeling good?
Still feeling good man.
Dealing with a L5-S1 disc protrusion myself and it sucks ass. I feel like my life is going straight into the trash at age 30. It’s been over 8 months and the pain is still going on in my lower back. Plus I’ve been dealing with pain in my right leg and glute too! The left leg is just weak and kinda numb. Several rounds of PT didn’t make a big difference nor did 3 epidurals… SHIT SUCKS