Hi!

Looking for honest opinions about how you feel about PT for bulging disks and/or low back pain.

I'm a female, 34yo, I have a bulging disc between L4/L5. I injured my back 2 years ago in the gym. The first year I did 5 months of PT, no luck and no improvement (sometimes it was even more painful that in the beginning). I started swimming: problem solved.

I have esutachian tube disfunction, so I need ear tubes from time to time, especially for traveling (plane). Can't have a hole in my ear for swimming: need to find another way to exercise: go back to PT. Yesterday I had the worst flare up in a year.

So far for me PT is sinonimus of pain. I tried different approaches and providers until I was very tired and tried swimming. I walked 10k or more daily, and I was doing great but wanted to exercise, that's why I went to a PT to ask for help, but I won't be back.

I have the feeling PTs don't have a clue about how to treat low back pain and I suspect PT sometimes injuries the back more, or maybe I haven't found the one PT for me yet (live in Seattle).

Have any of you feel the same? Does PT fail for low back pain?

Thank you!

Luna.

As the title suggests, I'm 36 and I just got to know about my condition after an MRI scan. Ortho doctor suggested physiotherapy and operation. I went for second opinion with a neuro surgeon and he suggested that there was no need for operation but have to take rest for 2 weeks and I'm not supposed use 2 wheelers and should travel long.

I know its not the end of road but I just can't come to terms with it. I worked my ass off until now so that I could ride and travel. Anybody here who suffered from the same condition and recovered? Not completely but enough to resume activities like riding and traveling? If so please do share.

Thanks.

hey everyone,

i'm 27f and my neurology appointment isn't until july 27, so i'm hoping someone here has been through something similar.

about 2 weeks ago i suddenly started limping. my right foot feels heavy after walking for a few minutes, my ankle feels unstable, and sometimes my toes scrape the ground. my right big toe is weaker than the left, but the numbness i had on top of it has mostly gone away.

i don't really have pain. it's mostly weakness, heaviness, and my walking just feels... off. i also get a lot of tension in my right hamstring and butt when i stretch that leg.

my doctor already referred me to neurology. i also found out i'm severely vitamin d deficient (10.9), but i don't know if that's related.

has anyone had similar symptoms that ended up being a disc bulge, l5 nerve, peroneal nerve, piriformis, or something else? did it improve while you were waiting for answers?

it's getting to the point where i don't even want to go out because i can't walk normally anymore.

2 months ago I made a post here because I was terrified and hopeless.

Background post: https://www.reddit.com/r/backpain/s/TIWEFN7sx3

I had an L4-L5 bulge and an L5-S1 herniation with left-sided sciatica. I was convinced my life as I knew it was over. I roller skate multiple times a week and played pickleball, and I genuinely thought those parts of my life might be gone forever.

Today I graduated from physical therapy. My PT reassessed me today, and my disability score went from 42% when I started to 12% today.

I honestly never thought I'd be typing those words. I'm not writing this because I think everyone will recover the same way. Every injury is different. But when I was at my worst, I desperately searched this sub for recovery stories. I hope this helps someone who's in that place right now.

Where I am today

I'd say I'm about 90% recovered. I'm back to living my life.

Over the last several weeks I've been:

• Roller skating for 2–3 hour sessions
• Playing pickleball for several hours
• Riding my bike
• Strength training
• Working full time
• Sleeping normally
• Not constantly thinking about my back

The only things I really notice now are:

• fatigue after a very active day
• some morning stiffness that goes away once I get moving

The nerve pain that dominated my life is gone. The fear of my body is mostly gone too. This imo is the biggest victory.

What helped me the most

If I had to rank what made the biggest difference for me, it would be:

1. Physical therapy/recovery/rest
2. Walking every day (even when it was to the end of the block)
3. Refusing to adopt a "my back is ruined" mindset
4. Pain Reprocessing Therapy
5. The WHEALTH YouTube podcasts
6. Learning how to relax my entire body instead of guarding all the time
7. Red light / near-infrared therapy (I used it as part of my recovery routine)
8. Time and consistency
9. Gradually returning to activity instead of waiting until I felt "100%"

One exercise that surprisingly helped calm my nervous system was simply lying on my back with my knees bent, breathing slowly, and intentionally relaxing every muscle in my body for about three minutes.

The biggest lesson I learned

Not every sensation means you're getting worse. This took me months to understand. Eventually I learned the difference between:

• nerve pain
• muscular fatigue
• stiffness
• soreness from getting stronger

That completely changed my recovery. Sometimes my glute would ache after PT, my calf would feel tired/sore, my muscles twitched. Early on I thought every one of those sensations meant I had reherniated but I didn't.

My biggest mistakes

I'll be honest because I think this matters. Drinking alcohol consistently slowed my recovery. Every time I slept poorly or drank more than I should have, I noticed it. I also expected recovery to be linear and it wasn't. I'd have a great week, then a couple rough days, then another breakthrough. Looking back, that was normal.

Something I didn't expect

As I got better, my injury actually exposed movement problems I'd probably had for years.

Instead of just "healing my back," PT helped me discover things like:

• left/right strength differences
• pelvic stability issues
• glute weakness
• knee compensation
• posture habits

Now that's what I'm working on and I thankfully don't feel broken anymore. I feel like I'm becoming a stronger athlete than I was before.

About surgery (I was against this route 100%)

Early on I met with a neurosurgeon because I wanted to understand all of my options. That consultation actually gave me peace of mind. Since I wasn't developing progressive weakness or other surgical red flags, I decided to give conservative treatment my full effort first. I'm grateful I did and I know that won't be the right path for everyone, but it ended up being the right path for me.

If you're reading this in the middle of the worst part...

I know how scary it feels and I remember wondering if I'd ever skate again, if I'd ever bend to put my shoes on, play with my bunnies again or if I'd ever stop analyzing every sensation in my leg and glute.

Today my biggest challenge isn't surviving my injury. It's figuring out how to build strength and fix movement patterns that probably existed long before I got hurt. That's a problem I never imagined I'd be lucky enough to have.

If you're in the early stages, keep showing up. Recovery isn't always fast and it definitely isn't linear. But sometimes you look back after a few months and realize you've gone from wondering if life will ever be normal again...to being discharged from PT and planning your next workout.

If my story helps even one person feel a little less hopeless, then sharing it was worth it.

If anyone has questions about what my PT progression looked like, my activity progression back to skating/pickleball, or what mentally helped me the most, I'm happy to answer. I wouldn't have gotten through without reading other people's experiences, so I'd love to pay that forward.

Hi all, I am in need of some advice or maybe even just support if I’m that far gone haha😅
I’m a 23 year old female and have been having issues with my back for the last 4 years. I have pain in my lower back that comes and goes with aching to sharp pain throughout the day that has recently started getting worse in the early hours of the morning. It has times when it flares up and ever since a night at soccer training where it literally felt like I popped my disc out it’s been causing nonstop issues.
I have also had nerve pain that radiates down the top of my thigh that comes on when I’m in a really bad flare. Ive seen physios in the past but have mainly found relief with an Osteopath so have been doing that on and off for the last couple years.
I’ve had CT scans that have shown a disc bulge at L4/L5 on differing sides at different times, had cortisone nerve root injections, and recently had a rheumatology referral to see if there is anything more going on in terms of an autoimmune condition. My rheumatologist was querying ankylosing spondylitis/axial spondyloarthritis.
With this I got an MRI which said this:

‘L4-5: There is endplate T2 hyperintensity and degenerative cysts due to Modic type degenerative changes.
No erosions are seen. There is disc desiccation with a small broad-based annular disc bulge, and posterior fissuring resulting in mild foraminal stenosis and compression of the left L5 nerve root in the lateral recesses.’

I then had the follow up appointment with the specialist this week and she pretty much just said there is nothing going on that she can see from my scans and although it could be something with my strong autoimmune condition family history, I’m too young for it to show anyway. She never even checked for the HLA-B27 gene via blood test which I thought was strange- I know it’s not guaranteed but i know it can be an indicator. I also don’t believe she treats or accepts referrals for EDS/hEDS so I wondering if maybe she didn’t even consider that because of that. Mentioning that as I am very hyper mobile.
I just felt so defeated to be told that it’s just the disc bulge and nothing more. Maybe I’m underestimating how bad and painful a disc bulge can be but I just can’t fathom that there isn’t something else going on because anytime I tell a health professional about my history they always make a comment that I’ve got a lot going on for being so young.
It’s not that I want something to be wrong I just want there to be more of a reason this is all happening to me.
I’m not sure if I should get a second opinion or just come to terms with the fact that it’s a disc bulge and focus on doing exercises for that or get nerve root injections again.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Or any specific experience in the Australian rheumatology system?
I’m just so lost on what to do at this point.

I have disc bulges at C3-C4-C5, most likely from frequent travel and long hours of sitting. My main symptoms are pain in my left arm and persistent numbness. One strange thing I’ve noticed is that when I lie flat on the ground, the pain becomes almost normal, although the numbness is still there.
Has anyone experienced something similar?
Did you recover without surgery? What helped you the most?
Physical therapy?
Posture correction?
Sleeping on a firm surface or the floor?
Reducing laptop/computer use?
Exercises or lifestyle changes?
I’m trying to understand whether surgery is the only option or if conservative treatment worked for others. I’d really appreciate hearing your real experiences and recovery stories.

I’ve been having lower back pain since April ‘26 but improved over the time. Last week I went to play badminton and I had a huge flare up. Couldn’t do anything. I had a MRI done which showed L5/S1 disk bulge with impingement of the nerve. However I got slightly better with mostly sciatica pain. I tried some physioterapy exercices recently and the next day I couldn’t move again. Any ideas how can I improve and get better? Thank you so much

I’m about 8 weeks pregnant and have a severe L5-S1 herniated disc causing sciatica. Been dealing with the injury since Feb 2026. Before pregnancy I relied on NSAIDs, but those are no longer an option. I’ve had two transforaminal injections that didn’t take. Sitting longer than 30 minutes is extremely painful. I’m laying awake in bed now at 3am in pain. I’m trying pool therapy, PT (although there doesn’t seem to be a lot that’s working), recently started acupuncture, Tylenol, and low dose Gabapentin. Has anyone been through something similar? What helped you manage the pain safely during pregnancy? Were you able to avoid surgery until after delivery? I keep getting told to be patient and it takes time, and avoid surgery at all costs, but feeling so severely debilitated in my day to day life that the thought of waiting longer is hard. I’m also terrified what pregnancy will do to it. Feeling desperate. Any help or hopeful stories are welcome. ❤️

Hello all I am M22. I am now six weeks past my golf cart accident where I was looking down flexed over and distracted while and ran into a small sapling tree, but it stopped me suddenly and I don’t know exactly how fast I was going but 10 to 15 miles an hour is probably a safe guess. I remember hitting it and I launched forward and I didn’t have any immediate pain probably because of adrenaline and continues to play golf with without pain. My back started to tighten up a little bit towards the end of the round so I decided to stop a bit early and I iced it the rest of the night I had to work an overnight and as a CNA and it was uncomfortable, but doable. For about the first week, the back pain was not great and it hurt to lean over that got better at about two or three weeks and now the only thing that lingers is when I sit wherever there’s pressure on my butt, it is tingly and sore and I still have achy low back pain, depending on what I do. I went to the doctor and finally got an MRI which I will post the results below. The biggest thing is MRI report doesn’t really exist with the symptoms that I’m experiencing. Most of my stuff is localized to my low back or my buttocks, my right more than my left and sometimes I get electrical zaps that I can feel in my knees toes hips, but is probably the most common spot, but I’ve had this before I had the accident anyways it’s just been more frequent now.

Anyways, I’m just trying to figure out what I gotta do to get better. I’ve been trying McGill’s. I’ve been trying ice. I’ve been trying heat. All of it is temporary and feels OK and then the next day it’s miserable again whenever I sit it’s like my anxiety goes off every time I have to look at a chair cause I know it’s not gonna be comfortable. No medication really touches it other than the five day prednisone. I got once I did get my MRI, but all the sensations and symptoms came back after the course of it. Trying to stretch and I tried to run and it became so sore again too. I’m just trying to get back to my active life and I realize that I have to be careful but I’m doing like full golf swings and I don’t get any pain at all when I swing. The worst part is just sitting like I’ve tried to golf get back in the golf and watch other people and chipping put, but the biggest trigger I realize is just sitting in a bouncing cart the whole time and it aggravates my butt and back.

I know I’m seeming like a baby because a lot of people get severe pain, but this is very uncomfortable and annoying for me even though it’s not necessarily stabbing pain. It just won’t go away even when I try and sleep in bed. I’m with a pillow between my legs on my side, cause I can’t sleep with my back to the bed because it starts to burn and tingle in my butt as well, and it basically comes as soon as I wake up I realize the pain is there, but I do have severe health anxiety, so take this all with the grain of salt. I have not seen anybody yet or started PT. I’ve just been doing exercises alone since where I live PT appointments are out almost 2 months. I’m so lost and don’t know what to do in order to get back and be active and healthy and be able to golf again or even if I should I don’t know. Thanks for reading.

How I feel today at about six weeks is the back pain is very achy, but I’m still continuing to work CNA shifts I’m just not lifting the really really heavy people and staying away from task that will aggravate it. But the biggest thing is just my butt whenever I put my body weight pressure on it or foam roll. My butt is so sore even when when I stand, and I like kind of massaged by my sit bones, it is clearly sore and achy my right more than my left. Believe that this isn’t just regular sciatica and maybe that golf cart accident actually caused something in my hip pelvis area rather than my low back and it’s just deceiving because I did have a slightly abnormal MRI.

EXAM: MRI LUMBAR SPINE WITHOUT CONTRAST INDICATION: Low back pain, cauda equina syndrome suspected , golf cart accident TECHNIQUE: Multi-planar, multi-sequence magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine performed without IV contrast. COMPARISON: None available FINDINGS: The lumbar vertebral bodies are preserved in height as well as segmental alignment. No scoliosis. Marrow signal characteristics normal. No acute osseous abnormality. Conus medullaris terminates at T12/L1. Included soft tissues are unremarkable. Findings by level: T12/L1: Disc is normal with no central or foraminal narrowing. Neural foramina are patent. L1/L2: Disc normal. Minimal facet arthropathy and ligamentum flavum redundancy. No central narrowing. Neural foramina are patent. L2/L3: Disc overall normal. Mild bilateral facet arthropathy and ligamentum flavum redundancy. No central narrowing. Neural foramina are patent. L3/L4: Minimal broad-based disc bulge with associated facet arthropathy and ligamentum flavum redundancy. No significant central narrowing. Potential minimal contact with the bilateral traversing L4 nerves however no overt impingement. Neural foramina are patent. L4/L5: Mild broad-based disc bulge. Mild bilateral facet arthropathy. No significant central stenosis. Neural foramina demonstrate mild narrowing on the left. L5/S1: Disc normal. No central narrowing. Neural foramina widely patent. IMPRESSION: 1. No acute abnormality of the lumbar spine. 2. Generally mild degenerative changes most notable for mild broad-based disc bulge at L3-L4 with potential minimal contact with the bilateral traversing L4 nerves however no overt impingement. No significant central or foraminal narrowing at any level.

I unfortunately tore my L5-S1 disc a month ago (just got an MRI this week that confirmed). Any success stories with this injury? How long did it take to feel a little more normal?

I’m mainly seeing bulges and herniations when people talk about these types of injuries.

I’m trying to be patient but feeling discouraged. I’m 30, in shape, and a very flexible yogi so this was hard to swallow.

On 800mg ibuprofen and a low dose muscle relaxer currently. Seeing a neurosurgeon this week to hopefully help me with a plan for PT, etc. But really can’t do much and am not trying to because I know this takes time

64M usually reasonably fit and healthy. I have been suffering from back pain, which has spread to my glute / leg and foot for a few months now and have finally decided to have a microdiscectomy next week, but am still having doubts about whether it is the right thing to do or if I should wait a bit longer for it to heal naturally. I have summarised my history below.

09.02.26 GP referral to physio for a history of pain in the back / glute 

25.02.26 first physio appointment. 

08.03.26 waking the night with back pain, taking over the counter co-codamol and ibuprofen

11.03.26 agony driving home from work, last time I drove a car, start travelling to work by bus / train instead when unable to work from home.

12.03.26 GP prescribes Naproxen (NSAID) and Zapain (stronger co-codamol). 

18.03.26 cancelled physio as in too much pain. 

24.03.26 MRI scan shows: Right L4/5 disc extrusion with L5 radiculopathy

31.03.26 last day of work due to planned retirement

07.04.26 spinal surgeon prescribes 100ml Pregablin daily as current medication levels not working. 

20.4.26 GP advises to increase Pregabalin to 300mg as current medication levels not managing the pain. 

08.05.26 steroid cortisol injection, has no noticeable effect. 

June 26: general pattern of mainly resting during the day and doing max 3000-4000 steps a day on high level of medication, Naproxen + pregabalin 300mg + Zapain 6-8 tablets a day. Unable to walk more than 10-20 mins without pain. Unable to do any gentle stretching exercises without pain especially the next day. Most days spent lying down watching TV (luckily lots of sport on tv with cricket, football, tennis).  Although now rarely in intense pain due to mostly sedentary lifestyle and high level of medication I feel I am unable to live a normal life and enjoy my retirement and spend time travelling to see family etc (and likely unable to work if I still had to) so have decided to have a microdiscectomy which is now planned on 30.06.26. I have been having doubts and wondering if I should continue and wait for it to possibly improve over the next 3-6 months. Also concerned about side effects of long term levels of medication. What would anyone else here do?

Context: In 2018 - i was 18 years old, I became obsessed with exercise and long story short, ended up absolutely obliterating my spine as a result. I would exercise with a lumbar herniated disk, while the pain shot down my leg I would continue to lift 300+ pounds on deadlifts and rack pulls. I was struggling with my mental health issue at the time and it became a way of sabotaging myself. I'm alright now. I went to physio, doctors and they all told me i had pseudo sciatica. I was 18 and told them it was in fact not the case. My rehab at home started. I began with doing as much snakepose holds as possible (within pain limits) at one point i was barely able to leave the ground without absolute agony. I started hydrating, using supplements that help with repair, protein, fish oils - anything to fix me.

Time Went By:

Decompressing - laying down for extended periods of time during the day to ensure it wasn't aggravated at all. The pain started to subside when i incorporated core exercises and strengthening of the hip flexor muscles. It went away. 2022 I herniated it again, this time it was worse for three days, with the knowledge I had I applied myself hard and recovered again in a week. 2023 came around and I was back to deadlifting again - did 535 pound deadlift, 405lb for 15 reps in a set. I literally transformed and my old self was gone, if you're reading this you will recover, the body is immensely strong.

Since Then:

Core exercising, hydrating, decompression before sleeping, extension (snake pose), do weighted pull ups - it strengthens core and decompresses spine, dead hangs from a pull up bar and most importantly back extensions. I'm aware there are varying factors such as age, severity etc that impact recovery. This won't apply to all!

All Injuries are Different but this helped me alot:

Cobra for lumbar disk pain (2 steps)

1. Get into position
Lie on your stomach. Hands under shoulders. Relax your legs. Slowly push up into a gentle cobra, hips stay down.

2. Check your symptoms
Notice what happens:

• Pain moves out of your leg or eases = keep going
• Pain travels further down your leg or gets sharper = stop

Stick with whatever makes symptoms move out of the leg, not into it.

For me the pain was on my left side, when i did regular cobras it helped out for the first little while. then once i implemented what the McKenzie Method referenced as the "banana" it really helped. Essentially we will do cobra and progressively get taller and taller until the pain is minimal. Once we get there, the next step is to start adding lateral force, so instead of up and down we do up and toward the pain side.
My protocol for decompression was:

10 second hanging with feet on the ground (you will not get any decompression if you are tense which is why feet need to be slightly resting on the ground - to allow the quadratus lumborum to relax) . This was followed by cobra poses in between --- the reason why it is after is because it gives the spine a chance to open up and allow for the nucleus to retreat back into its original spot - leaving the nerve untouched OR partially untouched. I repeated this hundreds of times and progressed to weighted hanging as well. By the way this was done supplementary to regular exercise, I worked in a factory at the time and i would stand for 8-10 hours per day and go to the gym afterwards (in the later stages when i could walk). My progress accelerated immensely once i could walk, stand and kind of bend.

As mentioned, i was able to make a full recovery. But it isn't as glorious as it sounds, sometimes i will notice that the are feels a bit strange, that i need to get back to my rehab routine and strengthen further. Its an ongoing thing but once you are back to a healthy level you will most certainly need to keep up with the maintenance work to ensure you dont get injured again. With sports injuries like these, they are very susceptible to reinjury, im not sure what the science says but the stat is high, and u will likely suffer from it again if not properly managed.

I slipped my disk in November by lifting a heavy mattress in a wrong posture but again relapsed two days back. I wanted to get back to sports but was waiting, yesterday I played badminton like good old days and my back got sore, doc said I have relapsed. Will I ever be able to be normal again?

I’m 14 weeks post-op and I got to know last week that I got reherniated at the same level (l4-l5), not sure how it happened. It is a small bulge though!! No pain, just tingling and buzzing in my right foot. Doctor said, nothing to worry about & I need to strengthen my core to not make it worse.

Can re-herniated disc heal itself? Anyone healed without a second MD?