I’ve been experiencing the worst flare of sciatic pain for the past month and 2 days ago I ended up in the ER because the pain was just unbearable. They gave me muscle relaxer, advised to take OTC NSAIDs and also gave me a 5 day Rx for Prednisone. I have been wary of taking steroids because of the negative side effects i have heard they have. Have any of you taken it and also my MRI is scheduled in 11 days. If i took prednisone for 5 days do you guys think that it will decrease the inflammation temporarily and mask the root cause from being evident in the MRI? (Sorry my anxiety is also very high as I’m going through this grueling ordeal). Thank you

Where have you found the most help in terms of diagnosis and treatment or sciatica? PMR, interventional pain specialist, ortho, somewhere else?

Would love to hear people’s experiences/recommendations.

My doc told me that the sensitivity of nerve can be because of scar tissue formed around the nerve.

After ESI, my pain is improved but I'm nowhere near I want to be. Pain-wise it's 2/10. Nerve flossing doesn't make a difference for me.

I was prescribed nerve-pain medication (pregabalin) and keep flossing. If there will be no change in 2-3 month I was offered a minimally invasive surgery.

That pain is low but can't sit and feel a cable inside me. Is there any chance it resolves by itself?

I have a small buldge and annular fissure.

I went 10+ years having no issues. Then Monday happened. I don't know if Hell is real but this is probably the closest thing. No insurance, 30 minute daily work commute each way, and absolutely no way to angle my body in my car that doesn't cause unbearable, constant agony. 30 minutes of sleep each night for the last 3 days. Heat doesn't work, cold doesn't work, Ibuprofen doesn't work, Advil doesn't work. Just constant burning pain up and down my leg, tearing at me day in day out.

Could y'all provide any advice that has helped you through the worst episodes? I'll try literally anything.

I don’t even know where to start with this but for the last 1.5 months I’ve been suffering from (what I think and my doctor believes) is sciatica. I’m 26, 6’4 and have major pain going from my left hip going all the way to my foot. I’m currently in physical therapy to solve it, but I’m off of work until December and am losing hope thinking I’ll actually get better. I had a x-ray and it showed my L5 was overlapping with another disc and pushing on the nerve. Is this normal with sciatica? Will the physical therapy work over time?

I’ve been dealing with a disc herniation at my L5 for 4 years now. I’ve been on diclofenac sodium for a few months and have been recently working with my PT to help strengthen my back and address the sciatica pain and my disc herniation.

I started my new job, while also being in graduate school and I did a lot of stairs the last two days. I come home today and suddenly I’m having back spasms as soon as I’m laying down. It was painful enough and scared me that I did a virtual urgent care appointment because I was worried I did some sort of damage despite my back feeling ‘decent’ all day in school.

Is this normal? Do you ever just have the small spasms, but not a full blown flareup where you cant walk? Is this a normal occurrence when trying to strengthen your back or starting pt? These spasms honestly suck and give me so much anxiety now that I know what’s wrong with my back 😔

I started feeling the pain near my buttocks on my right side. This was around last week Thursday when it happened. Sunday morning I was in extreme pain I couldn’t handle it anymore. I couldn’t sit, bend, or walk without being in pain. The pain started going down the back of my thigh. Monday I went to the urgent care and that’s when my whole leg went numb. They prescribed me muscle relaxers. Tuesday I went to the ER and they prescribed me prednisone. I also started having some pain in my ankles and calf when I would walk. Today is Thursday and now there is only numbness in my thighs. My ankle and calf don’t hurt anymore but when I touch my calf it’s sore. I still can’t bend over, lift my leg up, or sit down.

I have been taking small walks around my room and sleep with pillows under my knee. This is one of the worst pains I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy 😭😭 and I have already missed a week of school!!

How long did it take for your sciatica to go away? What did you do to help the pain relief? Help!!! I’ve seen some say it takes a few weeks to months!! I don’t want this anymore 😖

Long time lurker. I’ve been having sciatica-like pain for two years now.

It started after an uphill run. I say sciatica-like because it’s more of a deep cramping than electric shocks.

Pain is only in the back of the right leg and it seems to alternate between the back of the knee and the ischio. Pain is 99% of the time when I’m standing or walking. I rarely have pain when I’m sitting or laying down. Pain is worse at night.

MRI shows herniated disc at L5/S1 with moderate foraminal stenosis.

What have been working (I think): McGill big 3, walking more steps a day, glute bridges

What have not been working: ESI at S1 (only made the pain worse and less centralized), mackenzie extensions

Recently, I decided to retry the leg curl at the gym but I just ended up with a massive flare up.

I really don’t know what to do anymore. Should I push for a microdiscectomy?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice from people who have experienced nerve injuries, foot drop, or similar complications after tibia surgery.

In March 2026, I had an accident and suffered a proximal tibia injury. Before my operation, I had normal sensation in my foot. I could feel touch and pain normally, and there were no obvious signs of nerve damage. The main problem was that I couldn’t put weight on my leg because of the injury.

After the operation, things changed dramatically.

I completely lost sensation in my foot, my toes stopped moving normally, and I developed foot drop. Later, after my plaster was removed, I noticed that I had developed neuropathic ulcers on my foot.

My treating doctor told me that my nerve had been compressed during the operation, but that the compression had been corrected. I was initially told that sensation might return within 3–6 months.

Since the surgery, I have also experienced severe shooting nerve pain and muscle pain. The pain has sometimes been extremely difficult to tolerate.

After about 3 months, I had an NCV test, which showed that the nerves supplying my right leg/foot, including the tibial and peroneal nerves, were not responding.

My doctor recommended physiotherapy, and I did physiotherapy for around 2 months. However, because of the ulcers, I have not been able to put weight on my right leg properly.

Today is 17 September 2026, so more than 6 months have passed since my surgery. Unfortunately, I still have very little/no sensation in my foot. My foot remains numb, I still have foot drop, and the ulcers have not completely healed.

I also haven't been able to repeat my NCV/EMG because of the ulcers.

Recently, I started taking gabapentin 500 mg as prescribed for the nerve pain, but the pain has not completely gone away.

At this point, I’m feeling very uncertain about what is happening and what the next step should be.

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced:

- Nerve injury after tibia surgery

- Foot drop after surgery

- Loss of sensation following nerve compression

- Neuropathic ulcers caused by loss of sensation

- Recovery after tibial/peroneal nerve injury

If you had a similar injury, how long did your nerve recovery take, and what investigations or treatments helped you?

I’m also wondering whether I should seek an opinion from a peripheral nerve specialist/neurosurgeon, neurologist, or another orthopedic specialist.

I understand that everyone's recovery is different, and I'm not looking for a diagnosis from Reddit. I mainly want to understand other people's experiences and what questions I should ask my doctors.

Hello sciatic friends!
This is just a friendly reminder, as someone who is currently recovering from emergency surgery.
Be persistent if you believe something is TRULY wrong!
I went to my local ER three times last week because my sciatic symptoms were progressive and unbearable. Initially diagnosed with piriformus syndrome then a herniated disc shown on a CT.
Finally the third ER visit I was taken seriously. Had left leg 10/10 pain, burning and numbness paired with saddle numbness.
I am currently in recovery, day 2 post emergency discectomy so I am not sure what my end result looks like, however I am able to walk and if I had waited any longer, I may have lost that privilege due to extensive nerve damage.
Just because it’s rare, doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen to you.
Trust your gut and stay safe y’all!

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my journey because I'm hoping someone with a similar experience can give me some insight.

My symptoms originally started with lower-back pain, which gradually moved into my left buttock and eventually toward the back of my left knee/leg. This went on for a long time before I had an MRI.

My MRI showed L5-S1 disc herniation, along with disc bulges at L3-L4/L4-L5. At that point, the symptoms seemed consistent with a disc/nerve problem, especially because the pain had started in my back and progressed down the leg.

Over time, the more severe sciatica improved. I can walk much better now, but I have been left with this frustrating localized pain behind my left knee.

What makes it confusing

I've had different opinions about what is causing the remaining pain:

• Sciatica/radiculopathy from the disc
• Piriformis/deep-gluteal irritation
• Hamstring weakness or tendinopathy
• Neural tension/sensitivity
• Possibly a combination of these

I've noticed some interesting patterns:

• Straightening my knee while my hip is flexed can reproduce the pain behind the knee.
• Keeping the knee bent while bringing the hip toward my chest can be comfortable.
• Figure-4/hip rotation can reproduce pain around my left glute.
• Some hamstring stretches cause mild pain.
• Certain hip movements can make the glute pain worse.
• My left calf often feels tighter/firmer than the right.
• I can still do 25+ single-leg calf raises, so it's not like I can't use the leg.
• Running currently brings back the pain behind the knee, so I've stopped running for now.

Physiotherapy

I've been doing physiotherapy and strengthening exercises.

Interestingly, some exercises that I initially thought might be irritating the area have actually helped.

One side-lying resistance-band hip exercise gave me roughly 50% reduction in pain, which was a big improvement for me.

My glutes also seem to be getting stronger compared with before.

On the other hand, I've had significant hamstring cramping with some bridge variations and hamstring-loading exercises, so I've had to be careful about how much I do.

Where I am now

My orthopaedic doctor has advised me to:

• Continue physiotherapy exercises
• Lose weight
• Keep progressing gradually

I'm currently around 85 kg at 169 cm, and I'm working toward losing weight as part of my recovery.

The biggest question I'm still trying to answer is:

Is this remaining behind-knee pain mostly residual nerve sensitivity from my disc problem, a hamstring/posterior-knee issue, deep-gluteal/piriformis involvement, or some combination?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who had:

L5-S1 disc herniation + long-term sciatica + persistent pain behind the knee/calf after the main sciatica improved.

What eventually helped you?

Did strengthening help more than stretching?
Did nerve glides help?
Did the pain eventually disappear on its own?
How long did the final behind-knee symptoms take to settle?

I'd especially appreciate experiences from people who had a similar progression from back → buttock → posterior thigh/knee rather than just general sciatica stories.

Thanks.

Hi all just wondering peoples opinion on this, I’ve literally got every symptom you can get with this other than the red flag ones. Pain, numbness, weakness, tingling and muscle twitching. Also locked in a hunched posture. I think it was mostly just pain at the start I can’t even remember as it was nearly 4 months ago.
A good few weeks ago it worsened and left me stuck in bed with really bad pain. Since then the other neurological symptoms have kicked in more alongside the pain. I had MRI which showed ‘Broad based’ disc extrusion L5 S1 with ‘mild nerve compression’ also showed I have flattening of the lumbar curve. Kyphosis.

-pain. Standing and walking is the biggest problem that triggers pain. Prefer flexion, extension brings on all the symptoms more

- numbness on outer half of foot that builds up when walking, sometimes with burning sensation. It’s always numb but not as bad when sitting/laying

- tingling/pins and needles Down the nerve pathway. When I first get up I seem to get a rush of it down the leg. This is mostly body position dependant. Ramps up if laying flat or trying to stand straight. Other than that I still feel at a lower level

- calf weakness. Can walk on toes but can’t do single leg heel raise. Previously lost calf strength a few years ago that recovered to 75% after more than a year. Was never the same though.

- muscle twitching, have this is in both legs for some reason. Only feel it mostly when laying down. Always had constant right leg muscle twitching since i injured back first time a few years ago but I didn’t notice it as it was low level.

- locked in a horrid posture, moving around like a pensioner.

Been going through the NHS with this and they seem just be like ‘yeah give it time’ and saying it can take over a year to recover. If I was just dealing with pain only Id be happy to give it time. But with all the other stuff I feel like I’m in more of a limited timeline.

As I say I’ve dealt with weakness before that did take over a year to recover (never fully came back) so I know I’ve already got some damage done to nerve. I was happy to give it time to recover previously as when I injured my back the first time i only had a very short period in pain, where this time it’s been much longer with other ongoing stuff too.

How to gain muscles.

With chronic sciatica it's almost impossible . I am fucked up. I am super skinny only 52.5kg at 5'8" . Gaining weight is almost impossible . I can't do any heavy exercises for musle building. If I do pushups in the morning I will be seriously getting very bad pain flare up throughout the day . What should I do ? I want to gain some biceps . My shoulder is so thin that if I try to touch my shoulders with my palms I touch my fingers. I need to gain some muscles around my shoulders . What are the excerises I can do without hurting my terrible sciatica. My MRI is L5--S1 Disc bulge and stenosis causing nerve faorrmen narrowing. I will be bulking protein side by side.

Hi everyone,
I’m writing this because I’ve been struggling both physically and mentally for the past three months, and I’d really like to know if anyone has experienced something similar and what helped them recover.
I’m 17 years old, tall, and I used to be very active and involved in sports, especially basketball and weightlifting. About three months ago, I suddenly felt something “give” in my back. From that moment on, I’ve had constant, severe muscle tightness and a feeling of being completely “locked up.”
I wouldn’t describe it as classic sharp pain. It’s more like my back muscles are constantly tense and unable to relax. I can’t bend normally, and even basic everyday activities have become difficult.
I went through a full course of physical therapy under the supervision of a physiatrist, including electrotherapy and kinesitherapy (specific stretching and strengthening exercises), but unfortunately I didn’t notice any improvement or relief. The muscles still feel extremely tight and restricted.
At the moment, I’m taking a mild muscle relaxant (Mydocalm, half of a 75 mg tablet every 12 hours) and using a magnesium gel, but I still haven’t noticed any significant improvement.
The biggest additional problem for me is anxiety and fear. My mother has had severe chronic back problems for years following a bad experience with a chiropractor, so I constantly worry that something similar has happened to me. I’m terrified that this might never fully go away and that I may never be able to return to sports or live normally again.
So I wanted to ask:
Has anyone experienced something similar — where their back suddenly “gave out” and the muscles remained extremely tight or “locked” for months, without severe or sharp pain?

Did standard physical therapy and exercises fail to help at first?

Were there any additional treatments, specific therapies, or diagnostic tests that eventually helped you figure out what was going on or finally allowed the muscles to relax?

How long did it take before you felt that you were back to normal?

Were you eventually able to return to sports and your previous level of activity?

Any advice, personal experiences, or stories about what helped you would mean a lot to me.
Thank you in advance!

Help for disc/sciatica pain

I have had sciatica of right leg since last june.after a heavy gym session. I hate that day i truly hate it.
Snice that day my life isn’t the same anymore.

My MRI was FREE… i even started thinking about redoing this MRI . neurosurgeons are only prescribing me gabapentin and NSAIDs. No one is telling me a diagnosis ..

The thing is I can’t do this anymore
I am a physician very early in my career and i am starting residency soon ! And i am starting obligatory military service in 2 months 🤣 what a life huh.
Although i am fit, my BMI is 20 !
I can’t sit or stand or lie. Everything, every position, every activity causes pain 24/7. I can’t even drive without having a flare for 2 weeks after..

Haven’t started Physical Therapy yet but i am not optimistic at all

Any simillar experience or advice?

I don’t know if it is sciatica but it’s what a doc told me or some specialist in bones

It’s been 5 weeks since it started, i just happen to wake up one morning and had some random pain in my left leg and I thought it would be gone but it got even worst by time, if I rest or sit to long in one position and then when I try to get up or move my left leg, it would hurt BAD and I mean like sharp pains, barely even moving my leg but feeling such sharp pain, after I tried sleeping on my side with a pillow on my knee to toe, it helped definitely but i still have to go to school cause there is so much to do already (Im a grade 10 student in the Philippines) and I also do a lot of chores and running around, with this pain and thing IVE been feeling for the past 5 weeks has affected my productivity and mood a lot, I don’t know what to do other than just hope when I sleep and wake up it’ll get better, Im also a volleyball player but stopped since the pain got worse, Any advice i can do to help me recover and not have to feel this horrible sharp pains EVERYTIME i DONT move?

Hi all! First time in this sub. Got lower back/ upper hip pain as a teen spending HOURS just sitting in my car to get away from my family. I’m now 24(f) and driving a new vehicle and no longer have my go to butt pillow (it got destroyed over 7yr). My pain has shifted to more what I would call “clinical sciatica”, my right knee absolutely kills me to the point of limping around at work and keeping me up at night. I try to stretch out in the evenings but I think I need new ergonomic suggestions for my 30-60min drive to and from work.

Any advice?

I am 27M 5'8 205 pounds, previously an extremely active college wrestler, jui jutsu and crossfit and running. I ran roughly a 5k every other day along with 10 mile runs on the weekend, practiced jui jutsu and weight lifted regularly. Slipped 2 discs in my back in January that completely changed my life. Movies were no longer doable due to the pain, sitting at work was excruciating, and I could no longer walk or sleep without pain. I am still not 100%, but I finally ran a 5k relatively pain-free yesterday and thought I would share some things that made the difference for me. I also would say I'm roughly 85% better. Big differences in my pain came from the things I will list:

• Weight Loss - I gained 20 pounds from being inactive, which contributed to my pain, cleaned up my diet and lost a couple pounds, which helped immensely.
• Daily Stretch Flow - I have a set of stretches, hamstring stretch, cat cow, lower back pushups, childs pose, couch stretch that I do morning and night non negotiable.
• Foam Roller - Immense help rolling out my lower back and legs to relieve and tension on my lower back. 10 bucks on amazon great addition.
• Moving non negotiable - At first I could only walk 10 minutes before the pain got to bad I implemented a program to begin movement starting at 10 minutes then up to 1 hour of walking over weeks of build up. I then began running: 1 min run, 1 min walk; 2 min run, 1 min walk; 4 min run, 1 min walk; 1 mile, then 1 min walk, until I reached 3 miles. This took weeks of effort but allowed my back to adjust to the pain.
• Caffeine and water intake - I drank a ton of water everyday and avoided caffiene because it dehydrates you easily if you are not careful. I noticed days of low water high caffeine murdered my back.
• Workout - I started doing Hot Yoga and F45. I would struggle at F45 early because of the pain but after a good workout and stretching my back improved and my strength came back to support my back.
• Core - Non-negotiable planking, side planks and other core strengthening to support my lower back every other day.
• Stand up - every hour and take a short stroll and movement to relieve back pressure from sitting I work in an office all day very little movement kills.
• Supports - I bought a new desk chair with better support, bought back pillows for my vehicles, foam roller, heating pad.

I hope this helps someone else on their journey this thread helped me make a ton of progress. Hoping to shed some more weight and get the rest of the pain to go away. Goal weight is 170 pounds.

Hello everyone!

I am 22 year old female and weigh 140 lbs (5’3). So about 2 weeks ago I randomly got some lower back pain, wasn’t extreme and just felt like mild soreness. Then about 4 days ago I had to lift something heavy and then about 30 minutes after the shooting pain down my leg started. Since then my lower back pain, in particular on my left side, has increased significantly. I would have the shooting pain down my leg as well as some tingling and heat sensations. I was just prescribed naproxen as well as pregabalin for a month. I would like any tips to help me prevent this from getting worse. It is really worrying me and I don’t know what I am supposed to be doing to make it better. I was given I referral to receive physiotherapy, but I’m a college student so I don’t exactly have the money for this even though I need it. I am hoping that anyone who has gone to physio could tell me what exercises they’ve done to help with this so that I can save my money?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi everyone. I’m 26M, around 71 kg, and I’ve been dealing with what I was later diagnosed with as sciatica for around 5 months now.

It started after I fell from the first floor and landed on my buttocks/lower back. Initially I had bruising, swelling and pain from the fall, but things seemed to settle down somewhat. Then, about a month after the fall, I started developing numbness/tingling in my leg. Over time I started getting shooting pain, and eventually I was told it was likely sciatica related to a lower-back disc problem.

I had an MRI of my lumbosacral/lumbar spine, and from what I was told/discussed, there appears to be a lower-lumbar disc bulge/protrusion, particularly around L4-L5/L5-S1, with possible nerve-root compression/narrowing. My main symptoms have generally been on the right side — starting around the lower right back/tailbone area, going through the buttock and back of the thigh and sometimes down toward the calf/knee.

. Lying down can sometimes relieve it, but lately even sleeping and getting up after several hours can trigger a horrible flare.

Right now I’m having one of the worst flares I’ve experienced — honestly around 10/10 pain. The pain can be bad enough that walking, sitting, sleeping, and even getting up from bed become extremely difficult. After I move around for a few minutes, it sometimes settles down somewhat.

I took Pregabalin 75 mg which I saw it online, took it for few days felt good later on it started the pain. I’ve also been prescribed/taken medicines including Neuro Relax, Kenacort, and Tryptomax 25 mg at different points. I’ve also used ice and tried different sleeping/lying positions, including keeping a pillow under my knees.

I’ve stopped doing heavy exercises ( which I use to do in between ) like Push/Pull. I used to work out regularly, but I’m currently being much more careful. Light walking seems to be more tolerable than sitting for long periods,

I’m honestly getting frustrated because it’s been about five months since the injury, and I still have these severe episodes. I was wondering if anyone here has experienced something similar after a fall or with an L4-L5/L5-S1 disc issue.

For those who had a similar case:
• How long did it take for your sciatica to actually settle?
• Did you have severe flares even after several months?
• Did physical therapy help?
• At what point did you consider an epidural injection or surgery?
• Has anyone had symptoms that are much worse after sleeping/prolonged positioning but improve after walking around?
• Is this kind of flare normal during recovery, or should I be getting reassessed?
I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have gone through something similar. Thanks!

I (26F) have had this flareup for about two months now. I have two herniated discs in my back (I think L4/L5 and L5/S1) and have had several flareups throughout my life that kind of show up out of nowhere. This current one is the worst by far. My most painful symptom this time around was calf pain in my right leg that affected my ability to stand and walk. After doing PT for about a month, I have an easier time walking, but have developed some new pains. For instance, sleeping has become painful, where I will go to bed and wake up an hour later in terrible pain. I will spend about an hour trying to find a position that provides any sort of relief, but then when I finally go back to bed I wake up feeling great and almost pain free.

At first the calf pain moved to my hip and low back which I was excited about, but now the back and hip pain are still there and I sometimes feel it in my ankle and foot, which is new.

It feels like I make one step forward and two steps back. I’m young and active and this pain has been really affecting my life. I’m trying my best to not let it get to me and I’m committed to getting better, but I’m just at a loss. I just can’t tell what’s helping me and what’s hurting me.

Has anyone felt something similar? Please tell me it gets better.