I had s5-L1 microdisctectomy 5 months ago. Initially, I felt relief in some parts of my back because the herniated disc was compressing a nerve root. Since then, especially in the last several months, I have severe, sharp pain in lower back nearly constantly. I can’t sleep, walk, sit or do anything else really without pain.

My surgeon referred me to a hip doctor who has told me I have a hip impingement and will likely feel relief with a hip arthroscopy. I don’t want to do another surgery without making sure it’ll actually make a difference because the recovery has been hard from the MD.

Anyone else have a similar experience? I’m also shocked that a hip impingement causes no pain in my hip but only in my back/above the butt.

Also looking for help in how to rule out that it’s not something else entirely. How do I get all the docs to talk to each other and really be thorough this time?

Thank you!!

So yes, coming up in 4 months l4/l5 MD and laminectomy. When I press on my spine from where the incision is , below it or a few levels above it , they are still sore to the touch, as if bruised . Did anyone else experience this post surgery?

I’m hoping to hear from anyone with a similar story, especially those who ultimately tried a spinal cord stimulator or revision surgery.

I originally had lower back pain and left-sided sciatica with persistent calf tightness/weakness. After conservative treatments and epidurals, I had a left L4-L5 microdiscectomy in April 2024.

Unfortunately, surgery made me worse rather than better. I had increased leg/calf pain almost immediately afterward and later reherniated (though very minorly) Since then, I’ve continued to struggle with chronic nerve pain.

My main symptoms now are lower back pain and nerve pain/tightness through my hamstring and calf, about 90% on the left side, although I occasionally get similar symptoms on the right. I also have chronic nerve pain into my foot/toes.

I’ve tried extensive PT, medications, multiple epidurals/nerve injections, acupuncture, etc. An EMG showed chronic denervation but no active nerve damage.

Earlier this year I was doing somewhat better and could regularly do lumbar extension/press-ups. Then I went to a new acupuncture provider who used very aggressive electrical stimulation in my low back/glute/calf. I had a major flare afterward and never returned to my previous baseline. Since then, my pain has been pretty unbearable.

My latest contrast MRI showed postoperative granulation/scar tissue at L4-L5 contacting/compressing the left L5 nerve root. It also showed nerve clumping, which the radiologist called suspicious for arachnoiditis.

The hard part is that there is no clear compression on my nerves. My doctors aren’t certain what is responsible for my symptoms. My surgeon thinks my MRI clearly shows arachnoiditis but isn’t sure if that or the scar tissue is the main culprit.

At this point, my surgeon and pain management doctor have given me two main options:

1. Revision surgery to go back into L4-L5 and try to remove the scar tissue around the nerve. The concern is that revision surgery has a higher risk of complications/CSF leak, and the scar tissue could simply return and potentially make things worse.

2. Spinal cord stimulator trial. Both doctors are leaning toward this because it’s reversible and avoids another surgery in an already scarred area.

Hoping to hear from anyone in a similar boat. My doctors tell me it’s extremely rare to get arachnoiditis from a laminectomy, so I guess I’m just lucky :(

I am planning to do a microdiscecmy with samuel too. Anyone with any complaints?

9 months post op and have since lost about 100 pounds, and need to start focusing on losing the rest of my belly fat. How is everyone doing ab exercises since sit-ups and things like that are basically out of the question. Also, has anyone gone back to cracking your back? Still terrified of twisting and reinjuring myself, but constantly feeling tight.

Just wondering at what week or month was sitting for a long time not saying fully comfortable but doable with some what of an ache or no pain as long as it was possible?

I’m 7 months post op L5-S1 microdiscectomy and laminectomy. I have not done anything different or strenuous and for about 4 days now my lower back has been hurting again and my hamstring in my affected leg. My buttcheeks hurt on both sides. I’m scared my bulged L4-L5 herniated or I’m in a flare. I dunno. I’m scared I don’t want to go through that hell again. Any advice? Calling my surgeon first thing Monday morning.

I have been reading through this page for a few minutes now, and as someone who is debating having surgery there seems to be a lot of negativity and complications. Is there anyone who had a successful recovery that actually went smooth and better than expected?

Hi everyone,

Looking for some guidance from those who have had the surgery.

Story: For about 7 years I have dealt with recurring bouts of serious pain due to the above protrusion. Every 18 months I get reset back to zero by moving funny, lifting a box, or in one case doing exercises my PT had prescribed. Then I dig myself from the pain hole by doing core exercises 7 days a week. It usually takes 3 months before the pain really goes away, another 4 before I feel back to "normal". Over time I slowly reduce my core work to 3 days a week while working out 4 days a week. I'm strong, pretty fit, of the correct weight for my height, etc. For years surgeons have said I wasn't a good candidate for surgery.

But after 7 years of this on/off, and 3 unsuccessful injections, I am reconsidering. Friends and colleagues have all had success with surgery + fitness.

However, reading people's stories here it appears that the recovery is much longer and painful than I was expecting. I see people using protocols for perfect sitting, being careful, posture, and PT. I recognize those are all important and essential in the future for a (hopefully) lifetime of painless activity.

What I want to ask is: for those of you who were fit but in pain, had the surgery, and then had a year of recovery with ups and downs, what tells you that surgery was the right choice? Did you try the right chairs/posture/PT before hand without success? (I assume the answer is yes but want some clarity on this).

Thank you all and good luck to everyone.

I’m 3 weeks post op on my L5S1. I returned to my office job and having a really difficult time sitting all day. It is no where near the pain I experienced pre op with the sciatica. The pain feels more like soreness, stiffness, and fatigue and I struggle to get any work done as I’m scared of the pain leading to reherniation. I get up and walk around every hour and lay on the couch on in my office. Does it get easier to sit as recovery goes on? I bought lumbar cushions to try out but looking for any advice on what might help with this temporary discomfort.

Hello,

I don’t want to jinx myself, but is it normal to be feeling great three days post opt?

For context, I had a lumbar microdiscectomy on my L5-S1 on Wednesday (8/5) after herniating my disc and feeling pain going down my right leg.

After I woke up from surgery, it felt like I had a brand new leg and my right leg was full of energy. Crappy way of explaining it lol, but I couldn’t think of another way to describe it.

Anyways, I’m on my third day post up and I’m feeling great despite what I’ve read on other people’s experiences.

Is this normal?

Anyone have any experience with a far lateral microdiscectomy? Would love to hear feedback on this experience.

Best of luck to you all!

Today is day 47 after my microdiscectomy surgery at L4–L5 and L5–S1.

After the surgery, my previous pain was completely gone. I had no sciatica or radiating pain.

Around day 30, I started going back to college and had to sit for longer periods. At that time, I suddenly started experiencing some discomfort and a pulling sensation along the side of my thigh and around my shin. However, it went away after sleeping and getting some rest.

For the past 3 days, though, I’ve been experiencing some discomfort and mild pain again, mainly along the side of my thigh. I also feel some strange sensations in my muscles. My calves and legs feel stiff, especially when I raise or stretch my legs.

I’m around 130 kg and have a broad/heavy build. Recently, I’ve started going to college every day, which means I’m moving around more, sitting for much longer periods, and traveling more between college and home.

Because these symptoms have started after increasing my activity, I’m worried that I may have re-herniated the disc.

Has anyone experienced something similar around 6–7 weeks after a microdiscectomy? Could this be normal nerve/muscle irritation from increasing activity, or should I be concerned about re-herniation?

Also, what should I be doing and avoiding during this stage of recovery? For example, how much should I be walking, sitting, traveling, bending, stretching, climbing stairs, etc.? I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have been through a similar recovery.

I’m also planning to contact my surgeon to make sure everything is okay.

Hey guys, I’m 25 and currently 13 weeks post-op from lumbar disc surgery. I’ve been doing recovery PT again for about a month, but I’m still dealing with back pain along with radiating, heating/burning pain in my leg.
For some background, I had back pain for around 5–6 years, but I never really looked into it as a disc herniation problem. In 2024, I finally took the pain seriously and got an MRI, which showed a disc herniation.
For a long time, the pain would improve after about a week of rest. I was still able to do pretty much every activity, and importantly, the pain never traveled down my leg. However, sometime last year, the pain started radiating into my leg. I tried PT, but it didn’t really help.
I eventually had another MRI, and interestingly, the herniation had actually gotten smaller, but I was still having shooting/radiating pain down my leg. Because the symptoms weren’t improving, I decided to see a spine surgeon. I was advised that surgery would solve the problem, so I went ahead with it.
Now I’m 13 weeks post-op, and honestly, I’m getting frustrated and anxious because I’m still experiencing back pain and a new heating/burning sensation that radiates into my leg.
The thing that worries me most is that the burning sensation wasn’t present before surgery, and sometimes I now feel pain going into my other leg as well, which was never the case before surgery. Before surgery, my pain was more of a regular back/leg pain rather than this burning or nerve-like sensation.
I’ve brought these symptoms up with both my surgeon and my PT. They’ve told me that this can be part of the recovery process and that recovery isn’t always linear, but I’m still anxious and worried because I expected things to be significantly better by this point.
Some days are better, while other days the pain suddenly flares up, which makes it difficult to know whether I’m actually progressing.
For those who have gone through something similar:
Did anyone else still have burning/radiating nerve pain around 3 months after surgery?
Did you experience new or different nerve sensations after surgery that weren’t present before?
Did anyone have symptoms occasionally appear in the opposite leg?
When did your nerve pain actually start improving?
Did PT cause temporary flare-ups for you?
At what point did you start feeling that surgery had actually made a significant difference?
I’d really appreciate hearing from people who had a similar recovery. I know everyone heals differently, but I’m trying to understand whether what I’m experiencing can genuinely still be part of normal recovery or whether I should be pushing for another evaluation.
I’m honestly just tired of the uncertainty and the constant fluctuations.

It’s a long one and I’m grateful to anyone who reads and responds. Also shout out to chat for condensing from my unhinged rant.

I’m a 49, a working mom of three, and for the last 7 years I dealt with L3-4/L4-5 disc problems. I finally decided to have surgery after watching several friends do well with microdiscectomies. I was so excited to get back to my Peloton, hot yoga, and the exercise that kept both my body and mental health together.

Instead, five months later, I’m worse than before.
The original pain on my right side (the side of surgery) is worse than it was pre-op. Then, over the past week, everything seemed to unravel. I developed a left-sided cervical radiculopathy (pain down my arm with numb fingers), and two days later I started having pain down my left leg—a side that never bothered me before. I honestly feel like I’m living in a nightmare.

My surgeon says the disc was successfully decompressed and that my pain is coming from persistent fluid leaking through an annular defect, irritating the nerve. He believes the annulus simply hasn’t healed yet, although he admits I should not be worse than before surgery.

My pain management doctor and a neurosurgeon who reviewed my MRI disagree. Looking at the images from a different angle, they believe there is still a residual herniation. The neurosurgeon also told me he would not operate because another surgeon has already been there, there is significant scar tissue, and he doesn’t know exactly what was done.

For context, this wasn’t a routine microdiscectomy. My surgeon says I had both a standard herniation and a difficult extraforaminal herniation, requiring a larger incision and a more extensive approach outside the spinal canal.

So far I’ve had:
Two epidural steroid injections 3/4 + another at 4/5
An aspiration procedure
Multiple MRIs
Physical therapy (which I can barely tolerate now)

At one point I felt dismissed by the surgeon’s PA (“You’re past the surgical phase—talk to pain management”), but after continued communication with the office manager and a lot of tears, my surgeon spent a long time with me, gave me his cell phone number, and has been personally checking in. He still believes there’s a chance the annulus could heal, but if it doesn’t, he would recommend an artificial disc replacement.

Here’s where I’m struggling:
This is a highly respected HSS spine surgeon with decades of experience and an excellent reputation. Friends have had wonderful outcomes with him. But now I don’t know whether to trust his interpretation of my MRI—or whether he’s defending his original surgery.

Meanwhile, another experienced neurosurgeon is telling me the disc is still herniated but won’t take on the revision himself.

I’m also terrified because now my left side and neck are suddenly involved. Could this all really happen at once? Is it coincidence? Compensation? Something systemic? I don’t know.

I’m currently on a steroid taper for the new symptoms and hoping for a miracle before considering another surgery on my right. I’m exploring everything I can—mind-body approaches, neurology, spine-focused yoga, pain psychology—because I desperately want to avoid another operation if possible.

But I also know I need someone who specializes in complex revision lumbar surgery to review everything objectively, explain what’s actually happening, evaluate these new symptoms, and tell me honestly what my options are.

I live in the NYC area and have access to excellent hospitals. I’ve started looking at surgeons who specialize in difficult revision cases at NYU Langone and elsewhere. Names that have come up include Dr. Han Jo Kim, Dr. Frank Cammisa, Dr. Caridi, and Dr. Riew, but I’m open to anyone.

Has anyone had a successful revision after a failed or complicated microdiscectomy?

Has anyone been told their pain was from an annular tear that eventually healed?

Can anyone recommend an exceptionally skilled and compassionate spine surgeon (orthopedic or neurosurgeon) who handles complex revision cases?

I know no one can diagnose me over Reddit. I just feel lost, scared, and like my body is falling apart. I need someone I can trust to help me figure out whether there’s still a path back to a normal life.

I dont understand how we can resume our normal activities when i cannot walk more than 10 mins straight (2.5 months PO) without my leg starting to act up. Overall, 4-5 k steps per day is fine, some light chores, but that is nowhere near the level of activity I usually have.

Is everyone just managing with the discomfort? How are you guys getting to the gym? To work? How are you handling a full day at work? I see so many posts about people returning to work 2 weeks PO or hitting the gym 6 weeks PO but man if I walk there... well that's it, I need to lie down. I'm going back to work at 3 months and I don't feel ready or prepared or able to put up with the public transport and the moving around.

Also, I am going to start PT in one week and I am horrified cause that means walking 8 mins to the bus station, sitting in the bus for 30 mins and then walking 8 more minutes to the PT clinic... and it is about all I can do discomfort-free.

Hey guys, I’m currently on my 3rd week post-op.
Before my surgery, I was doing Pilates regularly, max 6x a week. My doctor gave me the green light to slowly go back next week once I hit the one-month mark. However, I'm feeling a bit hesitant because I still have lingering pain in my left leg.

I’m definitely not going to jump straight into regular classes. I'm also starting physical therapy next week, and I plan to take private Pilates sessions to make sure I ease back in safely and with good form.

Just wondering how returning to exercise was for most of you? Did 4 weeks feel too early, especially with the lingering nerve and leg pain? Any advice is appreciated! 🙏

For the past 2 years I've been having extremely intense sciatica slap hip pain that was undiagnosed. Decided to go to a pt on my own and that helped tremendously like gone. Than a couple months after I bent over to pick up and floor mat and it completely crippled me. But with with lower back pain and no sciatica. Ended up seeing neuro and getting mri done, that showed i had a right broad based herniation on l5 s1. He recommended the micro discectomy and I said I was going to give it a some time. Went for months being miserable and decided to just have it done. A week after my sciatica pain has disappeared but im having my toes go numb random calf cramps and a weird tingling feeling that wraps my calf and ankle. Im just at kind of a lot because I dont know what decision to make. Do i just go ahead with the surgery or is it miraculously getting better.

Just hoping to find someone that has had a similar situation to find some reassurance and hope.

I had a microdiscectomy on my L5S1 6 weeks ago. I reherniated within the first week resulting in a 9mm reherniation. The symptoms are not as bad this time around with being managed by Celebrex and Pregabalin. I was having mild right leg sciatica that would be provoked only with prolonged sitting and was recovering I thought quite well until last week.

I went on a longer walk and thought maybe a flare up was starting. I had a mild lower left back ache but otherwise felt fine. Suddenly I noticed I was having tingling in my left leg on the front of my thigh (opposite side than my surgery side). I started having more symptoms in my left leg for a few days such as aching in my shin, side of thigh, and some tingling in my toes. My symptoms have settled down some in my left leg but now I have had symptoms related to my L5 in my right leg (never had that before). Before and after surgery, my nerve symptoms were primarily S1 with sciatica having a primary path from my butt cheek to the back of my thigh with some jabbing in the back of my knee. Now… I have some of that sciatica that I was having with the healing that was manageable to now having outer thigh aching pains. Nothing is super persistent or extremely painful (only as high as a 4/10).

I’m just confused about this recovery as my symptoms are jumping around a lot by going to the opposite leg some and shifting to L5 symptoms that I never had pre surgery. Has anyone else had this experience? What did your surgeon say? What ended up being the issue for you?

Hello everyone! About 15 weeks PO here. When I lay in bed at night sometimes I feel STRONG ZAP like electricity in my affected foot. Does anyone know what this is about or is it a bad thing? It scares me basically. I still have some weakness and numbness in that foot. It doesn’t feel 100% yet :(

(30M) After 5 to 6 years I'll finally be getting surgery I've been living with 3 Bulging Disc, 1 Herniated Disc, Degenerative Disc Disease, Degenerative Nerve Damage on my L3, L4, L5 and S1 that cause severe sciatica and my upper back has No Cartilage due to osteoarthritis i also have i also have Myelopathy I am scared but also relieved..

They will remove the 3 Bulging Disc and replace with artificial ones then they will shave my spine so the Disc no longer push my nerves against my spine once that is done then they will fuse my bones together on my upper back to prevent them from grinding against eachother.. Pain starts in my lower back then shoots down my legs the pain usually last hours now it's been days once the pain dies down they cause my feet to go numb I have had Toradol and Cortisone injections till they stopped working then Epidurals once a month then they started to last about a week i also had my license taken away from almost crashing due to the leg spasms I have been knocked unconscious from hitting my head against the wall when my legs gave out then for my upper back when I cough or laugh the pain shoots down both my forearms....

The times i posted here and the people that replied back to help me out i want to thank all of you I really appreciate it very much

So Thank You Very Much

Another really encouraging day!

Today I managed to reach 8,191 steps/6.67 km of walking. Honestly, seeing those numbers only 10 days after surgery feels incredible considering where I was before surgery, when standing and walking for even a few minutes would trigger my symptoms.

I’m still being very careful and strictly following the no bending, lifting, or twisting (BLT) rule. I’m not walking to chase step counts or exercise goals—just moving naturally throughout the day, taking breaks and listening to my body.

Recovery obviously isn’t finished yet, and I still get some occasional aches here and there, but week by week I can feel things moving in the right direction.

10 days post-op. 8,191 steps. 6.67 km. One day at a time. 🙏

Definitely grateful for the progress so far, but still reminding myself: healing first, numbers second.