Reherniation Or Normal Healing After Back Surgery?

That sick feeling after surgery when pain suddenly returns, and your brain jumps straight to “I re-herniated” is more common than almost anyone admits. We walk through what that fear looks like after a microdiscectomy for a herniated disc, why it can feel traumatizing, and how to slow the spiral when your symptoms flare.

We break down the difference between normal microdiscectomy recovery pain and true reherniation symptoms. You’ll hear why nerve healing can stay loud for months, why post-op inflammation can spike around 10 to 14 days, and why pain that shifts, eases with rest, or improves with icing may be a flare instead of a setback. Then we get specific about the red flags and the more classic “this feels like before surgery” signs: sharp shooting sciatica, worsening day by day, losing your windows of relief, and pain triggered by coughing, sneezing, or bearing down.

We also talk through what actually helps you make decisions: the simple self-check questions, when to call your surgeon, when to push for a new MRI, and why a steroid dose pack (like a Medrol pack) can sometimes calm inflammation fast. Finally, we cover your options if a reherniated disc is confirmed, including conservative treatment, physical therapy, injections, and when revision surgery may make sense, plus the long game of building a healthy spine so your muscles support your back like a brace.

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Transcript

The Fear After Surgery

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You've had your microdisectomy for your herniated disc, and now you're finding yourself wondering, have I re-herniated? The pain has come back, you heard a pop, maybe you twist it wrong. There's all kinds of things running through your mind right now. Let's take a breath and talk about it. Today I'm going to walk you through what a reherniation feels like, how to tell the difference between recovery pain versus reherniation pain. And we'll talk about what your options are if you actually reherniate it. You are not alone in this. Remember that.

Why Pain Can Return Normally

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So, first of all, I want you to know that this is such a normal emotion. Almost 100% of herniated disc recovery patients worry about whether or not they've re-herniated. I have seen people crying on the internet saying, I think I've messed up my surgery. People asking on the forums, I twisted, did I just ruin my surgery? Maybe I went too far. Or how come this pain is coming back? First, I want you to remember that your nerves were compressed. Think of a garden hose and one that has been kinked and pinched for a very long time. When you remove the thing that's pinching the hose, the hose doesn't automatically pop back into normal shape. It takes time. It shifts and it pops and it moves. And that's what your nerves are doing. All that is part of the regeneration healing process. And that causes pain. And it causes pain sometimes for months after your surgery. Also, your body has a normal healing process called inflammation after any kind of surgical procedure. And I think most of us go into surgery thinking that inflammation is only the first couple of days. But unfortunately, inflammation can last. And two weeks after surgery is a very common time for people to start having some return of pain, numbness, or tingling. 10 days to 14 days is when people will start asking, is this pain normal? And it can be, it can be very normal. My pain returned at two weeks post-op, and I started popping Tylenol every six hours. I even would set an alarm overnight and take Tylenol overnight because my pain was that bad. Finally, I called the doctor, and the nurse, of course, yelled at me for taking Tylenol so much, ruined my liver. But they prescribed me a medrill dose pack, which is a type of steroid that reduces the inflammation. And after several days of being on that steroid, the pain went away. But I was not aware for that return of pain. It was traumatizing. I was defeated. And I had a return of pain again when I started physical therapy. My muscles were atrophied, they were weak, and my brain was convinced I was still injured. And so just moving again when they were lift when they lifted the no bending or lifting or twisting rules. That movement made my sciatica flare. I went back and I checked my records. I got two MRIs after my surgery. My surgery was in August. I got an MRI in November, and I got an MRI that following July. Both times I was convinced I had re-hernieed it because I had such a return of pain. But both times I called the doctor, got a steroid, and the pain went away in a few days after using the

What Reherniation Often Feels Like

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steroid. But what does a re-herniation feel like? Now, unfortunately, if you talk to a thousand people who've re-hernieed it, you're going to get a thousand different stories. But these are the most common. A return of nerve pain that feels just like the pre-surgery nerve pain. That sharp shooting sensation, the electricity sensation, the intense numbness or tingling down the leg. Pain that is progressively getting worse, not better. The rule of thumb is to give any new pain four or five days to see if it goes away before you start to get scared about reherniation. Most of the time, a flare will actually start to go away in a couple days. Loss of any windows of relief. Typically, after you have surgery, you will have windows of feeling great, but if you reherniate it, those windows go away. And sometimes a specific movement will trigger pain, like coughing, sneezing, or bearing down to use the bathroom. Those pains can be signs of reherniation. It usually feels like regression and not just a flare. So what type of things are not necessarily a reherniation? Like I said, at the two-week post-surgery mark, if that pain starts coming back right around that time, 10 to 14 days, it's most likely the post-inflammation rearing its head. The inflammation will actually cause fluid to kind of build up around the nerves and the cells are activated and that adds pressure to your nerves. And that's what's causing some pain. Pain that kind of moves around. It's in your glute, but then it's in your back, or maybe it switches sides. You'll hear that a lot. I have pain on the opposite side now. I had that and I was convinced my disc was so bad that it was now re-herniating on the other side. That never happened. What the physical therapist told me was it's just the body compensating for how we're moving and the inflammation in the body makes the nerves pull funny. Tightness or soreness, especially in like the hamstrings or the calf, that can happen post-surgery. It's not necessarily a re-herniation pain. And symptoms that improve if you ice and you rest, that could just be a sign of normal inflammation. What you need to understand about this healing process is it's not linear, it's not a straight road. It's like riding a roller coaster. You'll have ups and downs, scary twists. Sometimes you'll feel like you're going backwards and then you're moving forward again. It really is a messy recovery.

Simple Checks And When To Call

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So, how do you know for sure if you've re-hernieated it? Well, unfortunately, the only 100% surefire way to know if you're re-herniated is to get a new MRI. That's how we can see the disc, see if it's come back out again, but the MRI will also show if it's just inflammation. Here's a simple way to think about the difference between reherniation or a flare. Just ask yourself these questions. Is the pain gradually getting better or getting worse? Do I still have the windows of relief? Does rest or changing positions make it feel better? If the answer is yes, then most likely it's just a flare. So let's say that you're still really concerned that you've re-harnated. First off, don't panic. I know that's so it's such a terrible piece of advice, isn't it? Don't tell me not to panic. I'm in pain and I'm scared that I did this whole surgery for nothing. Trust me, I was there. I remember how that felt. But fear can amplify your pain. So you need to stay grounded. Your mental health is so important during this recovery. And I need for you to be looking at this entire experience as a challenge you can overcome. The people who recover well are people who have that mindset. Next, scale back on your activity. Maybe you got overzealous and you started walking 50,000 steps a day and it's only been a week since surgery. Calm down, don't walk so much. Your body is trying to heal. And just remember, if you raise your heart rate, you raise inflammation in the body. So maybe scale back on the activity you've been doing and give your body a chance to rest. Please do not be embarrassed or scared or think you're annoying. And don't call your doctor. Please call your doctor if you're concerned you're re-harniated. He can walk you through these same symptoms, these same guidelines. And if you feel like you really need it, he can give you a prescription for a steroid and see if that helps take your pain away. And of course, if you have any of those red flag symptoms like a loss of bladder control, you can't relieve yourself, or you can't hold it. You have even more weakness in your leg than you did before. Or if that pain is so severe and unrelenting, push for an MRI. Please advocate for yourself. You are allowed to

Options If It Really Re-Herniated

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do that. So, what are your options if you did reherniate? So this might surprise you, but not every reharniation needs another surgery. Most herniated discs will actually heal on their own. And the same is true about reherniations. So you can go the conservative route again with the reharniation, physical therapy, maybe a steroid injection. But revision surgery may be what you need. I guess this is kind of a silver lining, but if you re-herniate it within the first couple months of your surgery, that's actually a good thing because not a lot of scar tissue has built up. And it's actually easier for the doctor to go back in and redo your surgery if it's in the first couple months. And that is typically when people reherniate within the first couple months. Now I have reherniated seven years after my surgery, and I know why. The why is because I didn't do my exercises like I was supposed to. Your goal after you've herniated a disc and gotten surgery is to build a healthy spine. Don't just get the surgery and think the treatment is over. You want to build your muscles to be a back brace to your spine. I've interviewed tons of people, and I even interviewed a Pilates instructor who gave such wonderful advice about building a healthy spine, and I haven't followed it. I'm lazy. I'm sorry. And now I've reherniated it, and it's my own fault. Thankfully, my reherniation is nowhere near as painful as it was when I first herniated seven years ago. But I knew it was a herniation when I would try and go to the bathroom, cough, or sneeze, and the pain was just stabbing me in my glute. I even I did try the steroid pack, but it didn't touch the pain at all. So I want to leave

Mindset, Support, And Next Steps

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you with this. Feeling pain after your microdisectomy does not necessarily mean you've re-herniated. I understand it's scary, it's defeating, it makes you feel like you're gonna lose even more time. But remember, recovery is noisy. It's there's it's unpredictable, there's ups and downs, and your mind plays tricks on you. You want to have a correct mindset during this recovery. If you are going through this right now, I want you to know that I see you and I understand this pain and fear that you're going through. And so do many other people. If I've helped ease your mind just a little bit, please say so in the comments. Let me know what treatments you're trying, if you've reached out to your doctor and got and gotten some steroids. Please remember that you are healing even if you don't feel like it. Hey, I would like you to check out this video by Salone, a Pilates instructor. She talks about her herniated disc and microdisectomy experience, but then she goes on to talk about how Pilates is such a great tool for building the strength that your spine needs.