L4/L5 Herniated Disk - looking for advice

[u/sreylas843]

Any fellas in here dealt with a herniated disk, specifically at or around the L4/L5 area? Pain started Saturday morning 8/23 when I woke up at the station before shift change and progressively got worse throughout the day to the point I couldn’t sit, stand or lay and could barely walk. Decided to go to a small urgent care/ER that night and had an xray done which showed nothing, they gave me a steroid injection and muscle relaxer injection and prescribed me Methylprednisolone and Orphenadrine. No relief whatsoever from the injections or the meds. Woke up the next day (Sunday), same amount of pain and symptoms. Went to a chiropractor that afternoon, did some twists and pops and told me to up my water intake and keep icing it. No relief. Monday (8/25) I decide to go to an actual ER for CT scan or MRI just to at least get some answers. Did the CT scan which showed the herniated disk. Gave me a dose of Vicodin and a lidocaine patch which didn’t touch the pain. Physical therapist came into the room afterwards and did some stuff, actually felt a bit better after that. Getting up from sitting or laying still hurt but walking was actually less painful. Hospital switched me from methylprednisolone to prednisone and continue taking orphenadrine, but neither seem to help.

Fast forward to today, pain comes and goes but when it comes it’s rough. I start physical therapy this afternoon and hoping for some progress from that. But just posting to see if anyone here as some insight or advice on what worked for them. Just looking for some light at the end of the tunnel.

P.S. take care of your backs.

[u/altahiker]

Hey, I've had similar pain from a herniated disk. If this pain is made worse by flexion(bending forward), I have found cobra exercises to give me great relief.Its basically a sloppy push up where you leave your hips on the ground. Push your chest off the floor until you feel some stretch in your low back, hold for 5 seconds. I will do 2-3 sets of 10 reps of these every hour when my back is bothering me. Last time I threw it out, I was barely able to walk or move. I forced myself to get on the floor and start doing cobras. Within a couple of days it was feeling better. When you first start you may only get a couple inches off the floor, but in a day or two you might be able to fully extend your arms. Obviously stop if you feel pain. Hope it helps