Hello there. Until I can see my doctor for a real diagnosis, this seems to be the best place for a quick, knowledgeable guess as to the extent of my injury. Yesterday I was in a hurry and jumped in my car to sit down when I experienced an extreme, antagonizing shot of pain down my lower back. Now I've had a minor incident like this before 4 yrs ago but it healed as well as one could expect. Mayo clinic, webmd and other forums seem to point out that it is probably a slipped disc of sorts. My worry is that I can't tell if it's just Bulged or herniated! I'm a relatively healthy 23 yr old guy, very slim & haven't worked a heavy lifting job for months now. Moderate Pain continues as I bend or sit but no signs of Sciatica. Also it seems odd that such a severe injury would result from something trivial like sitting down. Is this LIKELY acute disc bulge or am I looking at months/yrs of chronic pain & recovery?

I bent over when I sneezed and ended up flat on my back for two days in excruciating pain with a bulging disc. I tried my family doctor, but he gave me only muscle relaxants and pain pills which treated the symptoms, but didn't cure the problem. So, I took myself and my x-rays to a chiropractor who was highly recommended and finally found relief for a number of years until I did something else to strain the same area, and it started all over again. I decided to go to a shiatsu (acupressure) practitioner and also joined a bowling league which exercise strengthened that side of my body and got me through a few more years.

You need to get a diagnosis and then with shiatsu, chiropractic, or very good physical therapy build up your back and stomach muscles and get that disc back into place. My former coworker had an inversion table

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that she went on twice a day and claimed that helped keep her disc in place.

I bent over when I sneezed and ended up flat on my back for two days in excruciating pain with a bulging disc. I tried my family doctor, but he gave me only muscle relaxants and pain pills which rested the symptoms, but didn't cure the problem. So, I took myself and my x-rays to a chiropractor who was highly recommended and finally found relief for a number of years until I did something else to strain the same area, and it started all over again. I decided to go to a shiatsu (acupressure) practitioner and also joined a bowling league which exercise strengthened that side of my body and got me through a few more years.

You need to get a diagnosis and then with shiatsu, chiropractic, or very good physical therapy build up your back and stomach muscles and get that disc back into place. My former coworker had an inversion table
that she went on twice a day and claimed it helped keep her disc in place.

Good to know I'm not the only one suffering a disproportionate amount of pain over seemingly nothing. Although it's important to note I haven't really been running stretching or overall exercising liked I used to in years past. I imagine that lost stamina and flexibility coupled with heavy lifting until last Nov. Was wearing down my disc through strain. Straw on the camel's back. I agree a doctor then chiropractor may be in my best interest. I'm OK with inversion decompression, shiatsu or even muscle therapy but only if the injury ends up being something way worse than expected to heal on it's own.

I had something similar 15 years ago just from turning my head to look out of the rear window of the car to make sure lanes were clear prior to changing lanes. It lasted about 2 weeks the pain was so bad that it hurt to take a deep breath. Then it just magically disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

That was 15 years ago and it never happened again. So, you see, it really could be any number of things only a doctor or chiropractor can diagnose. I truly hope that yours is as simple a fix as mine was.