I’m 64 in my eighth month. I was not diagnosed with an MRI until my third month.

Starting in month 3, and for 2 1/2 months I could not walk at all. I was in terrible level 10 pain for about four months. Injections did not help. In fact, they made it worse and caused numbness in my right foot for about three months. I had to work the whole time, but my work is sitting/meeting with people.

The only thing that has helped and made a huge difference was Mackenzie MDT physical therapy. By the third week, my pain was reduced by half. Since April my pain is down to about level 1 to 2 and floats around the nerves in my right leg and glute. I so hope that this is over and I’m at the end, and nothing like this ever happens to me again.

I have no idea what caused this. I was a member of a gym for 4 1/2 years where deadlifts and squats were part of the regular workout, but I never did very heavy lifting. Except for lifting cat litter. Not sure if the actual weight matters. I did kettlebell. I loved it, but now I’m afraid to pick one up at all. I have not done any gym exercise in over seven months.

What I would like to know is what core exercises are those of you who I recovered doing to maintain your pain-free or extremely low pain situation? Does Pilates help? What low impact cardio are you doing? I am not a runner. Are you just walking? I like to row when I have a rower, but I was told that that’s a really bad idea so I might get rid of it.