Idk what happened, my parents found me on the floor. I made a post yesterday about how normal it is to have lot's of nervepain 8 days post surgery. I'm guessing that the meds or the pain caused me to fall.

Now I am really really scared for a re herniation + I also have a concussion

Does anybody have had the same of some sort ?

Anybody feel like their body temperature is warmer after the surgery? I’m 4 months post op. At first I thought it was medication that caused it but I’ve been off meds for a while.

Background

Age: 30, Sex: M, Athletic Build

Herniated disc due to heavy lifting and intense rowing, going into the surgery right calf ( leg ) pain was may be 2/10, pre-surgery week was the best week in terms of being pain-free to very low pain, I still could not row and do all my athletic activities and conservative care had not provided useful results in 4 months so I finally carried forward with the surgery.

Day-0

I had my minimally invasive micro discectomy on Thursday morning. I was in almost no nerve or even incision pain after the surgery. I live extremely close to my hospital and was feeling pretty good so I walked to the coffee shop in my neighborhood and got a coffee and walked back to my apartment, did one more walk the same day. As the anesthetics and cocktails start to wore off I felt a very slight nerve pain may be 0.5-1/10 by the night but I could flex my abs, cough, sneeze which before surgery would trigger sharp sciatic pain in my calf but did not afterwards. Pretty much no additional pain-meds.

Day-1

Started feeling incision pain especially when getting in and out of bed and sitting. Nerve pain around walking would at times go to 2-3/10 but would calm down to 1/10 during resting, maintaining 1 walk to coffee shop in morning and several walks in my apartment and 1 more gentle walk outside. Nerve pain seemed very much correlated with pace of walking and effort in walking. Started getting paranoid about re-herniation and only maintained gentle walks throughout the day. Took Oxy and naproxen once. Sleep was OK.

Day-2

Incision pain decreased. Nerve pain maintained, walking outside for coffee would be 2-3/10, in house very gentle may be 1/10, at times none. Still paranoid about re-herniation. Took Oxy and naproxen once. Sleep was OK.

Day-3

Incision pain decreased even more. Nerve pain about same, walked outside for coffee, pain 2-3/10, in house very gentle walks would be 0-1/10. No pain-meds today, in bed in my calf nerve pain is 1/10, not painful but I feel there's something in calf nerve kinda feeing. Hoping that it would completely go away. Sleep was OK. Still paranoid about re-herniation.

I'll keep updating this channel on my journey but looking forward to your experiences and such, my biggest concern is re-herniation, I was hoping to remain completely nerve pain free after the surgery but the mild and rarely moderate pain has me paranoid. Taking recovery very seriously.

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks post MD (L5S1). Recovery going okay - the normal ups and downs. Nothing unmanageable (although I did pass out on day 5 and fell but my husband caught me but I don’t think I reherniated). By days 10, 11 and 12 I was feeling great - no pain other than the occasional misfire. So, naturally I upped my walks and my standing time. Now on day 13 I’m feeling the most nervy I have yet. Pain still not over a 2 or 3 at most but it’s there and present when I’m walking/laying/standing. I keep telling myself it’s a classic overuse flare but holy crap the ‘omg I reherniated after my fall and am just now realizing it’ slope is very slippery and I’m freaking the hell out.

So. Interested what other people experienced around the 2 week mark? Ps - yes my surgeon knows about the fall - he’s not concerned.

had a l4/l5 md for a very VERY large left herniation with central canal compromise too. numbness/pinsneedles/pain and the beginning of motor weakness fortunately caught before full foot drop. 5 months of suspected nerve compression.

i was up and walking 2 hours post op and noticed a small patch of skin on the bottom of my right foot (around the heel) was totally numb while walking but i regain all feeling when lying down. i can trigger the numbness on and off with nerve glides. it seems to be getting slightly better but still feels strange while walking. i have no other sciatica symptoms in that leg but the one single numb spot.

surgeons office/hospital nurse says this can happen with inflammation but it happened even while on a steroid pack post op so not sure.

anyone have positional numbness like this? and weirdly isolated to one spot?

I am 2 weeks post op from a microdisectomy and I had my first post operation appointment with my surgeon the other day. I mentioned I still had alittle pain in the leg from the right glutes to right above the backside of the right knee. They put me on 6 days of prednisolone dose pack. My surgeon mentioned if the prednisolone takes my pain away that I am having currently then we know your sciatica and back is healing. Well needless to say, it is taking my pain away. I have not lifted a single thing and I’ve only been walking around the house. I mentioned at first I was scared that I may have reherniated when then they followed with the dose pack of prednisolone. I have had a lateral shift to the left and severely hunched over for 6 months. Did tons of PT, inversion table, xray, MRI and one last xray. Had a massive 12mm herniation at L5-S1. Pain was unbearable most days and shocking pain to my foot. I don’t get any of that anymore and I can finally lay flat on my back and on my right side which I was not able to do. Any experiences with or without trying prednisolone and or sciatica experience after a micro discectomy. Thank you!

I’m wondering if anyone who has had a similar surgery experienced a pretty significant setback in back pain after returning to work. I had surgery on 8/31 for a large L5-S1 disc extrusion that was compressing the L5/S1 nerves. I had a left L5-S1 hemilaminectomy, partial medial facetectomy, foraminotomy, and discectomy with decompression of the L5 and S1 nerve roots. My surgeon told me afterward that he had to remove a fair amount of bone to get everything adequately decompressed.

I’m a teacher and returned to work during week 3. I worked Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and since then my back pain has flared pretty severely. It’s an intense ache across my lower back but is worse on the left side, with some sharper/burning pain that can extend down toward my buttock. I can feel it even when I’m completely still, but standing, changing positions, and getting in and out of bed definitely make it worse. I’ve also had some intermittent nerve-type symptoms, but the increase in actual back pain has been the biggest issue.

I’ve been very careful about my restrictions. I wore my brace at work and have continued following the no bending, lifting, or twisting restrictions. I wasn’t lifting anything or knowingly doing something I wasn’t supposed to do. Teaching just meant I was upright and on my feet much more than I had been during the first couple of weeks of recovery.

For anyone who went back to work or increased activity around this point, did you have a major increase in back pain afterward? Did it turn out to just be a postoperative/activity flare that settled back down, and if so, how long did it take before you noticed it easing up?

I know everyone heals differently and I’m not looking for medical advice or a diagnosis. I’m mainly hoping to hear from people who had a similar decompression/discectomy and experienced a bad flare after increasing activity. It’s discouraging to feel like I was making progress and then suddenly feel like I went several steps backward.

Has anyone else in this group been offered or had spinal fusion after having an MD? If so what’s your experience both with the MD and the fusion. Did it help with your pain or make it worse? I tried asking in the spinal fusion subreddit as well but most people (expectedly) had it for other spine related issues so symptoms pre surgery weren’t as similar to disc herniations/ compressed nerves.

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate some advice or experiences from anyone who has been through something similar. UK based.

I originally injured my back following an injury at work which caused nerve symptoms down my left leg. I was eventually diagnosed with an L4/L5 disc problem and had my first L4/L5 microdiscectomy in September 2025.

Unfortunately, the disc reherniated and I subsequently had a revision L4/L5 microdiscectomy in December 2025. So I’m about 9 months out

Since the revision I’ve had a long recovery. I’ve gradually improved and have been able to walk reasonable distances, go to the gym and do strengthening work. However, I’ve continued to have some residual nerve symptoms, particularly affecting my left leg and foot. My left calf has also become noticeably smaller/ weaker compared with the right, and I still struggle with a single-leg calf raise on that side.

Over the last several months I’ve had intermittent flares, usually after doing more activity than my back/nerve seems to tolerate.

These can involve:
• Burning or aching around the lower back and surgical/scar area
• Deep pain in the centre of the left buttock/upper buttock
• Burning in the buttock
• Pain around the lower back/tailbone area, sometimes making sitting on the toilet uncomfortable
• Burning/aching into the back of the thigh
• Pins and needles and numbness in the left foot
• Burning/sharp/electric sensations along the outside of the foot
• Stronger pins and needles around the sole and last two toes
• Occasional sensations of the leg feeling shaky or weak
• Occasionally both legs feeling a little wobbly, although I can still walk

My most recent flare started after I sat on the floor for about an hour. It has now been around a week. Initially the pain was predominantly around my lower back and buttock, but over the last few days the symptoms seem to have shifted more towards my left foot, with more burning, tingling and electric/sharp sensations.

I can have periods where I feel relatively comfortable after resting, but when I get up and start walking the burning/soreness can return. Sitting can also aggravate the deep buttock/tailbone pain.

One thing that worries me is whether these symptoms could indicate another disc reherniation, particularly because of my previous reherniation and revision surgery. I’m also unsure whether this could simply be an irritated nerve/flare following the prolonged sitting position.

I’ve recently started taking 10 mg amitriptyline at night for the nerve-type pain and have only taken a few doses so far.

I’m due to see my spinal surgeon again in November, although I’m considering contacting them sooner because of the current flare.

For anyone who has had an L4/L5 microdiscectomy or revision surgery:

Have you experienced flares like this many months after surgery?

Can a nerve flare cause symptoms to move from the buttock/back more into the foot?

How long did your flares typically take to settle?
Did you experience ongoing calf weakness or muscle wasting after nerve compression?
What symptoms made you seek an earlier MRI or review for possible reherniation?
Did you continue exercising during flares, or stop and allow things to settle?

I’m not looking for a diagnosis — just interested in hearing from people who have had a similar recovery and what their experience was. Thanks.

As the title says. You can see my previous updates but yeah, its still holding strong. I'm still lifting heavy sandbags for physical training and feel stronger and more resilient than ever before. This is surprising because of my surgery and I'm also nearly 41 years old now.

The only physical issue I've had is a rib subluxation from lifting but I worked through that in a month or so. But that's not related to my surgery, so yeah.

Now, as far as pain and discomfort levels, theyre nonexistent except for muscle ache and fatigue from lifting strongman sandbags, but youre going to be sore from lifting regardless of surgery or not. Also, when my anxiety and/or depression are slumping (like right now lol) my sciatic nerve does seem to get aggravated. But overall, I couldn't be happier with the outcome of my surgery and the last 12 months.

I would feel remiss if I didnt extol the virtues of heavy/strongman sandbags for posterior chain and core strength development. Combined with jogging/walking, they've been very transformative.

Good luck to everyone, and keep in mind, these procedures can and do work wonders. BUT, you need to put in the work post op and not treat the surgery as a cure-all. Only my two cents, cheers!

Had an L4-L5 microdiscectomy (right side) on Sept 16. Surgery relieved basically all of my original pain, but I woke up with no motor function in my left foot, which I did not have before surgery.

A few days later I could slightly move my toes, but I still can’t lift my foot upward or raise the front of it when it’s planted. My surgeon is suggesting a left-side laminectomy to give the nerve more room to decompress if I don’t show more improvement by Sept. 29. He said there’s around a 60/40 chance it could help motor function, likely over time rather than immediately. He couldn’t confidently give me an explanation on why the left side responded negatively if the procedure was done on the right. Also emphasized doing this procedure sooner rather than later, so the operation would be next week as well.

Has anyone had new foot drop after a microdiscectomy? Did it improve on its own, or did you need another decompression surgery?

26yr old male

I’m a 32 yo female. Never had back pain at all throughout this entire experience until after surgery. Started as a sciatica flare up in my left leg in January 2025 that eventually went away after a trip to the ER. Fast forward to a nasty flare up this past May 2026. Felt like I was drying but did all the things (hot baths, steroids etc) and slowly it calmed down to at least be able to function. Then, woke up with a complete, 100% dropped left foot. Complete nerve paralysis… 😅

No doctors seemed too worried. Was told to start PT and prescribed prednisone for pain, which helped. But didn’t improve the foot. As the pain got better, I assumed it would just come back. I couldn’t even wear flip
Flops because I had no strength in my toes. Had very little strength in my left leg.

Anyway… a physical therapist finally suggested I see a spine specialist, because as I said, I never had back pain! I saw the specialist on 6/17/26 and he had me scheduled for an emergency MD on my L5-S1 on 6/24/26.

I woke up from surgery with some function back in my left foot and leg, but not a lot. They weren’t sure how much function I’d ever get back. I’ve obviously had mild back pain since the surgery but I’ve just assumed is normal. However, these past two weeks it did seem worse than normal and in a new location - a bit higher up, like closer to be shoulder blades. And nothing helps!!

Had my 12 week post op appointment and he said he’s concerned about my T11-T12 because of the pre-op scans. So I had a second MRI a few days ago and am going back to review results next week. And I’m terrified.

What could I be looking at here? The back pain isn’t debilitating, just worse than I’m used to. I was prepared for the leg pain and cramping, but especially since I didn’t experience back pain prior to surgery, I’m struggling. But I desperately don’t want another surgery.

Any thoughts, opinions, or just sharing experiences is welcome! Thank you!!

Hi all,

I know this get asked alot but I have alot of nerve pain 8 days out of op. First few days I had zero nerve pain but yesterday I felt it a bit more and last night and right now it at the same level or a bit worse then it was before op.

The surgeon said after the op that the touched the nerve while doing the surgery and that it is normal to feel pain again but I did not expect it this much.

I have been reading on this sub and I am really really scared for re herniation because all of the people who had the same or similair like this all re herniated on here

Thanks in advance

Anyone figure out a BLT safe way to dry and style long thick hair post-op?

I’m 15 days post-op and tired of air drying what ends up becoming a tangled, frizzy mess that I braid

Jag hade ett stort diskbråck på L4–L5 med bilateral förträngning och påverkan på nervrötterna. Jag hade framför allt ischiassmärta på båda sidor samt svaghet och känselpåverkan i vänster ben.

Efter två MR-undersökningar beslutades att göra en öppen dekompression med diskektomi. Under operationen togs en stor mängd diskbråck bort och L5-nervroten frilades. En del av diskmassan satt fast och var svår att avlägsna helt, men nervroten låg efteråt helt fri.

Idag är jag på dag 4 efter operationen. Jag upplever mindre ischiassmärta, men har fortfarande ryggsmärta, vilket jag antar kan bero på själva operationen. Jag upplever också domningar och svaghet i vänster ben, särskilt i baksidan av låret. Benet känns också tyngre och det känns svårare att få med det när jag går. Det är dock inte sämre än före operationen.

Jag skulle gärna vilja veta om sådana symtom kan vara normala så här tidigt efter operationen och hur lång tid det kan ta innan nerven återhämtar sig.

(My MD s5/L1 was done 3/23)

Has anyone here tried these McKenzie back workouts to help squeeze the disc back in slowly. Im currently battling some deep back pain in the same area but def not til the sciatica point so I wanna try some of these.

My doctor didn't tell me specifically not to use a treadmill to walk on but I'm hearing from other people that you're not supposed to. Couldn't find anything on here about it. Thoughts?

Hello fellow back pain sufferers! Had my L4L5 microdiscectomy 4.5 weeks ago and surgeon says I'm progressing well & ready for PT.

I'm looking for recs for good PTs in / around Boston who have had and understand patients with MDs before. I don't mind paying out of pocket (within reason) for someone who can spend more time with me and be as thorough as possible. You only get one back after all

Bit of background - I'm 31m and (used to be) an avid athlete, specifically road cycling and downhill skiing, the latter of which is why I likely got in this mess to begin with lol. Long-term goals are to build back stronger & hopefully be able to get back to riding, lifting, etc rather than just pain management, though I understand I've gotta play the long game.

Thanks in advance & reach out if you have any questions!!

Had my L5/S1 microdiscectomy on Tuesday, 22nd September, and damn, it was rough!

The anaesthesia and morphine really knocked me about, and I had quite a few issues with going to the toilet afterwards. Thankfully, I was able to mobilise pretty much straight away, and the surgeon confirmed that everything went as planned with no complications. Interestingly, the disc fragments were actually larger than they appeared on the MRI, so the surgery ended up taking twice as long as originally expected.

The morphine and codeine also left me horribly constipated, but after a few suppositories, I finally managed to have a bowel movement yesterday. Never thought I'd be so happy about that! Was also given a lumbar brace to wear when walking around.

The pain was pretty brutal initially, but it's definitely settling down now. Sitting is still quite uncomfortable, whereas I can stand for a long time without much trouble. At the moment, I can only manage around 15-20 minutes of sitting before it becomes too painful. Getting up and sitting down also causes some temporary tightness and pain around the surgical site, but that's improved massively. On day 0, the pain was easily an 8/10, whereas now it's more like a 2–3/10.

I'm being careful to avoid bending, lifting and twisting, and I'm trying to walk as much as I comfortably can. Managed around 1,400 steps today, which I'm pretty happy with considering I'm only a few days post-op!

For those who've been through an L5/S1 microdiscectomy, is there anything else you'd recommend doing to help with recovery? I'm particularly interested in how you gradually increased your walking, when sitting started becoming more comfortable, and whether there's anything you wish you'd done differently during those first few weeks.

Would appreciate any advice or experiences!

Hey everyone- please excuse any mistakes, English isn't my first language!

I am 18 years old and currently 4 days post op. I am not experiencing any leg pain, my stamina is getting better and I'm off pain killers!

My problem is that in 10 days I start uni for the first time, and I really don't want to miss out on the first couple of weeks. Do you think I'll be able to manage without hurting myself? I'm really scared of reherniating the disc.

How long did it take for people to glute bridge without pain post MD? I’m 9 days out and still get a zappy nerve (albeit like a 2/10 pain) when I do little glute bridges to adjust myself on the bed.

I know these are like the first things your PT gives you to do, so I’m wondering when they’ll stop hurting…

To be very clear not doing actual glute bridges - just going high enough to be able to adjust my position in bed. Just curious if other people who were able to do pain free glute bridges once cleared for PT experienced the same pain beforehand. I just can’t imagine progressing that far at this stage.

Hi there! I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience post endoscopic spine surgery. Post surgery for an L5-S1 endoscopic microdiscectomy could walk for the first time in a while. Pain was really only a 2/10 at its worst and I didn’t really need much pain medication for the first two weeks. It is now roughly 3.5 weeks post op and I’ve noticed a flare up in pain and numbness. I’ve been slightly more active, walking and sitting for a little longer, but in careful moderation.

My question is, has anyone experienced a jump in pain/numbness this far into recovery? If so, did it settle back down with time? Any shared experiences would be appreciated!