I am currently experiencing similar issues. I am 32 years old. For the past two months I have been unable to work due to injury. It all began with three weeks in a row of big removals, and lots of heavy lifting. I also am a big backcountry skier and have been since I was very young. I did a big ski mountaineering objective on my weekend even though my back was feeling a bit rough, thinking it would just loosen up as I moved around. Big mistake. The following day I could hardly get out of bed. I have severe sciatic nerve pain down my left side. It starts in my lower back and sends shooting pain down the back of my left leg into my foot.
I was told it could be Piriformis syndrome by my dr or it could be a herniated disc. X rays show that I have “severe disc narrowing in my L5-S1 (between my lowest vertebrae and my sacrum bone). This could indicate a herniated disc...In relation to the disc space narrowing I have “mild arthritis” in that L5-S1. X rays also showed I have femoracetubular impingement syndrome in my hips (basically the top of my femur has grown extra bone that is not allowing my top of my femur to articulate in the hip socket properly, which impacts my range of motion, could be contributing to the nerve pain, and left untreated could lead to arthritis in my hips).
I am getting and MRI coming up to determine if the nerve pain is due to a herniated disc or the piriformis syndrome or some combination of factors.
Prior to the injury, I have had lower back pain issues for 10+ years that comes and goes, but usually resolves on its own within a couple weeks.
this time improvement is SLOW and some days I wake up feeling worse than the day before...
I have been to the chiropractor 4 times, acupuncture three times, and started physical therapy...hoping I’ll start seeing improvement soon because being unable to work for two months and being out of any source of income is becoming financially challenging to say the least.
it’s hard to know what to do when I want to return to climbing and working with trees, but also not wanting to end up in a whee chair before I’m 40...
I have found acupuncture to help with managing the pain. Best of luck to you, I feel your pain! My device would be to start making calls to see your Dr and to get MRI ASAP. It’s hard to know the right path to recovery when you don’t even know what’s wrong with your body. It’s also been a painfully slow process to get in for and MRI and has required me to be quite persistent to get an appointment. The whole process is slow and frustrating. My dr didn’t even want to give me x rays at first thinking it was unnecessary, and that I was young and fit and would just get better quickly...I wish he had been correct. Sometimes I think folks just don’t know how hard tree work can be on your body..
