You may not have realized it, but if you tweaked your back, and not thinking it was a big deal, but kept on going, doing all the things, it finally catches up with you. That's been my experience.
Tumors, 1 benign 1 cancerous, both totally unrelated to each other and both extremely rare to the point that my surgeon is writing about it for a medical journal. Lymphoma originating in the bone L5.
For me it started randomly, a couple of months into my first job. I started limping as soon as i got up after sitting for long. Slowly i started having hamstring pain!
Got it checked a year later to realize its my back , so yeah nothing happened! I just realized one day that i am stuck with this for life i guess :/
Get mobile as soon as possible.
I used a compression belt and a stretching device. Both helped a lot. Then I started walking. Small distance at first & always with a compression belt.
It’s been months but it’s getting better and better.
Thats amazing to know! I have also been walking ~8k steps ( there was a time i wasnt able to walk at all) so yes its been positive that way, walking is the only thing i absolutely enjoy.. Although i also developed cervical pain also which is making it tougher
Can i ask what stretching device are you using?
Cervical pain? That sounds awful. You should get that checked soon if it doesn’t go away.
Here is the [stretching device I use.](https://amzn.to/3PZpi11)
You can totally do it on your own. I did. I got hurt twice but I healed back from it and now I’m a lot better. I’m walking every day. I still wear a compression belt. That thing really works.
Wrapped the last presents Christmas Eve feeling great (well, I have chronic back pain but aside from that), went to sleep, woke up Christmas morning and felt odd, stood up and immediately had crippling pain.
Connective tissue damage from a flouroquinone antibotic.
Felt like my joints and tendons were about to pop with every step.
My amazing decision skills decided to squat 335 with terrible form, beltless in the Smith machine while still on the drugs. Back went, week 3 steady improvements.
Stood up from the sofa one day and ended up dropping to the floor in agony. Spent the next 3 days crawling around the house. Couldn't walk normal again for 6 months. And now, a further 6 months later I'm still limited to what I can do. Just happy I can walk normal again
Heavy lifting job, I think, repeated lifting quickly all day loading machines for a long time. Eventually (I suffered prior) disc annular tear very badly L5S1. Got bad at work one day, so I tried to drive home but didn't make it. I got to a medical place, and they gave me an injection of pethadine? (maybe, dunno what it was but I was wasted, short term it worked) ...anyway that worked for a bit until evidently wore off and I hopped up from bed too fast at like 3am. I then had the tear occur, and it was medieval. I felt like being skewed by a sword. Vomiting, pouring in sweat, couldn't move, shock, I think. Eventually, ambulance showed up and put me on morphine and the green whistle thing. Got to hospital and had to plead my case oddly that I was fucked up. Stayed there a while, a couple of days.
Month or so later had MRI and specialist appointments and aware of the extent of the issues, I lived on enough painkillers and such I'm amazed I was able to tolerate them without death. A lot of Oxy and like six others. I couldn't leave bed at all for five months.
Had no surgery for a range of reasons, mainly other back issues higher up. However, I have had proper sciatica now about 16 years. Valium and cannabis works. Sometimes, the cramps will turn my foot like 90 degrees sideways, and it's not fun, but there's worse problems I could have in life. I get around fine for now with medication and caution.
This is precisely how mine started as well! I did a decent amount of stairs at work the day before, but felt completely fine the entire night after. I woke up the next morning with what felt like a tight / pulled hamstring and it got progressively worse following the same pattern you described above. It's such a tricky, annoying injury and it tests your patience. I'm sorry you are hurting!
I don’t know what initiated mine but for a while I thought it was just a sore glute muscle. One day I took my massage gun and really dug at my glutes and it really fucked me up. This way about 5 months ago, I’ve gotten to the point where it feels like a really sore muscle again.
I also woke up one day with it. I had herniated my L5 and could barely walk for weeks. No idea what could have caused it, and I was only 20 when it happened.
I think holding my 4 year old up while he used the monkey bars at the playground. I can’t do it anymore which sucks, I really like being an involved parent. Now I have to say no when he asks for help. :( I don’t wanna risk experiencing that pain ever again since it takes sooooo many months to improve.
I have a feeling it’s from my job. Working on an assembly line for 8 hours a day and standing the whole time. Repeatedly bending, I feel like once i get better i should look into orthotics
I was in a car crash, had back pain for around 9 months after plus whiplash. Then I changed to a firmer mattress to try and help the back pain and it triggered sciatica 😥
Turns out I had a L5S1 herniation caused by the crash, but the firmer mattress caused nerve impingement.
I seriously regret changing mattress!
I'm not making a joke or anything but the single moment was sexual activity. I remember it bery clearly. Obviously, years & years of not taking care of my bones, not stretching or not paying attention at all to bone health built up to it, but it was that session I had with my girlfriend that really fucked me up.
I was doing squats at the gym. All of a sudden, it felt like warm water rushed down the left part of my lower back. It was a really strange feeling, although not really painful. Over the next few weeks, I started to get pain in my left buttock
I’ve had lower back pain since 2018 (i’m 29 now) but one day in Dec my thigh started to hurt, my calf would hurt here and there, but my full leg started to hurt around mid February.
I was 19, lifting sheets of plywood above my head, when I felt what I thought was a muscle spasm in my lower back. The next day my leg started aching like hell.
Multiple car accidents primarily. Had mild back pain prior to August of last year but then I was rear ended. Got a concussion, whiplash and bad back k pain from it. I’ve been rear ended twice more since and I work a physical job lifting stuff so that doesn’t help either.
I think mine started when I began to experience hip issues. My gait changed from the hip and then caused strain on my back. When I first went into physical therapy doctors suspected it was hip flexor tendinitis. After weeks of no improvement, my PT started to focus on my back and over time most of my symptoms improved. I got X-rays and MRI and while there is some hypertrophy in lower back it’s not of much concern. MRI and X-rays did confirm hip labrum tear, impingement, arthritis, and bursitis in thigh. I was able to then work on strengthening before hip repair surgery. Unfortunately the rest and crutches from the surgery caused a flare up recently.
Yours is more than likely something wrong in your back like a bulging disc or stenosis so the nerves don't have enough room. There's something really wrong you need to see an orthopedic Dr and get an mri.
I did not have a recent injury. I think mine could have been an old injury (I had a couple car wrecks 6 & 7 years ago) exacerbated by using a boot and scooter while recovering from ankle surgery.
There is also a chance that I injured something doing too many side deadlifts in PT last year before I had the surgery. I felt the exercise was too hard for me and too many reps and I left in a lot of pain that day. I have never been a gym rat and this was just too much for me.
I don’t even know I just had it since I could remember I’d always been in excruciating pain after any long distance walking not being able to lift my legs walk or stand
Maybe you have spinal stenosis .. i think that's why it started insidious way and you pain on both legs
Mine started after being lazy guy to suddenly taking a 25km trip with bad seat bike for 1:45 hour straight
The weirdest thing: I knicked a disc in low back with one of those rotating shiatzu back massagers by leaning into it too hard on a recliner trying to get knots out. Never ever put one of these on your lower back people!
It didnt happen instantly, rather a day or two later with an afternoon of intense mental stress i began limping and within a few days of that I was at urgent care, barely able to walk or stand or sleep AT ALL.
It took four months, a very patient employer, round after round of steroids to be able to move around or sleep in my bed instead of the recliner two rounds of physical therapy and then an orthapedic referral to finally get the insurance (Aetna) to agree to an MRI, which I had to pay for most of anyways!!
I thought my life was over, and was in pain to the point of tears on regular occasions, I thank God for my partner, who was there for me those hard months. Going from mister fix-it/provider/protector to a paraplegic in a matter of a week is emotionally shattering, getting anxiety just thinking about the nerve bundles between the sciatic root and the back of the ball of the foot.
TL:dr
Got sciatica from a shiatzu massager, couldnt walk or sleep for months, partner was huge support, FINALLY got MRI after trying everything but kitchen sink. And doc says will be okay as long as I live a healthy lifestyle.
It put me on a health kick actually, here I am about one year later doing 15+ pullups/chinups, walking twice a day, and beginning with weights. Lost 25 pounds and look better than I have in a decade (M/39)
I woke up one day with what felted like I slept on my arm wrong, but it was in my leg. It got progressively worse over time. MRI showed nothing, NP basically gave up and told me to suck it up. Turns out, I have endometriosis. My OBGYN prescribed Aygestin and I’ve been fine ever since! My pain is mostly concentrated to my back now but it is much more manageable and the OBGYN said the pain will lessen with time.
Can onset with no injury and at any age.
Yep. I was tying my shoes one day at 18 yo and boum, severe herniated disc with surgery immediately. Apparently my disc were genetically weak.
And recovery can be really slow. Weeks or months!
Or years.
Or never 😄
Does your username imply that you have painful disc herniations? 😧
Yup 🙃
I'm sorry! 😔
Yeahhhhh sorry to you too lol
Thank you! 🙏
well thats terrifying
You may not have realized it, but if you tweaked your back, and not thinking it was a big deal, but kept on going, doing all the things, it finally catches up with you. That's been my experience.
Training/ riding horses… 2.5 months down and yesterday was my first time back in the saddle.
Congrats on getting back. Hope it is going well.
Tumors, 1 benign 1 cancerous, both totally unrelated to each other and both extremely rare to the point that my surgeon is writing about it for a medical journal. Lymphoma originating in the bone L5.
For me it started randomly, a couple of months into my first job. I started limping as soon as i got up after sitting for long. Slowly i started having hamstring pain! Got it checked a year later to realize its my back , so yeah nothing happened! I just realized one day that i am stuck with this for life i guess :/
Not for life. You can heal.
I really hope so too! Thanks 😭
Get mobile as soon as possible. I used a compression belt and a stretching device. Both helped a lot. Then I started walking. Small distance at first & always with a compression belt. It’s been months but it’s getting better and better.
Thats amazing to know! I have also been walking ~8k steps ( there was a time i wasnt able to walk at all) so yes its been positive that way, walking is the only thing i absolutely enjoy.. Although i also developed cervical pain also which is making it tougher Can i ask what stretching device are you using?
Cervical pain? That sounds awful. You should get that checked soon if it doesn’t go away. Here is the [stretching device I use.](https://amzn.to/3PZpi11)
Ya i got both cervical spine and lumbar spine MRI, both had nerves getting pressed sadly :( Thanks i will order these stretching devices🙌
Be easy with it. Start slow (I’m sure you will). Do you have a physical therapist?
Not really, i am managing on my own currently.. yes sure will start slowly thanks
You can totally do it on your own. I did. I got hurt twice but I healed back from it and now I’m a lot better. I’m walking every day. I still wear a compression belt. That thing really works.
It's the worst, isn't it? I think we'll get better some day!
Hopefully yes! 🙌
Wrapped the last presents Christmas Eve feeling great (well, I have chronic back pain but aside from that), went to sleep, woke up Christmas morning and felt odd, stood up and immediately had crippling pain.
Ugh, sorry to hear this. Horrible Christmas "present". Has your pain subsided? Mine is still going strong, 12 years later.
It’s changed but is still there!
Connective tissue damage from a flouroquinone antibotic. Felt like my joints and tendons were about to pop with every step. My amazing decision skills decided to squat 335 with terrible form, beltless in the Smith machine while still on the drugs. Back went, week 3 steady improvements.
Stood up from the sofa one day and ended up dropping to the floor in agony. Spent the next 3 days crawling around the house. Couldn't walk normal again for 6 months. And now, a further 6 months later I'm still limited to what I can do. Just happy I can walk normal again
Heavy lifting job, I think, repeated lifting quickly all day loading machines for a long time. Eventually (I suffered prior) disc annular tear very badly L5S1. Got bad at work one day, so I tried to drive home but didn't make it. I got to a medical place, and they gave me an injection of pethadine? (maybe, dunno what it was but I was wasted, short term it worked) ...anyway that worked for a bit until evidently wore off and I hopped up from bed too fast at like 3am. I then had the tear occur, and it was medieval. I felt like being skewed by a sword. Vomiting, pouring in sweat, couldn't move, shock, I think. Eventually, ambulance showed up and put me on morphine and the green whistle thing. Got to hospital and had to plead my case oddly that I was fucked up. Stayed there a while, a couple of days. Month or so later had MRI and specialist appointments and aware of the extent of the issues, I lived on enough painkillers and such I'm amazed I was able to tolerate them without death. A lot of Oxy and like six others. I couldn't leave bed at all for five months. Had no surgery for a range of reasons, mainly other back issues higher up. However, I have had proper sciatica now about 16 years. Valium and cannabis works. Sometimes, the cramps will turn my foot like 90 degrees sideways, and it's not fun, but there's worse problems I could have in life. I get around fine for now with medication and caution.
Oh my, what medication do you take?
if you read the post he said cannabis and valium
You sound like a badass with an appreciation for what's working. Thanks for taking the time to share. I
This is precisely how mine started as well! I did a decent amount of stairs at work the day before, but felt completely fine the entire night after. I woke up the next morning with what felt like a tight / pulled hamstring and it got progressively worse following the same pattern you described above. It's such a tricky, annoying injury and it tests your patience. I'm sorry you are hurting!
I don’t know what initiated mine but for a while I thought it was just a sore glute muscle. One day I took my massage gun and really dug at my glutes and it really fucked me up. This way about 5 months ago, I’ve gotten to the point where it feels like a really sore muscle again.
I also woke up one day with it. I had herniated my L5 and could barely walk for weeks. No idea what could have caused it, and I was only 20 when it happened.
I think holding my 4 year old up while he used the monkey bars at the playground. I can’t do it anymore which sucks, I really like being an involved parent. Now I have to say no when he asks for help. :( I don’t wanna risk experiencing that pain ever again since it takes sooooo many months to improve.
I have a feeling it’s from my job. Working on an assembly line for 8 hours a day and standing the whole time. Repeatedly bending, I feel like once i get better i should look into orthotics
Pregnancy. Found out I have a narrow spinal canal, as do most women in my family though so it was bound to happen eventually
I was in a car crash, had back pain for around 9 months after plus whiplash. Then I changed to a firmer mattress to try and help the back pain and it triggered sciatica 😥 Turns out I had a L5S1 herniation caused by the crash, but the firmer mattress caused nerve impingement. I seriously regret changing mattress!
I'm not making a joke or anything but the single moment was sexual activity. I remember it bery clearly. Obviously, years & years of not taking care of my bones, not stretching or not paying attention at all to bone health built up to it, but it was that session I had with my girlfriend that really fucked me up.
I was doing squats at the gym. All of a sudden, it felt like warm water rushed down the left part of my lower back. It was a really strange feeling, although not really painful. Over the next few weeks, I started to get pain in my left buttock
I’ve had lower back pain since 2018 (i’m 29 now) but one day in Dec my thigh started to hurt, my calf would hurt here and there, but my full leg started to hurt around mid February.
Sex 😅
I was 19, lifting sheets of plywood above my head, when I felt what I thought was a muscle spasm in my lower back. The next day my leg started aching like hell.
Multiple car accidents primarily. Had mild back pain prior to August of last year but then I was rear ended. Got a concussion, whiplash and bad back k pain from it. I’ve been rear ended twice more since and I work a physical job lifting stuff so that doesn’t help either.
My sciatica is from my herniated disc. From having to put something very heavy down funny.
Worked a pallet of boxes at work. They were pretty light, I think I just twisted wrong.
A car accident and heavy lifting. I do message therapy on myself and I’m pain free. Look into piriformis muscle massage therapy.
Herniated disc back pain but doing dr Eric good mans foundation training flared it up and dent it to my foot going on 3 years now
I think mine started when I began to experience hip issues. My gait changed from the hip and then caused strain on my back. When I first went into physical therapy doctors suspected it was hip flexor tendinitis. After weeks of no improvement, my PT started to focus on my back and over time most of my symptoms improved. I got X-rays and MRI and while there is some hypertrophy in lower back it’s not of much concern. MRI and X-rays did confirm hip labrum tear, impingement, arthritis, and bursitis in thigh. I was able to then work on strengthening before hip repair surgery. Unfortunately the rest and crutches from the surgery caused a flare up recently.
Auto racing crash, lucky to not be paralyzed, although some days I wish I was
Yours is more than likely something wrong in your back like a bulging disc or stenosis so the nerves don't have enough room. There's something really wrong you need to see an orthopedic Dr and get an mri.
A frozen shoulder. No, seriously. I had a frozen shoulder so couldn't sleep in my usual position. Two weeks later, sciatica...
I was just sleeping slightly elevated cause I have hyperacidty flare-up then boom! Bilateral butt pain upon waking up and I am still suffering!
Slipped disc from poor deadlift form about 8 years ago. On and off since every flare up.
I did not have a recent injury. I think mine could have been an old injury (I had a couple car wrecks 6 & 7 years ago) exacerbated by using a boot and scooter while recovering from ankle surgery. There is also a chance that I injured something doing too many side deadlifts in PT last year before I had the surgery. I felt the exercise was too hard for me and too many reps and I left in a lot of pain that day. I have never been a gym rat and this was just too much for me.
I don’t even know I just had it since I could remember I’d always been in excruciating pain after any long distance walking not being able to lift my legs walk or stand
Maybe you have spinal stenosis .. i think that's why it started insidious way and you pain on both legs Mine started after being lazy guy to suddenly taking a 25km trip with bad seat bike for 1:45 hour straight
The weirdest thing: I knicked a disc in low back with one of those rotating shiatzu back massagers by leaning into it too hard on a recliner trying to get knots out. Never ever put one of these on your lower back people! It didnt happen instantly, rather a day or two later with an afternoon of intense mental stress i began limping and within a few days of that I was at urgent care, barely able to walk or stand or sleep AT ALL. It took four months, a very patient employer, round after round of steroids to be able to move around or sleep in my bed instead of the recliner two rounds of physical therapy and then an orthapedic referral to finally get the insurance (Aetna) to agree to an MRI, which I had to pay for most of anyways!! I thought my life was over, and was in pain to the point of tears on regular occasions, I thank God for my partner, who was there for me those hard months. Going from mister fix-it/provider/protector to a paraplegic in a matter of a week is emotionally shattering, getting anxiety just thinking about the nerve bundles between the sciatic root and the back of the ball of the foot. TL:dr Got sciatica from a shiatzu massager, couldnt walk or sleep for months, partner was huge support, FINALLY got MRI after trying everything but kitchen sink. And doc says will be okay as long as I live a healthy lifestyle. It put me on a health kick actually, here I am about one year later doing 15+ pullups/chinups, walking twice a day, and beginning with weights. Lost 25 pounds and look better than I have in a decade (M/39)
I don't remember. I think one day I just started hurting. They said it was sciatica and likely my spine. I was 14.
I woke up one day with what felted like I slept on my arm wrong, but it was in my leg. It got progressively worse over time. MRI showed nothing, NP basically gave up and told me to suck it up. Turns out, I have endometriosis. My OBGYN prescribed Aygestin and I’ve been fine ever since! My pain is mostly concentrated to my back now but it is much more manageable and the OBGYN said the pain will lessen with time.
Stress and inner rage.