@gidget1280 I traveled tons before I am ended up having my eventual surgery. Honestly, don’t wait too long if you have a good orthopedic surgeon and they recommend surgery because my nerves were crushed in my spine L3 L4 L5, and they have remained dysfunctional ever since, but the surgery was 100% successful! How are used to travel to answer your question was with pain medication? I take Percocet low-dose for 30 years and I would need it for a long stance on the airplane in the economy section. I also packed a heating pad and a small compactible pillow that would go between my knees at night. Now they give you lots of extra pillows in the hotel rooms so I don’t need to pack the pillow. RFA radio frequently ablation is considered non-surgical and I had those they were very successful for about 15 years. Ask your pain management doctor about that. Good luck.

@gidget1280 I also have severe L4-5 stenosis and was experiencing crippling sciatica pain. I began following the Gokhale Primal Posture method and have now been pain free and avoided surgery. Start with the book, but I recommend some training with a certified Gokhale teacher.

@gidget1280 hi hi! oh this sounds so familiar! so, a year ago i was barely able to walk, was on lyrica for extreme nerve pain and tramadol and t-3’s for pain.
mri showed large protrusion (laminal stenosis) L-4 impinging on nerves, and boy, did that pain run down my leg right into my foot! i had a trip booked to bali and that was a huge motivator for me to get stronger! i am determined to avoid surgery for as long as possible. core exercises are hugely important. (i also have a hip labrum tear so sometimes i’m not sure which pain is coming from where! 😬😅). i found an “active release therapist” who is a chiropractor and does not “crack” bones but does mayo-fascial release. she has helped me immensely! and i got to bali! i walk every day…(had to learn how to walk differently: always engaging lower abdomen and glutes) , sit differently and i do my exercises as often as i can. someone here on this thread suggested looking into a walking and sitting technique and i looked the therapist up on youtube and got some good tips. you’ll have to scroll back to find the name of that practise. i also got some hot tips by a physiotherapist on youtube who is very pro-active in preventing surgery. his site is called el paso manual therapy. search him on youtube and add spinal stenosis. i had been going to a physio and discovered that some of the things they told me i should be doing, this el paso guy said was not helpful! i still have bad flare-ups but i’m back to gardening (do 50 percent less than you think you want to do!) , making pottery and even dancing on good days!
when i went to bali, i took a square blow up cushion to sit on on the plane and support my lower back. it helped a lot! i also took a “foot hammock”, 12 bucks on amazon… to help elevate my legs and take support off my spine. i made sure i got up every hour or two to walk around. i did fine! and that was when i was still walking and moving quite slowly.
for at home self-care, i also bought one of those massage guns to help loosen up my muscles as sometimes it’s the spasmy muscles around the injury that cause the greatest pain! i am extra careful around too much bending and lifting…i sit to do some tasks too, but can stand for much much longer than i was able to last year. last year i couldn’t stand on my toes to reach into the cupboard… extreme pain! now i am doing stand-on-my-toes exercises with my glutes engaged and can feel my body getting stronger instead of weaker! all this after i was told i might end up in a wheelchair. and my last mri said the large protrusion had diminished in size! the laminal stenosis is still there but these exercises are supporting spine health and creating a bit more space between those discs. keep in touch! happy to discuss further. take care and listen to what your body is telling you! don’t get discouraged if you can help it. it’s not an easy road but if you are seeking non-surgical support, you can potentially build strength you didn’t have before. sending healing vibes. ☺️

@gidget1280 ah yay, someone here mentioned the method i was trying to recall! the gokhale method. there’s some of her stuff on youtube,

@gidget1280 hello, well your doing the right thing, my suggestion is simple, look at your exercises first, what you want is to build the muscle up around the core, your core muscle . some exercises do not really help as much as others. biggest threat is yourself fand having patience. seeing is not necessary , feeling is . not sure your age, there is exercise programs for every injury. just dont over due. takes longer to regain ground. i was bed ridden over 6 months its taken a while but i can walk 2 miles one way and back as long as i take my time. breaks are mandatory in some positions, use a prop, chair back or something to lean into. hope this helps, ps i have a ruptured L3. i just built the core up better.