About 5-6 weeks ago I herniated my L5-S1 disc, with a right paracentral ‘large’ herniation that is pressing on and displacing my S1 nerve (MRI).

Initially I had such bad back and full leg pain that I couldn’t walk more than a few steps.

Over the initial 4 weeks, I was seeing improvement. My foot numbness started to go, the pain moved from my calf to my thigh and seemed less intense.

But this last week or so has been so much worse. The pain has now moved to my hip, and walking is so painful. I’m also getting referred or radiating pain in my penis. My sacrum aches, my glutes ache. I’m doing the stretches my PT gave me, but nothing is helping.

I’m booked in for a steroid injection in 4 weeks - so I guess I’ll have to just wait for that.

But I wanted to ask if it’s normal to have weeks that feel worse during recovery?