4 ms·

I just had surgery on my l4 and l5 herniated discs after a year of impinged nerves. Highly recommend seeing if surgery is right for you, it was life changing fo

I just had surgery on my l4 and l5 herniated discs after a year of impinged nerves. Highly recommend seeing if surgery is right for you, it was life changing for me.

matwood 8y ago
Thanks. Back surgery is something I consider last resort. Luck for me, a single shot got the inflammation reversed. Now I do plenty of stretching and make sure that I always bend properly, even when doing something simple like putting on my socks in the morning.
- throes_death 8y ago
  I too herniated a disc (MTB racing), which in turn created a lot of scar tissue, which in turn pressed on nerves leaving me with a bad back and leg pain and numbness/pins and needles. In the beginning, physiotherapy got it to a stage where I was able to ride again and function normally (albeit with pain and stiffness) and painkillers helped in this phase. After 5 or so years, I went to a doctor because the remaining pain (especially the occasional "hard pinch" of a nerve would almost take my legs out from under me) was getting to me. He advice was to me that surgery is pretty much always a worse option in cases like mine because scar tissue does eventually fade (as it does elsewhere on your body) and it probably takes a good 10 years for that to happen. I did the injury at the end of 2010 and, it seems the doctor was spot on as in the last year or so my pain had almost entirely faded away. Just my little piece of anecdata.
  - matwood 8y ago
    My doc said the same thing about time and scar tissue. He also mentioned movement helps things reabsorb. The injection on my spine was a way to ease the inflammation and give the body time to do it’s thing. It’s been 16 months since the original injury and my foot still tingles sometimes. The doc also said that tingling will be the last thing to go. I’m fine with tingling forever as long as I can avoid that pain. It’s hard to describe nerve pain to people who haven’t had it. My ACL surgery was relatively painless compared to my sciatic leg pain.

I just had surgery on my l4 and l5 herniated discs after a year of impinged nerves. Highly recommend seeing if surgery is right for you, it was life changing for me.

matwood 8y ago

Thanks. Back surgery is something I consider last resort. Luck for me, a single shot got the inflammation reversed. Now I do plenty of stretching and make sure that I always bend properly, even when doing something simple like putting on my socks in the morning.

throes_death 8y ago
I too herniated a disc (MTB racing), which in turn created a lot of scar tissue, which in turn pressed on nerves leaving me with a bad back and leg pain and numbness/pins and needles. In the beginning, physiotherapy got it to a stage where I was able to ride again and function normally (albeit with pain and stiffness) and painkillers helped in this phase. After 5 or so years, I went to a doctor because the remaining pain (especially the occasional "hard pinch" of a nerve would almost take my legs out from under me) was getting to me. He advice was to me that surgery is pretty much always a worse option in cases like mine because scar tissue does eventually fade (as it does elsewhere on your body) and it probably takes a good 10 years for that to happen. I did the injury at the end of 2010 and, it seems the doctor was spot on as in the last year or so my pain had almost entirely faded away. Just my little piece of anecdata.
- matwood 8y ago
  My doc said the same thing about time and scar tissue. He also mentioned movement helps things reabsorb. The injection on my spine was a way to ease the inflammation and give the body time to do it’s thing. It’s been 16 months since the original injury and my foot still tingles sometimes. The doc also said that tingling will be the last thing to go. I’m fine with tingling forever as long as I can avoid that pain. It’s hard to describe nerve pain to people who haven’t had it. My ACL surgery was relatively painless compared to my sciatic leg pain.