u/toobold4burner

Unfortunately I read a lot of you saying that you’re unable to walk for longer than 15-30 minutes at a time. That must be so challenging. But for me, it’s the opposite.

I can walk all day. Actually, the more I walk, the better I feel. Every morning is a struggle to walk upright for 20-60 minutes but once I’m up and running, I have no limit on how far I can walk. In the gym I limit myself in order to be safe, but physically I don’t feel a limit.

When I sit down, I feel more discomfort than pain. Standing up too quickly might hurt but it’s minor as far as back issues go.

But lying down? If I lie down for longer than 15-30 minutes, my front hips and lower back get so tight that I turn into a hunchback. Every time.

I try side sleeping with pillows, sleeping on my back, everything. Every morning is around the same. Sometimes I’ll get lucky and stand more upright than others but I couldn’t tell you why.

My PT says it seems to be a disc issue but she says my PSOAS muscles are why my stomach looks so sucked in when I wake up and I’ll need to address my hips in order to recover. The issue is, stretching and strengthening my hips (seems to) causes more pain at night.

The swelling and pain does seem to be getting better but veryyyyy slowly. I don’t know if it’s counterproductive but my best days seem to be when I get the least amount of sleep. The less I rest, the less my nerve feels irritated. Am I looking at this correctly?

Are some of us meant to completely walk and swim our symptoms off? Tie ourselves to a treadmill. Stretching only seems to hurt me and the little sleep I get makes morning life unbearable. Anyone else getting better from going Insomnia mode? Or is this a horrible idea?

5am here losing it a bit, appreciate you reading

So short history is, 8 years ago I had 2 herniated discs that took about 1.5-2 years to heal. In 2024 and 2025, I’d say that I was 95% better. The only time I’d remember I had back issues is if I tried to touch my toes without stretching first.

Since January 2026, I’ve been dealing with stiffness in the morning and some pain when I sit. Unfortunately, I ignored it because I could still live my normal life. I was living a very sedentary lifestyle and eating poorly for my standards. Went months without stretching. Then when I started to exercise again, I pretty much did the entire rule book on what NOT to do when you have a bad back.

Since the beginning of March, the stiffness in the morning has become debilitating. It takes me 1-2 hours to stand up straight some mornings, and if I want to stand up quickly, I have to be willing to push through immense pain (which I don’t know if that’s good for me).

Once I’m able to stand up for the day, I’m almost completely fine. An uncomfortable chair will bother me but I have zero pain walking, running, or exercising. I even made the dumb mistake of playing basketball 2x within the last month and I’ve lost zero burst or jumping ability.

So, my question is, how do you get rid of your back being as hard as a rock in the morning causing intense sciatic pain in your glute/hip?

Heat works a bit but not a game changer. Is there a specific stretch or exercise I should be working on? Anyone else experiencing this or has in the past? It’s been two months now and I’m starting to lose a bit of heart