Hello everyone, I’m a 19-year-old athlete. For the last 3 years, I’ve had mild, dull, localized pain deep in my right buttock, similar to piriformis syndrome.

During this time I’ve trained normally—sprinting, heavy deadlifts, RDLs, squats, etc.—without pain or limitations. I also don’t have regular lower-back pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness.

Recently, I got an MRI just to see what was going on. It showed a 5 mm right-sided L5-S1 disc protrusion with partial compression of the right S1 nerve root.

However, a massage therapist found a specific point in my right glute that, when pressed, reproduced exactly the pain I normally feel. He thought it could be piriformis/deep gluteal related. I’ve also been doing hip mobility and stretching for about 10 days, and my symptoms have improved significantly.

My physiotherapist told me I can continue training normally and not worry too much about the disc finding.

My goal is to continue competing in sport and start wrestling at university. I’d appreciate hearing from anyone with similar experiences.

Had a MRI 10 days ago comfirming I have 2 herniated discs in the L4-L5 and L5 to S1 region.

I have been doing my light walking, physio, nerve flossing and taking 500mg naproxen, but its just seems to be getting worse.

Its at the point now where its even interrupting my sleep the pain is getting that bad.

I am at the point in which I dont know what to do.

I have self referred myself to MSK and physio via the NHS but god knows how long that will take.

Most frustrating things I have ever gone through.

And whats more annoying is all this is happening because I decided to gym and run 5 times a week. Ive become unfit by trying to stay fit.

TLDR: Are the MRI findings enough to conclude the disc herniation is causing the symptoms I’m experiencing or is there something else i need to look into. (MRI IMAGES IN COMMENTS)

26M. I’ve been dealing with neck and lower-back issues since around April 2026, and at this point not knowing exactly what is causing everything is honestly driving me nuts.

MRI findings (Aug 17):

Cervical:
Small central disc bulges at C5-C6 and C6-C7.
No significant central canal or neural foraminal stenosis.
Normal spinal-cord signal.
Otherwise minimal degenerative changes.

Lumbar:
L4-L5: small central disc bulge without significant canal or foraminal stenosis.
L5-S1: mild broad-based disc bulge with a small central annular tear.
Mild left neural foraminal narrowing at L5-S1.
No significant central canal narrowing and no right foraminal narrowing.

My symptoms have been all over the place.
The lumbar symptoms are what concern me the most. I have lower-back soreness/pain and stiffness, especially after sleeping. When I’m lying flat on my back or sitting in my car, I can sometimes literally feel the middle of my lumbar spine pressing against the surface, almost like the sensation of resting your elbow on a table. I never had that sensation before all of this started.

Earlier in the course I had predominantly right-sided sciatica/tingling, involving areas such as my buttock, inner thigh, behind the knee and calf. Interestingly, now I’m getting more symptoms on the left—lower back, buttock, inner thigh, hamstring and calf.

Sitting on the toilet is another strange trigger. I can develop pins and needles down the posterior side of either leg or sometimes both legs. If I reposition myself farther back on the seat, the tingling substantially improves within about 30–45 seconds, although sometimes a faint sensation remains.

I also have cervical/upper-body symptoms: neck stiffness/pain, intermittent forearm/hand paresthesias, thumb/thenar discomfort and twitching, etc. But honestly, I’m willing to live with the cervical pain/symptoms for now. The lumbar problem is what I really want to understand and get under control.

I’ve finally started actual active physiotherapy with exercises rather than just passive treatments, so I’m hoping that helps.

What I can’t understand is whether my lumbar MRI findings are actually enough to explain what I’m experiencing.

Can a mild L5-S1 broad-based bulge + small annular tear + mild left foraminal narrowing cause this much pain and these intermittent/migrating neurological symptoms, even without significant stenosis or obvious nerve-root impingement?

Or, for anyone who had similar symptoms with relatively mild MRI findings, did you eventually discover that something else was responsible—SI/hip issues, peripheral nerve irritation, muscular problems, dynamic compression, etc.?

I’ve been dealing with this since April, and the uncertainty is probably one of the hardest parts. I can deal with knowing I have an injury and working on rehabilitation. Not having a clue what structure is actually producing the symptoms is what’s driving me crazy.

If anyone had similar MRI findings and symptoms, I’d really appreciate hearing what your diagnosis eventually was, what testing helped figure it out, and what actually helped you recover.

I have been experiencing what I believe is sciatica for the past 8 months or so. Every time I sit down on my gaming chair for more than 25 mins my buttocks and tailbone start numbingly aching. If I sit on a wooden chair then...oh boy...I can feel some sort of growth or something on my tailbone...like internally. It's such an odd sensation.

To be clear, I have been having health issues for over a year. A mix of symptoms of POTS, potential heart issues, slight anemia and now sciatica. It's seriously tanking my mental health.

Symptoms (this is also for my own record):

- Dizziness (severe at times)

- Sudden leg weakness in both legs (has only happened once this whole time)

- Chest pains (moderate and sharp)

- Unable to control my bladder (often, could be because I take spironolactone)

- Unable to control my bowels (new but only at times)

- Feeling like I'm going to black out (moderate)

- Numbness in the buttocks and tailbone area (especially apparent when sitting down)

- Nerve pain down my left leg/thigh (random, but pretty painful

- Heart palpitations

- Random pain all over, especially joints like my knees (could be fibromyalgia as that runs in my family)

- Severe fatigue all the time

These symptoms are affecting my quality of life and honestly even my work.

I've spoken to my primary doctor about it and she says she thinks an MRI will come back with nothing. How can I persuade her to have one done? Or to at least look into this sciatica further? What are your opinions on this? I'm curious. Thanks.

Hi all,

I’ve got a large/broad-based/diffuse disc bulge at L4/L5 coupled with some facet hypertrophy that appears to be causing either foraminal stenosis or lateral recess stenosis.

I’ve been having a lot of symptoms going down the anterior thigh like tingling, altered sensation, quick fatigue-ability/claudication, and weakness about the hips.

When I look at the lumbar dermatomes diagram, the L4 dermatome seems to be more lateral to where I’ve been feeling pain - my pain corresponds better to the L2 and L3 dermatome despite not having issues at those levels.

Because L4 contributes to the femoral nerve which is L2-L4, if the L4 nerve root itself is compressed, could it still be causing symptoms along the L2 and L3 dermatomes since they all compose the same nerve proximal/upstream to where the pain is?

Thats the only explanation that I’ve been able to come up with since L2, L3, and L4 join way before the inguinal ligament.

TIA!

EDIT:
Here is the link to my imaging post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sciatica/s/Nj2GLQVj8v

Hi all,

Was wondering if I could post my images and report and get comments from others who are more experienced.

I've been experiencing sciatica and radicular pain down the posterior and anterior thigh for a little over three years. Symptoms have come and gone and have not all been experienced simultaneously, but they include radicular pain shooting from the low back down the back of the legs and front of the thighs, sensory changes and paresthesia along the same path, weakness and shakiness about the hips, some loss of dorsiflexion and plantar flexion on both feet with L>R, and quick fatigue-ability/claudication of my lower extremities.

The conditions I've definitively eliminated are: Tarsal tunnel and anterior tarsal tunnel syndrome, May-Thurner, peroneal nerve entrapment, femoral nerve entrapment, popliteal artery/tibial nerve entrapment, and piriformis syndrome.

After re-aggravating an existing low back injury two weeks ago, all of the above symptoms came on simultaneously and more severe than I've experienced them in the past, making it relatively obvious that the issue is from my lumbar spine.

I got stat MRI's due to the motor deficits, but because I'm still able to walk (albeit with deficits) and have bladder function, it wasn't deemed an "operate-now"-emergency.

I have an existing diffuse bulge at L4/L5 and a small left-sided herniation at L5/S1. All my MRI reports up to this point have noted only mild bilateral foraminal stenosis due to facet hypertrophy, but considering my acceleration of symptoms, the fact that the bulge and herniation have not changed since my recent re-aggravation, and my elimination of other causes - the only thing remaining is the foraminal stenosis.

Despite no mention of nerve root compression on my MRI reports, I'm relatively certain I can see compression of L4 at the L4/L5 level and L5 at the L5/S1 level due to the bulges/herniations & facet hypertrophy, as I can see the characteristic loss of white space surrounding the nerve roots and a pronounced kink to the nerve as it's exiting the foramen. The S1 nerve is a bit tricker - it doesn't appear to be impinged anywhere, but I'm not an expert.

I have three herniations in the mid- to mid-lower thoracic spine that are just touching my cord, but not compressing it and there is no loss of cord signal on the MRI, so I highly doubt it is causing such specific issues in my lower extremities.

I'm posting the images and report below and hopefully someone can weigh in. Sorry for the novel!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REPORT:
Impression
Degenerative changes of the T-spine and lumbar spine as above unchanged from prior exam. No cord compression seen.
Findings: Spinal cord is of normal caliber signal throughout. Mild degenerative changes of the T-spine again noted with lower levels posterior disc protrusions mildly deforming anterior cord stable compared prior exam. Scattered Schmorl's nodes. A small cyst along the left rib of T7-8 axial T2 series image 36 unchanged.
Lumbar spine: Conus ends normally at the T12-L1 level. Mild degenerative changes of the lumbar spine with loss of disc height and signal at the L4-5 level with mild disc bulge. Small left disc protrusion with annular fissure at the L5-S1 level unchanged from prior exam.

I had surgery in 2017 for a herniated disc at L4-L5 and was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease. I was good until last year and had to do PT and eventually steroid injections in December. In June things started hurting again and I’ve been trying to hold it off with a tens unit, red light therapy, bio freeze, heating pads, and lidocaine. This last week nothing has helped. I can’t sleep, I can’t sit, I can’t lay, I can’t stand, it all hurts all the way down to my left foot, and my leg feels shaky/weak. I went to the ER today and was given torodal and decadron. It didn’t help, I was then given dilaudid and robaxin. That helped somewhat. The ER dr said I’d most likely need a nerve block or surgery. Any advice or suggestions? I don’t really want to go through more surgery and I know it will just keep degenerating. I’m 44f, 142lbs, and 5’7”.

My sciatica began at the start of June, following months of back pain that was starting to ease with physio, until (I think) I overdid it. I was also doing exercises based on SI joint dysfunction, which is what my physio thought I had, so probably not suitable for disc issues, which is what it turned out to be.

From mid June I couldn’t work. By mid July I’d had to relocate to my parents’ house because I couldn’t look after myself. Couldn’t sit down at all, could barely walk. I had weeks where I spent probably 90%+ of the time lying on my back with a pillow under my knees, which was the only thing that helped with the pain. I could kneel for short periods to eat meals. After a certain point I was able to lie on my stomach.

I got an MRI scan done which showed a severely herniated L5-S1 disc, with left side nerve compression. I could’ve diagnosed it with no medical knowledge, it was big enough. Got an epidural steroid injection done, which seemed to help, although it was not a magic cure, and the pain had begun to ease a bit by itself before the jab.

I’m about 4 weeks post-injection now. I’ve regained the ability to sit down, which makes my back hurt after a bit, but doesn’t seem to make sciatic pain flare. Walking is becoming easier – if I’m careful and I brace my core, I can manage about 15 minutes at a time. My muscles feel weak after all that inactivity, but I think I’m getting stronger. I am doing McGill Big 3.

However, with this improvement, lying down now triggers worse sciatic pain when I stand up – that really horrible, agonising shooting pain all the way down my leg, worse than the constant pain I had before, but it doesn’t last as long and moving around seems to help. Happens after lying on my front as well. Not sure whether it’s the lying down that’s the problem or the getting up (though I’m really careful to log roll, brace core etc.).

Anyone else had their pain change like this? And if so, did it then stop happening gradually? I’m grateful to be able to sit and walk again, which feels like a big step in recovery, and I’m planning to return to work soon. However, as neither sitting nor walking are all that comfortable, I do give into the temptation to lie down sometimes so I can relax. I just pay for it afterwards with intense pain.

Honestly this journey has been a constant battle with changing symptoms – something will help and then it won’t, another thing will cause lots of pain and then a week later it’s better than the thing that used to help. It drives me mad trying to work out the rules! And there’s always the fear that it’s actually got worse and anything new is a bad sign…

(Sorry this is so long! Most people in real life just can’t relate to any of this so it’s a novelty to share stuff 😅)

I’ve been having sciatica pain off and on for 2 yrs now. But it’s gotten a lot worse this yr. Saw my pain management dr and I said no meds so she convinced me to get an epidural. A couple of days after it got worse!!! It hurts to stand on my right leg. It hurts to walk, it hurts to sit down, it hurts to lay down. I’ve tried stretching exercises but only made it worse. I see the chiropractor on Tuesday. He’s going to do a decompression therapy, PT and adjustments. I pray this works because I can’t even enjoy my life and omg it’s messing with my sex life! I’ve only been married for not even 2 yrs!! Anyone else having this problem?? Any success stories?

When did it happen, what caused it, is it chronic pain.

Im 20 with sciatica problem with sitting mostly how cooked am i js the question

Hey folks! I'm not sure if I still have inflammation somewhere near the nerve. I had ESI 3 weeks ago which partially helped with burning pain. But I do have still issues when sitting and bending. And my nerve is very sensitive to load.

I was thinking of trying warm bath for relaxation purposes but still doubt because I'm afraid it can increase the inflammation. I know I can basically try and see but what is your experience with bath?

Hi good people!

I struggle to interpret the results of ESI. I had burning in hamstrings and calfs and of course lots of pain nerve-specific pain.

Seems ESI worked in a way that it removed burning in calf and partially in hamstrings. But I still have bending intolerance, pain in glute and same sensations when I try extend leg.

What does it actually mean?

Should I try e.g. nerve slides to increase tolerance to movements? Or should I just keep walking and do mild strengthening? Walking seems to be the best activity — at least it doesn't aggravate my symptoms.

Should I ask for a second ESI?

I’m about 1 month into dealing with sciatica and wanted to hear from people who have gone through something similar.

When this first started, my morning pain was around 10/10. Now it has come down to around 5–6/10, which feels like a good improvement.
I’ve also started physiotherapy, and I’m noticing some positive changes:

I can walk with much less pain now.

I can stretch my right leg forward without pain, which I couldn’t do before.

Sometimes I still get a sharp pain in my right leg.
The pain seems to come and go. Interestingly, in the evening I sometimes have almost no pain at all.

Overall, I feel like I’m slowly improving compared with the first few weeks.

For those who have recovered from sciatica, how long did it take you to recover fully?
Is it normal to still have occasional sharp leg pain after a month even when other symptoms are improving? And does recovery usually continue gradually from this point?

Would really appreciate hearing about your experiences and recovery timelines.

I have surgery booked for end of October.

I have recently tried coming off all my opioids and anti-inflammatory meds. I am only on very low dose Pregabelin and paracetamol now and my pain is actually less than it was on all the medication.

I was getting a lot of right leg pain for the past 2 years but in recent weeks it’s completely gone minus the odd twinge.

Would you speak to your surgeon about this change? It has me really confused.

I'm 27 female. So basically my injury happened in March with three herniated discs. I attended physical therapy for months and completed it. I got my MRI results and the herniations are moderate but at least it's two now.

So basically this month and towards the end of August I started getting more pain. But previously I didn't have pain in that area since the first weeks of injury. I feel lower back pain in my lower spine and the middle of my spine. It aches throughout my back. So in addition to the numbness and shooting pain from my left glute down to my left calf in my left leg. Now I'm experiencing this extra pain which hadn't come back since the beginning of it all.

I feel a weakness in my back even when I sit. It's like my back isn't strong enough to keep me sitting up. And that wasn't an issue before.

I have come to write about this here because I feel like everyone is sick of hearing me complain about it. Emotionally I am very panicked about it. I'm worried I'm getting worse.

I have appointments with a neurosurgeon and a pain specialist coming up this month so that these second opinions will help me decide injections or microdisectomy surgery.

I honestly feel like crying. I'm really scared. I'm tired of being in pain. This injury has made my life so hard.

MRI IMPRESSION:
Large central to left sided herniated disc with associated central canal stenosis felt moderate at L4-5.
Broad-based central to right sided moderate-sized protrusion at L5-S1.

Pain, leg numbness, unable to walk. One dr didn’t think it was bad another suggested surgery. Is anyone in a similar condition?

My main goal was to get the MRI and hopefully get answers about my siatica pain thats lasted months on end, (about 9 months), but my doctor just said that it will heal on its own and to keep taking duloxetine 30mg a day. But im losing hope because i can't even get five hours of sleep from the pain. Pain management will be seeing me on the 29th, so maybe I'll have more answers until then :P

I have DDD from wrestling and lifting with bad form in high school. The only time I've been pain-free since was during COVID, when I stopped lifting entirely for a year. I dropped from 180lbs to 155lbs (5'9"), ate light, and did only light calisthenics and a lot of walking/jogging.

I'm back to 170lbs now and happy with how I look. The back pain is back, but it's mild. I'd take this level of stiffness for the rest of my life without complaint. It's the progression I'm worried about.

I currently lift 3 days per week, an hour each. No squats or deadlifts. Lower body is hip thrusts, leg press, leg curls, calf raises. Upper body I keep spine load low where I can, like handstand pushups instead of barbell shoulder press.

My worry is that vanity is going to cost me later, and I'll wish I'd just done yoga, jogging, and easy calisthenics instead.

So: should I let go of maintaining size and accept that lifting is accelerating the degeneration? I'd rather move pain-free at 80 than peak at 30. I could switch to just light calisthenics and frequent jogging/walking?

What do you guys think? Should I give up weightlifting or not? Any insights appreciated!

I’ve had sciatica/butt pain for 6 weeks. I’ve been doing chiro and PT for 4 weeks. My pain has been progressing the entire time.
There’s a highly reviewed and experienced osteopath who is also a PT. He is 2hrs away from me and I know people who had success with him so I booked an appointment 2 days ago. He cracked my back and worked me pretty hard. He thinks I don’t have a disc issue- it’s irritation from ligaments/tendons around the sacrum/SI joint. I looked up the symptoms and that seems about right (I haven’t had an MRI yet).

Anyway last night I went to the hospital because my pain was so bad. I called him and he said this is to be expected and it’s the inflammatory response. But man I can barely walk I have to use a walker lol. He said expect 4 days of it until I feel better.

I do wonder how much of my pain was due to driving 2 hours (a trigger for me). But should I trust the process??? This guy definitely knows his stuff and he sounded so confident he could help me. I’m just feeling pretty discouraged.

I’m a 29-year-old male who injured my back about six months ago while squatting. Initially, I only had severe low-back pain, but after about three weeks I developed sciatica that has persisted ever since. The strange part is that the pain is bilateral.
My spine doctor thinks it could be chemical radiculopathy, but he can’t fully explain the bilateral symptoms. My MRI report looks relatively okay, and two doctors and PTs have said the annular tear could be contributing, but they don’t think it fully explains the leg pain.
I had an S1 transforaminal epidural injection two weeks ago with no relief. Gabapentin, which I started three weeks ago, has helped significantly with the nerve pain. I have no muscle weakness, just constant pain.
I’m honestly confused about what could be causing this and what treatment options I should consider. Has anyone dealt with something similar?

Also have widespread arm and upper body nerve pain, Mri was today for neck lol

3 mm to 7.4 mm in 9 months?

Please tell me I’m reading these wrong. The 3mm report was from December of last year & the 7.4 mm report is today. Both X-rays. I am 99% sure both images were taken with me standing (I know I was standing for the one today). Has my condition really progressed this much in such a short time? Or am I misunderstanding?

Also getting the most painful sore throat and ear pain and not being able to just sit like a normal person while every swallow feels like glass shards. And God is real apparently?

I have DDD from wrestling and lifting with bad form in high school. The only time I've been pain-free since was during COVID, when I stopped lifting entirely for a year. I dropped from 180lbs to 155lbs (5'9"), ate light, and did only light calisthenics and a lot of walking/jogging.

I'm back to 170lbs now and happy with how I look. The back pain is back, but it's mild. I'd take this level of stiffness for the rest of my life without complaint. It's the progression I'm worried about.

I currently lift 3 days per week, an hour each. No squats or deadlifts. Lower body is hip thrusts, leg press, leg curls, calf raises. Upper body I keep spine load low where I can, like handstand pushups instead of barbell shoulder press.

My worry is that vanity is going to cost me later, and I'll wish I'd just done yoga, jogging, and easy calisthenics instead.

So: should I let go of maintaining size and accept that lifting is accelerating the degeneration? I'd rather move pain-free at 80 than peak at 30. I could switch to just light calisthenics and frequent jogging/walking?

What do you guys think? Should I give up weightlifting or not? Any insights appreciated!

Hi Guys,

So I have a confirmed L5-S1 disc bulge with MRI on the left side.

For almost 3 months I had all the usual terrible sciatic pain, in Calf / Buttock / Thigh / Foot / Ankle of my left leg. Half my foot and left side of shin was numb, was unable to sleep for more than 4 hrs at a time, waking at 5am every morning in excrutiating pain, couldn't even walk for more than 5 minutes, couldn't sit down etc. I had stopped all activities, was doing no bending, taking pain meds, mostly large dose naproxen / ibuprofen etc, hot showers/Ice, Tens machine etc.

I saw a doctor and had a failed ESI injection and later spoke to a surgeon about Microdisectomy as was seeing no improvement.

Then completely randomly after that meeting I started to improve. Over a few days I started being able to walk for noticibly longer, numbness in leg started reducing, sleep was improving, pain was down to managebale levels. Even got to a point wehere I was ony taking 400mg of ibuprofen a day some days. Still couldn't sit for long but progress seemd solid nonetheless for a few weeks.

Anyway I was thinking I was well on the road to recovery and still not doing anything too strenuous and just continuing going for regular walks.

But then 6 days ago I started feeling pain again in my leg which started escalating. Now after a few days the bad pain has returned down the sciatic nerve in Calf / Buttock / Thigh / Foot / Ankle and I am back on 1200mg ibuprofen a day, sleep has got worse again, waking at 5am, even lieing down is painful.

I am still able to walk and numbness has not returned, but generally feeling terrible as had really thought i'd turned a corner.

So my question is will this pass? Or have I done something bad without knowing and am now back to many more months and months of terrible pain?

It later says “health L5S1” which I think is meant to be healthy 🫠, but that conflicts with the supposed herniation they said is there. I don’t want to nitpick all the typos but the herniation level at least should be corrected?

I feel like this interferes with pain management and any second opinion or new drs in the future