Happend to me in 2007. I was 22 at the time.

At the time I was extremely in shape, played a lot of sports, was in the forces and being physically active was a daily enjoyable routine for me.

My best friend and I had just moved into our apartment and we had just spotted a deal on a TV on Craigslist. It was a 60 inch projector TV w built in speaker - total dog shit, but to us it was amazing at the time. We drove out, met the dude, he helped us put the tv in to our jeep and off we went. Got back to our place and were unloading this monster around midnight. The TV probably weighed close to 250-300lbs and it was awkward as fuck to carry it. As we are coming up to the front door, I accidentally step into a small depression in the ground which shifted the weight unevenly, I arch my back incorrectly, instantly herniating 2 discs in my lower back. The pain that seared through my body at that moment can only be described as soul crushing. I had no feelings at all in my legs and any movement I would make would make my lower back go into uncontrollable spasms. Somewhere during this phase I passed out from the pain.

The next year was absolutely the worst experience of my life. It took me 4 agonizing months to stand up. Many more months to walk assisted. Years of rehab, spinal corticosteroid injections, stretching and even yoga.

7 years later, my back is still quite bad. It hurts 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, I've just gotten used to it. I refrain from taking any strong medications which are prescribed (narcotics/muscle relaxants) as the side effects mount up very quickly. I smoke the ganja on days when the pain is unmanageable.

It has had a direct impact on my life as many of the professions I originally wanted to get into, I no longer can. The most frustrating part is not being able to relate to others. When I'm out with my friends and can't play sports, go mountain biking like I used to be able to.

Take care of your back.