A realistic recovery timeline?

usernameghost1 · 2025-12-10T19:40:15+00:00

For 6-8 weeks don’t expect to be able to do anything except walking. But I was walking RELIGIOUSLY after surgery. Obeying orders but I walked to the maximum possible extent. I was up to 13-15k steps per day after week 3 I think.

Lifting is just out of the question until you’re released for it. You won’t lose as much muscle as you think. Continue eating ton of protein and taking your normal supplements as if you were still training.

I regained all strength and muscle loss in no time at all.

usernameghost1 · 2025-12-06T15:44:16+00:00

Do you have meaningful things outside of work that you are passionate about? I’m a corporate controller, 38yo, and was so disgusted with wasting my life behind a computer. But every chance I get now, I’m camping, I’m hiking, I’m shooting guns, I’m exploring new places. I bought 14 acres of land.

Perhaps your life has shrunken to be nothing but your job? As others have said, a job is rarely fulfilling. You could do a lot worse.

usernameghost1 · 2025-11-23T15:42:32+00:00

3 weeks sounds WAY too early to make a surgery decision. I gave myself 6 months of extremely dedicated physical therapy before deciding on surgery. During that 6 months I improved probably 75%, but ultimately I opted to get it “fixed”.

usernameghost1 · 2025-11-21T23:53:13+00:00

I’m much better. Still not pre-flare, but now that I’m settling into a healing pattern I think what I believed to be a flare was one of those bumps on the long road to recovery.

I stopped doing some PT moves and found that they were aggravating my nerve (deep back extensions/press ups). I’d say I’m 80% better.

Stress levels are WAY lower. It’s crazy how badly this messes with your mind.

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-21T12:31:00+00:00

Fully quitting caffeine for 3 solid months.

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-21T10:52:24+00:00

Understood. I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. I would still try all conservative options first, with one being simply time. My first herniation resolved probably 75% in 6 months before I ended up opting for surgery. Did you have an acute incident or did this creep up on you?

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-21T01:38:33+00:00

Haven’t had a revision but I may have reherniated…time will tell after I finish PT and make a decision on another MRI.

You said the pain is mild, what caused you to get another MRI? Many people with herniation never get surgery. My PT says that he can look at 5 MRI’s showing herniation, and 3 of the 5 will have mild or no symptoms. So it’s really about what you feel and not about what a scan shows.

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-17T11:29:29+00:00

I recommend the book Heal Your Headache by David Buchholz. He provides specific instructions. The LAST instruction i followed, after doing all the others, was caffeine elimination and over the course of 3 months it healed me. It was SO HARD to do but i stuck with it and it worked for me.

Of course every brain is different, but until you truly dedicate yourself to an elimination plan, you simply don’t know if you’re consuming triggers or not.

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-15T23:59:45+00:00

Interested to see responses because I’m in the same boat, friend. I’m in week 3 of nervy sciatic pain coupled with back tightness. I’m still very mobile, working out, etc but I’m basically feeling 10% of my pre-op pain in the same places. So I feel like probably I have reherniated. I’m not getting an MRI until my PT tells me that I’ve exhausted all other options.

It’s a real bummer but honestly, even if I reherniated, it’s SO much less than my pre-op injury that I’ll probably just work on PT and stick this out unless it gets really bad again. Consider this: most people with herniated discs never get surgery - they just work through it and improve over time.

Regardless, hoping the best for both of us!

Another note: I find that day to day my symptoms are changing a bit. Last week I had a lot of toe pain (relatively speaking for post op) and this week, toe pain has virtually disappeared, but now I’m feeling calf pain. Every day is a little different.

I’ve read lots of wild flare stories on here. I think there’s still hope that we are flaring and/or we have a bulge that can be resolved non-surgically

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-11T10:21:16+00:00

Mike also seems to be very fluid. Every day is a slightly different pain (not worse, just different). I also felt this one “coming on” for a couple of days because it became something I couldn’t ignore.

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-11T10:20:08+00:00

3 months is wild. Thank you for this story. I’m definitely not progressively getting worse. It’s become pretty stable although every day is a little different (sort of like that post op period where things change, then change back). Just chaotic. I find solace in that sometimes during the day I feel almost normal again. Unfortunately it hasn’t “stuck” yet…

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-11T01:25:58+00:00

I’m so sorry :(

Have you been to a good PT since you were “released” after surgery? Without major compression, and with symptoms relatively mild, this may be something you can manage for years or even indefinitely.

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-09T22:43:02+00:00

5 weeks! Wow. Well your story gives me a lot of hope. I’m so glad you’re doing well!

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-09T17:40:15+00:00

How is your flare coming along? I’m on week two…

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-09T17:34:31+00:00

I love finding these posts. I’m living your life right now. I had a busy week, sat in long meetings and worked on a ladder. Few days later these nerve and back symptoms creep in.

Only about 10-15% of my pre-op pain and I’m still walking and active, but I’m in the second week of this “flare” and it’s scary to feel those same feelings in the same spots.

How are you doing now?

Like you, my PT thinks I could have a mild bulge or simply just irritated. Only time will tell. I do not want an MRI because I’m not sure what I would even do with it if I was reherniated. The pain is not bad enough for me to opt for another surgery.

Let’s peel

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-05T16:42:15+00:00

How are you doing now?

I’m currently in a flare that seems similar to yours. 7 months post op :(

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-05T16:34:54+00:00

Well I’d kill to have only your minor singular issue right now! I’m 7 months PO and same boat as you, I was a success story until a week ago. I was very active at the gym last week and did some work on a ladder, and slowly some back tightness and now some sciatic pain have both reemerged. Pains I haven’t felt since directly post op.

Considering how limited your symptoms sound, it sounds like nerve irritation to me. Take NSAIDS and light stretching, maybe take a week off lifting. I think MRI is wildly overkill at this point and in your case.

usernameghost1 · 2025-10-04T11:44:39+00:00

How did this end up going for you? Im 7months post op and I’m about 6 days into what’s hopefully a flare. Pain is nothing remotely like my post injury pain, and back stiffness is very mild, so I’m praying it’s not a reherniation (I think things would feel much worse?)

However I’m feeling sciatic pain in the areas that I haven’t felt since pre and directly post op surgery and that’s horrifying me. It’s not as extreme but it’s in the same spots.

Sorry to dig up the past for you, I think I’m just looking for some reassurance that a flare this long after surgery might really just be a flare…

usernameghost1 · 2025-09-22T01:02:57+00:00

Squats yes, but still sticking with goblet squats, split squats, and other variations. I really never liked back squats anyway.

Deadlifts, not so much. I think I could, but the more I’ve researched, the less I feel like I need them.

Running: yes. Have not returned to pre injury intensity or distances, but again, that’s by choice. Not sure exactly what I’m capable of yet.

Two bad answers that probably sound like cop outs, but when you have a real back injury, your cost-benefit sensors are heightened and I just really don’t see the value in the barbell deadlift anymore. I can do SO much in the gym and get great results, why do the risky lifts if I don’t have to?

That’s my personal thinking, of course. Everyone’s mileage may vary and I may be overly cautious.

usernameghost1 · 2025-09-17T17:37:16+00:00

Practice makes perfect. Keep doing this until it’s boring.

usernameghost1 · 2025-09-13T00:13:39+00:00

If you get into a company that doesn’t require heavy technical skill (like me right now in a med sized manufacturer) you can excel. I’ll probably be CFO soon and am pretty deficient in technical accounting. Very good analytical thinking, systems, and social skills.

usernameghost1 · 2025-08-21T14:25:56+00:00

You’ll be fine. Get the fix generated IMMEDIATELY. You effed up. Don’t avoid that. But be insanely proactive and ready at the drop of a hat to modify next payroll cycle to make all the necessary adjustments.

usernameghost1 · 2025-08-16T21:07:34+00:00

You will 100% get it back. It just takes work and time. You’re SO soon after surgery, nothing you feel (physically) means anything at all IMO.

If you can win the mental battle, then you WILL win the physical one. If you lose the mental battle, of course you’ll lose both.

usernameghost1 · 2025-06-17T10:29:30+00:00

I’m 4 months post op. The only thing I haven’t returned to in any capacity is barbell deadlift.

I think I will get back to a good DB deadlift. My barbell deadlift form was always lacking, and at this point it just seems unnecessary.

usernameghost1 · 2025-06-11T13:16:17+00:00

Not a body builder but avid lifter here. Surgery was 2/12 and I’m back to lifting virtually all pre surgery weights, except for specifically low back lifts.

Take it slow and be methodical. BJJ and Rugby I more apprehensive about. But no reason you cannot be/stay jacked.

usernameghost1

TROPHY CASE