Sciatica

[shilala]

My backbone looks like it got run through a sausage grinder. I got some hardware installed last year that took care of the bottom, but I've still got a dozen herniations, Schmorl's nodes, Tarlov cysts, and a lot of degradation of the bone. A few endplate fractures, too.
The best management for me is lots of ice coupled with anti-inflammatories and rest. Once the swelling/inflammation is out, the pain goes to a reasonable level.
I read all the stuff you mentioned, Moses. You're right on the money. In my experience, there's no sense in stopping doing anything I want to do. My back will go south if I'm working hard or hardly working. There's really no rhyme nor reason. So I just do whatever I want and suffer the consequence when it arrives.
It takes a long time until anything gets better, but you sound like you're on the right track.