1 week after ESI + PRFand feeling great. How do I avoid a future flare up?
I’m a 38M, 6'1", 185 lbs, and I’m 1 week out from an epidural steroid injection plus pulsed radiofrequency and feeling great so far. I know the pulsed radiofrequency may take a couple of weeks to fully kick in, so I’m guessing most of the relief right now is from the steroid.
Either way, I’m really happy with where I’m at, but I’m also trying to be realistic. I know this is not a permanent fix, so I want to use this window to do the right things and avoid another flare-up.
Before this disc herniation, I was relatively active. I was running around 12 miles a week and doing Pilates 3 times a week. I stopped running after the diagnosis (the specialist advice against it), and after my last flare-up I had to stop Pilates too.
I’ve regained a lot of mobility, but I still have trouble crouching and picking things up off the floor. I’m restarting PT on Monday since they wanted me to pause for a week after the procedure. I also started swimming lessons twice a week after my last flare-up and plan to keep that up.
It’s been about 3 months since the last big flare-up, and I’ve definitely lost muscle from being limited for so long.
For anyone who’s had good results after ESI and/or pulsed radiofrequency, what did you do afterward that helped the most? What would you focus on now to protect the disc and make the relief last as long as possible?