What No One Tells You About Healing After a Microdiscectomy

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Back surgery recovery involves unexpected challenges that doctors rarely explain beforehand, from extreme boredom to the misconception that you'll immediately wake up pain-free. I share personal insights and practical tips to better prepare mentally and physically for the recovery journey following microdiscectomy.

• Prepare for boredom during recovery by planning brain-stimulating activities beyond passive TV watching
• Understand that waking up with pain doesn't mean your surgery failed—nerves can remain angry and inflamed for months
• Expect pain to potentially return at 2 weeks (due to inflammation) and 6-8 weeks (when movement restrictions ease)
• Recovery follows a non-linear pattern with many ups and downs—not a steady improvement curve
• "No bending, lifting or twisting" doesn't mean becoming completely stiff—small movements are actually beneficial
• Consider practical bathroom solutions like toilet seat risers and bidets for easier post-surgery hygiene
• Prepare for significant mental and emotional challenges, including anxiety about reherniation
• Explore resources like "New Possibilities" book and Bed Back and Beyond YouTube channel for guidance and inspiration

For more preparation tips, check out my "How to Prepare for Your Microdiscectomy" video with a room-by-room walkthrough on my YouTube channel, Bed Back and Beyond.

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Episode Transcript

CK (00:00):
Let's talk about the things I wish I knew about back surgery
recovery before I had gotten it.
The very first thing I wish Ihad known to prepare for was the
boredom.
I was so bored and you're goingto be bored.
You will most likely be homealone while your friends and

(00:22):
loved ones are at work, and thefirst two weeks are pretty
boring because all you can do islay down and walk, lay down and
walk.
If your plan is just to watch abunch of TV, let me tell you
that that gets old quickly andit does nothing to stimulate
your brain.
I ended up on YouTube watchingtornado videos, tsunami videos,

(00:46):
airplane crash investigationvideos, and I even ended up on
tarantula feeding and matingvideos.
And now, if I was brave enough,I wish I could own a cobalt
blue tarantula.
If you happen to be a tarantulafan and you have a pet, send me
some pictures.
I would love to see it.
I'm looking at you, james, butgo into your recovery with a

(01:07):
plan in place.
Look at this as an opportunityto learn something new.
Maybe you want to learn Spanish, maybe you want to learn more
about a particular interest thatyou can become an expert on.
There's Wikipedia, there'sMasterclass.
There's so many resources outthere for you to learn something
, and you're going to be homealone with plenty of opportunity

(01:29):
to learn.
So if you head over tobedbackbeyondcom, I have a
resource tab with a couplesuggestions of places that you
can go to to stimulate yourbrain while you're recovering.
The second thing I wish I knewwas waking up in pain doesn't
mean the surgery was a failure.
Not everybody wakes uppain-free.
I wasn't one of those peopleand I woke up thinking "did I

(01:52):
just go through this surgery fornothing?
It took me about six months tofinally feel better after my
surgery, but there are peoplethat it takes a full year for
the sciatic pain to go away.
Let me show you why.
If you look at this MRI picture, there's the disc in the middle
and then there's two roundspots on the side.
The round spots are the nerves.

(02:13):
The one on this side is nicetight dark circle.
That is a normal nerve, but theone on this side is fuzzy and
gray.
This is a nerve that is angry,and it's angry still at 11 weeks
post-surgery.
I think we get it into ourbrains that as soon as the

(02:34):
herniated disc goes away, thenerve will just go back to being
fine, but it's not.
It's pissed off and it has agrudge to hold and some of them
will hold on to it for a longtime.
So this nerve is still angryand that anger is going to keep
the pain there.
And also, if you look at thisphoto, there's fluid in the

(02:55):
space where the herniated discused to be.
That's normal post inflammationfluid, but it's pushing on the
nerve.
It will go away eventually, butit's compressing the nerve so
it's causing pain Again.
This is 11 weeks post thispatient's surgery, so you're not
necessarily going to wake uppain free right away.
You have to give your body timeto recover and give your nerves

(03:19):
time to go back to normal.
The next thing I wish I knewwas that the return of pain is
normal.
Some people do wake upcompletely pain-free and ready
to do cartwheels after thesurgery.
That wasn't me.
But then at two weeks they'relike hold on, my pain's coming
back.
Or at six to eight weeks, holdon.

(03:40):
Why am I having pain again?
So if it's like the two weekrange, that's pretty normal for
post inflammation to rear itshead again and to cause some
pain in your back.
Obviously, call your doctor andtell them you're having pain.
They can give you something,maybe like a steroid or a pain
med to help take it away, or apain med to help take it away.
But don't go to disaster rightaway.

(04:02):
Two weeks is normal and thenthe six to eight week range is
when usually our movingrestriction gets taken away.
But you haven't used yourmuscles in six weeks or however
long you were injured.
So your brain still thinksyou're injured and your muscles
are weak and your body's doingsomething called guarding.
So now that you're trying tomove again, everything starts

(04:25):
screaming and wants to resist.
You have to retrain your brainand your muscles to let them
know that it's okay to move, butunfortunately that does bring
pain back.
That's what physical therapy isgood for.
If you get prescribed physicaltherapy, I think it's great for
retraining your brain and yourmuscles that it's okay to move

(04:47):
again.
The next thing I wish Iunderstood was that this healing
process is not linear.
You're going to have lots oftwo steps forward and one step
back.
You're going to have weirdpains, pains in different places
, and one step back.
You're going to have weirdpains, pains in different places
.
It's normal to have hip painstart or tailbone pain start.
It's normal for your legs toswell, for your muscles to spasm

(05:10):
, for you to be so tired thatafter 15 minutes of doing
anything you suddenly need a nap.
It is quite the experience.
So please don't think you'regoing to just get better and
better every day and suddenly,two weeks later you're going to
just get better and better everyday and suddenly, two weeks
later, you're pain-free and canmove on with your life.
A lot of people experience thisroller coaster of recovery.

(05:31):
It is totally normal.
Please go into your surgeryknowing that it is not linear.
The next thing I wish Iunderstood was about the no
bending, lifting or twistingrules.
I went into it thinking thatmeant to act like stiff as a
board and I wasn't allowed tomove anything.

(05:51):
Some doctors are even saying nobending or lifting for two
weeks and others are starting tosay just live your normal life,
don't pick up anything heavy.
Please follow whatever yourdirections your doctor gives you
.
But understand that no bendingor lifting or twisting doesn't
mean you can't move at all.
It means no extreme twisting,no extreme bending over.

(06:15):
You can do a little.
This is not going to ruin yoursurgery.
So if you suddenly look to yourright because someone called
your name.
Don't think I just ruined mysurgery.
In fact, it's better for yourmuscles if you move just a tiny
bit.
I stayed so stiff that by thetime it was six weeks and I
could move again, My muscleswere misfiring in the wrong

(06:38):
order, and it was painful.
that's how PT helped me somuch was to get my muscles
retrained.
If I were you, I would go ontoBob and Brad's YouTube channel
and look up the seven bedexercises to do after a
laminectomy.
They're just things you can dowhile laying on your back and
they're all like lifting yourfeet or moving your legs to keep

(07:01):
your muscles moving.
Of course, always check withyour doctor and get
clarification, but don't treatit like you're strapped to a
board.
A little bit of movement isokay.
Something else I wish I knewbefore surgery was how to make
using the bathroom a lot easier.
Going into the bathroom sent meinto a panic because I thought

(07:22):
how am I going to clean myselfoff Now?
Remember I was thinking Icouldn't even move a little bit.
So check before your surgery.
Reach behind yourself and seehow much little movement you can
do with just the tiniest littlebit of twist.
I'm telling you that is okay,but standing and sitting on the
toilet can be uncomfortable, sothere's something called a

(07:42):
toilet seat riser that you couldjust place it right on top of
your seat and it makes sittingand standing so much easier.
I happen to have a handlebarsthat someone lent me next to my
toilet and that was a lifesaver.
Don't even consider gettingthat toilet paper wand I hated
the thing, I couldn't figure itout.
Just see how far you can reachand a bidet.

(08:04):
Most people on the Reddit forumare saying get a bidet, it
makes cleaning up so much easier.
The most important thing that Iwish I had been prepared for
after my microdiscectomy is themental, emotional challenge that
comes with this recovery.
Once you're over your injuryand you've gotten the surgery,
all you have to do is sit aroundand or lay around and think,

(08:26):
and if you're not distractingyour brain, you may go into an
emotional spiral.
For me it was very traumatic.
Not everybody experiences this,but I'm pretty sure I had PTSD
and depression and anxiety andall of that.
Any spark of pain would send meinto a panic and I'd start
crying.
This recovery is difficult.

(08:47):
Your back when it goes out, itaffects everything and if you're
not prepared, all you're goingto do is worry about
reherniation, even though only10 to 15% of cases reherniate.
Last year, I read this bookcalled New Possibilities
Understanding and Unraveling theMysteries of Chronic Pain

(09:08):
because I was interviewing theauthor, a chronic pain
specialist, for the podcast BedBack and Beyond.
As I was reading that book, Ithought to myself where was this
book in 2019 when I had mysurgery?
It has so much helpfulinformation about the guarding
that our body doessubconsciously, about how we

(09:30):
react to pain and why we reactthat way.
I really wish I had had thisbook when I was recovering.
So if you haven't gotten a bookyet and you're looking for one
to help with chronic pain,consider New Possibilities.
It's such a great resource.
Another resource for you is myYouTube channel, bed Back and
Beyond.
I saw over and over again onthe Reddit community and on the

(09:51):
Facebook communities are thereany success stories out there?
So I created a YouTube channelwhere I collect success stories
from people with just like meand you with herniated disc so
positive stories of recovery.
Head over to Bed Back andBeyond and check that out if you
are looking for and scouringYouTube for helpful information.

(10:12):
I even have a how to preparefor your microdiscectomy video
where I do a room by roomwalkthrough giving you ideas on
how to best prep for yourmicrodiscectomy, to make it as
easy as possible for you.
I wish you the best of luck.
You're going to do great.