It’s been 3 months since my surgery, and I’m still afraid to move
On March 29, I started feeling pain in my right buttock, thinking it was just a muscle spasm, but it got so bad that I couldn’t walk or sleep because of the pain. It turned out to be a herniated disc at the L4-L5 level, which required surgery on April 10.
The surgery was a success; to date, I haven’t had any similar symptoms, and the sciatica pain has completely disappeared. However, the recovery has ended up being more exhausting than the sciatic pain itself. A month of complete rest, physical therapy, and only walking as exercise. Five weeks after the surgery, the doctor examined me, had me move around, and declared that I was ready to resume a normal life, recommending swimming as a sport and lifting light weights at the gym (hell no!), but warning me that "post-operatory synthoms could last until 3 months, in average".
And now, twelve weeks later, I’ve started swimming again, but my back—specifically the left side of my hip—is still stiff, to the point where I feel pain and sharp twinges when I stand up, which have persisted since my surgery so i have to get up like in week 1. Although these discomforts only occur on the left side where I had the surgery, they’ve made me paranoid that the hernia will return or that I’ll develop another injury just as terrible.
Is this a cause for concern? Could it be due to muscle healing now that I’ve resumed physical activity? I wish I had some experience with this, because I’m really scared.