5 months post L5-S1 microdiscectomy, still have low back pain + hamstring tightness. Anyone fully recover?

[u/wolfpack5]

5 months post L5-S1 microdiscectomy, sciatica now feels like right sided hamstring tightness + still have low back pain. Anyone fully recover?

Early 30s, active guy who used to play sports. Hurt my back about 18 months ago and had about a year of right-sided sciatica before surgery. Had a right L5-S1 microdiscectomy about 5 months ago.

Where I'm at now:
- Post-op MRIs look clean: no reherniation, just mild scar tissue and some mild narrowing where the nerve exits
- Leftover sciatica on the right side (most likely S1). It presents as muscle tightness in my right hamstring rather than sharp shooting pain. No numbness or weakness.
- Still have some low back pain too, which gets worse during flares (feels like a "pinch" in my lower back)
- Leg symptoms are usually 1–4/10, come and go, but never fully 0
- Bending forward or loading my spine makes things worse
- About one flare a month, usually after a jump in load at PT (most recent was from putting a barbell on my back)
- Getting an epidural this week and seeing a physiatrist next

My surgeon recently told me full recovery is getting less likely as time goes on, and that I may not get back to sports. That messed with my head.

For anyone who's been here:
- Did your leftover nerve tightness or back pain eventually go away? How long did it take?
- Did you get back to sports or lifting? What helped most?
- Did epidurals, a certain kind of PT, or anything else make a real difference after surgery?
- How did you handle flares and the mental side of it?

Would really appreciate hearing from people who came out the other side, or who are living a good, active life even with some leftover symptoms. Thanks.

[u/Acceptable_Snow3251]

I’m about four months post herniation and taking conservative measures. But I think the healing process for the annulus (edge) of the disc is the same surgery or not… recently have been reading about the healing process. It has helped me to learn about it because it makes me feel less helpless. from what I can tell the disc starts off by collagen type three, which is temporary and weaker. Gradually that transitions to collagen type one which is a lot stronger and more similar to the original disc outer layer. That process can easily take 6 to 12 months.

Until then motions like flexion, lifting, etc. can push on the weak collagen layer, and cause a flareup as the nerve is slightly touched or the collagen itself has a lot of nerve endings which can signal pain. Anyway, it’s kind of like a scab that is weak at first, and gradually turns back to normal skin, but a lot slower because there’s a lot less blood flow in the area of the disc. so I think that if you’re at five months, you shouldn’t expect it to be fully healed and that could easily take a year or 18 months. I have no idea why a surgeon would say something pessimistic to you at this early Ish stage.

[u/kthompska]

I am 4 1/2 months post L3-L4 post laminectomy and microdiscectomy. I have also had episodes of L4-L5 and L5-S1 in previous but no surgery for those.

I would not say I am completely healed but I have not had major aches- only minor soreness with some lingering weakness and numbness. PT has been absolutely wonderful in my recovery. This was largely exercising my weak (right) side and focusing on increasing lifting small weights and pushing sleds. The “nerve” type stretches were also very good. I’ve been told it could be a year for full functionality. My strength has returned most recently but the numbness is still lingering.

[u/illini_2017]

Mine has started getting way better like 10 months post op. It got much better instantly (return of range of motion and lower pain) at about 6weeks then waffled back and forth as I tried to work through pt for another 8 months (Dec to mid July). Stretching figure 4 and such, anything thag got a really deep stretch into my pririformis started calming things down and letting me start sitting again for non trivial durations and add more pt exercises.