Have a disc bulge at L5-S1 hitting a nerve, resulting in excruciating pain for the last few weeks. Meeting with a physiatrist soon, what to expect? Any 🐠 with the same issue? Feeling very down.

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For the love of god please go to a proper physical therapist and not a chiropractor. They are quacks.

The treatment should depend on what you want to do to a certain extent. I had this about 2 years ago and wanted to get back to heavy lifting. Basically you need to understand the root cause and work from there. Mine was a combination of poor hip mobility, weak glutes and poor ankle mobility. I’ve been working on all these while the disk recovers and am now back to deadlifting close to 400lbs and am pain free in daily life. I’d recommend (if you haven’t already) to get an MRI to try and ensure it’s just bulge and to look for any ancillary issues and then focus on the cause and not the symptoms.

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Stretching works for a while but sooner a good PT will progress you to strength work. I looked specifically for a sports PT because my goal was to get back to athletic performance, not just survival. Glad it worked for you though, it’s a horrible problem to have and great to get it fixed!

I did a lot of chiropractic and acupuncture sessions (and yes, I was highly skeptical of both but chiropractor especially helped with the pain).

I’ve tried to spend a lot more time standing, stretching, running. Also, stress seriously aggravated it. Pain went from a daily 5 to 0, 2 on bad days when I cut the major stressor from my life.

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Cortisone injections were a life saver for me. I had a herniated disc at L3/L4 and a fractured vertebrae that couldn’t heal because of swelling. 2 sets of 2 cortisone injections ~3 months apart and I healed completely. Find a doc with a big non-operative practice

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I had same issue. Surgery 12/28/18 - immediate relief from pain. Back on the road 6 weeks later. Not a regret in the world other than waiting so long to seek appropriate treatment resulted in surgery

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Get a second opinion and check out chiropractic and physical therapy options before going for surgery. Dad had something similar, and after a year of pain, his body adjusted and fixed it.

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MRI, then physical therapy + rest for a few weeks. For pain relief, try not to go for steroidal ones as they simply supress the pain and make you feel bloated. Feel better!!

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Sorry to hear that. Pls take care. Health is the most important asset to protect. Don’t compromise. Sending good thoughts your way!

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I’m dealing with it now. Short version, fix your posture, strengthen your core, stretch your hamstrings.

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Increase your muscle density. Works for me anyway. Start with clinical Pilates while you have to and then move on to weights and strength training. No more disc issues or sciatica for me

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McKinsey method saved me from getting surgery

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Hope you recover from this soon without any after-effects. Stay strong!

I really feel for you mate, as one who's been suffering from lumbar spinal stenosis for over a decade after a spinal injury.

Have you ruled out the possibility of it being Sciatic nerve pain (Sciatica)?

Had a herniated disc there about 3 yrs ago. It lead to a pinch of my sciatica nerve which was excruciatingly painful. Good thing was no need for surgery. Was given a tapered set of prednisone(steroidal) to reduce inflammation. Was back to full movement 6 months from injury and been doing lots of core strengthening exercises to prevent future injury

Check out Egoscue practitioners in your area.

Reading first few words I thought this was a weird flex.

Find a good PT and a good orthopedist. Do your research and make sure they’re known for treating these types of issues. Sports medicine departments of major health systems are a good place to start! My ortho prescribed a cortisone shot and my PT focused on strength training and mobility. The combo of those two fixed me right up! You have to stay diligent about the PT exercises because they’re extremely boring, but they make a difference! Disc bulges can actually heal with the proper treatment. Surgery is an absolute last resort and many people end up in worse pain than before when they take the surgical route. Best of luck to you, OP!!!!

Ruptured L3, L4, L5, S1 here (22 yrs now) - don’t do surgery if you can help it. It will get better (or at least pain tolerance goes up, I don’t know). So many horror stories of surgeries making it worse. At least I can still play sports, workout etc. and yes it hurts. Tempurpedic worked wonders, if you don’t have one, get one. Yes it might feel painful first.

I ruptured my L3-S1 discs four years ago. Lost control of the muscle along my left shin, resulting in drop-foot. Significant leg pains in both legs. Everything I researched led me to believe that I wanted to avoid surgery at any cost. I have done a lot of PT (seemed useless but over a longer time, I saw improvements), tried Gabapentin (didn’t like it and only a little improvement), and worked on changing my posture. I now have most of the motion back in my foot, but still have occasional pain. Yoga helps and I am a huge believer in Accupuncture with massage (like others, I was skeptical, but I now have my acupuncturist on speed dial.) Good luck! Back injuries suck, but be patient and diligent and you will be able to get back to normal.

In addition to what’s been said already: try to find a massage therapist who specializes in Myoskeletal Alignment. That was my life saver. If you’re in Chicago I can recommend one. (Google Erik Dalton for more info nationwide)

Thanks all. I really appreciate the suggestions, and words of encouragement, and most of all, it’s good to know I’m not the only one that’s dealing with this issue. To answer some questions, I did have an MRI and it showed a bulge at L5-S1 hitting the sciatic nerve causing pain and numbness down my leg- in addition to some disc degeneration at both L4 and L5.

It’s very depressing to be in constant pain, especially in our line of work but I’m currently getting through it with my family’s support and OTC pain meds. I’m at a pivotal point in my career, which sucks, but most of all I just want to feel normal again and health is definitely top priority. How did you all manage work when dealing with a similar issue? Did you cease all travel? Work limited hours? I feel like being in a chair for 10hr a day just makes things worst.

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