Schmorlov's hernia

Hi everyone!
I’d really appreciate some insight on my situation.
A few days ago, I felt a twinge in my lower back while jumping into a pool. I went to see a doctor, and after getting an X-ray, it turns out I have a minor Schmorl's lesion on the upper endplate of my L-3 vertebra.
Since I play basketball pretty intensely, I'm wondering what you all think—is this going to seriously limit my ability to stay active on the court?
Also, does anyone have recommendations on how to manage or recover from this kind of injury moving forward?
Thanks in advance!

An X-ray only shows you what's happening with the bone structure, not the discs themselves. Until you get an MRI, you're basically guessing whether you're dealing with a full-blown herniated disc, a simple protrusion, or absolutely nothing at all.

mistygull21 said:An X-ray only shows you what's happening with the bone structure, not the discs themselves. Until you get an MRI, you're basically guessing whether you're dealing with a full-blown herniated disc, a simple protrusion, or absolutely nothing at all.

That’s not entirely accurate. A Schmorl's lesion is technically a type of herniation, just not in the traditional sense. It’s more like the disc material is being pushed through a defect in the vertebral endplate—usually because of some old trauma, though people still debate exactly how it happens. And yeah, you can spot it on an X-ray, even if an MRI gives you the full picture.
As for the prognosis, I'll say this again: there's no set rule. For most people, it doesn't cause any major issues.

So, is just spotting that one defect enough to make a definitive diagnosis, king? Is it an absolute certainty that the disc is going to pop out once that defect is present?

mistygull21 said:So, is just spotting that one defect enough to make a definitive diagnosis, king? Is it an absolute certainty that the disc is going to pop out once that defect is present?

Look, I’ll say it again: imaging like an MRI is definitely the gold standard here, but you can still catch it on an X-ray. Basically, if you see a concave defect in the lumbar vertebral plate with sharp edges—and depending on how big that gap is—you'll see the disc space narrowing. That’s just what happens when the disc material starts bulging out.

Hey,

My mom lives in Washington, D.C. and she’s dealing with this sharp pain on her left side that spreads into her abdomen and the back part of her left buttock.

She recently went in for X-rays of her sacrum and left hip, an abdominal ultrasound, a hip ultrasound, plus some blood and urine tests.

A private doctor suspected a kidney stone in her left kidney after seeing a 1 cm spot on the ultrasound. But when she went to the hospital, they basically told her there's zero sign of a stone and that the pain isn't coming from her kidneys at all, but from her spine.

Here are the results:

1) 11/19/2007.
Hips:
"Imaging shows early arthritic changes in both hip joints. Incipient enthesopathy in the area of both greater trochanters. A larger marginal osteophyte along the upper contour of the patellar articular surface, consistent with femoropatellar arthrosis."

Spine:
"Two-view imaging of the lumbar spine shows osteochondrosis of the L5-S1 space, accompanied by significant marginal parasyndesmophytes ventrally. Scattered smaller marginal parasyndesmophytes are present diffusely. Moderate spondylarthrosis."

2) 11/14/2007.

Upper Abdominal Ultrasound:
"The liver is normal in size and echogenicity with no circumscribed pathological changes. Intra- and extrahepatic bile ducts are normal. The gallbladder wall is normal, and there are no signs of lithiasis within the lumen. The gallbladder is normal in size and echogenicity with no circumscribed pathological changes. The right kidney has 10.7 cm of preserved parenchyma, showing no signs of obstructive disease. The left kidney has 10.09 cm of preserved parenchyma, showing no signs of obstructive disease. A hyperechoic zone measuring 1.17 cm is noted medially to the parenchyma. The bladder wall is normal, and there are no pathological findings within the lumen. Diagnosis: Left-side nephrolithiasis."

I'm hoping someone can look this over and tell me where we should go next. My mom is 61, super active, and usually really positive, but this pain is seriously slowing her down and messing with her head. Nobody is actually explaining anything to her—they just keep handing out pills and injections for the pain.

Based on what I've shared, I'm looking for recommendations on who to see (maybe a specific specialist or a certain hospital/clinic) to get actual help.

To me, it looks like it's either a kidney stone or lumbar spinal stenosis, but I'm obviously not a doctor so I have no clue.

Thanks so much in advance, Taylor
My email: tajanamesic@yahoo.com

For over a month now, I’ve been dealing with this persistent pain in my left leg, stretching from my glute and groin all the way down to my knee. Honestly, I was holding out hope that it would just subside on its own, but instead, the intensity has ramped up significantly; in fact, for this past week, I’ve been almost completely immobile. I finally saw my doctor today, and she referred me for an X-ray of my spine. I went ahead with the imaging, and the results came back stating: "The intervertebral spaces of the lumbar spine are moderately wide. Signs of disc degeneration are present on the vertebral bodies from L3 to S1. There is a dorsally deep Schmorl's hernia on the lower surface of L5. Facet joints are within normal limits. Bone structure is normal."
I am reaching out to see if anyone might be able to help me interpret these findings. Specifically, what are the standard protocols for treating this, and how long does the recovery process typically take?
Thank you in advance for any insight you can provide.

So, what exactly is a Schmorl's lesion, and how does it even happen?
Basically, my back totally gave out on me last week. I went in to get some imaging done, and now multiple reports are mentioning Schmorl's lesions—they're calling them shallow, irregular, located on the anterior and posterior surfaces, several of them... you know the drill. Can someone please explain what this actually means?

"Disk degeneration that doesn't involve actual tissue fragments breaking off can still trigger significant lower back pain. In some instances, a herniation might push into the adjacent vertebral body, creating what’s known as a Schmorl's node—something you'll typically spot on an X-ray. Even when there aren't obvious signs of nerve root involvement, that back pain can still radiate down into your hip and calf."

-Excerpt from "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine"

Alright, that sounds pretty technical. But if you were explaining it to someone who isn't an expert, how would you actually put it?🤷

A Schmorl's node is essentially a type of disc degeneration where the soft, inner core of your spinal disc—the nucleus pulposus—actually pushes into the vertebrae above or below it. You can visualize the process like this. These typically show up in the thoracic or lumbar regions of the spine. Most of the time, there isn't a clear-cut cause; it might stem from an old injury, or for some folks, it’s just how they were built from the start. In most cases, it doesn't even require any medical intervention. If you actually start feeling pain, though, you should check in with your primary care physician to discuss options like pain management or physical therapy.

So, I went for my consultation and ended up getting put on medical leave and sent for a biopsy. Honestly, this is just the peak of what modern medicine can offer right now. They don't really get how this stuff starts, they have no clue how to prevent it, and heaven knows they don't know how to stop it from getting worse.
Apparently, if soft tissue is invading something hard, it means there’s porosity involved! But whatever, I guess I’ll just wait until Tuesday and see what else the doctor has to tell me.
You know, it's been eight days already and despite all the meds, it still hurts like hell.

So, my family doctor actually backed up your whole description of this "treatment" method.
During our chat, we realized I basically inherited this from my mom, so I guess it was only a matter of time before my lower back started acting up. My doctor suggested physical therapy through swimming🙂(since everything else seems pretty useless), finding a different job😂, losing some weight, and apparently, I’m just supposed to get used to living with this kind of pain!?!
😕
Does anyone have ideas on what else might help take the pressure off or strengthen my spinal muscles?

Swimming is probably your best bet for a workout since it hits almost every single muscle group in your body. It’ll offer some partial strengthening for those back muscles, which helps take the pressure off your spine. Unfortunately, once degeneration sets in, you're looking at lingering pain—there's just no way around it. We can't undo the damage through surgery, medication, or even exercise, because we're talking about bone degradation here. All we really have is the ability to manage acute flare-ups with painkillers and maybe provide a little structural support through targeted exercise...

I honestly can't deal with this kind of sneaky, constant ache anymore, so I guess now that spring is finally rolling in, I really need to start getting my body moving again...

Hey everyone!
Got a question for you guys... I just got my diagnosis back and it turns out I've got Schmorl's nodes, specifically:
Dextroconvex lumbar scoliosis with flattened physiological lordosis and a more vertically oriented sacrum.
There's some loss of vertebral body height, and the disc space width and height are reduced at the L1/L2 level, which is also where the Schmorl's node in the L1 vertebral body is located.
The dorsal intercorporeal line remains continuous.

So here's the thing... I'm only 20 years old, and this isn't exactly a joke to me. The pain is constant, honestly... I'm basically living on Advil just to get through the day. Does anyone know if surgery would actually help? Like, could an operation actually fix this and get me rid of the pain for good?