r/Firefighting • u/sreylas843 • 3d ago
General Discussion L4/L5 Herniated Disk - looking for advice
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.
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u/PerrinAyybara All Hazards Capt Obvious 2d ago
Chiropractors aren't medical doctors and their entire system is based upon something that isn't true: non surgical subluxation and has no good evidence to support their process. You will end up making your herniation worse, they should never have been allowed to mess with it.
Stop what you are doing and go through PT/Ortho as appropriate. The faster you do this the right way the better.
My agency hired an Athletic Trainer and it was the best decision we've made in regards to preventative and rehab care. We are adding in a PT now too. It's awesome.
Be careful with steroid injections, they are temp fixes and repeated doses cause bone degradation. There's a reason they stopped doing them in athletes as much as they used to.