hot shower symptoms

Hi

When my 19yo son went thru his 1st growth spurt at 13, he grew a massive amount in a short period of time, maybe close to a foot. He's now 6'4". Not sure if this was the cause of his lower back issues, or playing basketball x5yrs - or both.

I'll fast forward to get to the reason for this post. In mid-2021 he was diagnosed with three lower lumbar herniations of varying degrees. Two of the 3 herniations (3 levels involved) were moderate in size.

After the usual pre-surgery treatments (no improvement in symptoms), September of 2022 he had his first (of 2) microdiscectomies with a very good neurosurgeon - left L4-L5. That side has been completely fine since the 6 month postop healing period.

***Not pertinent here to my post, but later he had the same surgery on his right L5-S1 - it's been completely fine as well.

He is in his 1st year of college and has been basically sedentary - MINIMAL activity. His muscles basically no strength other than doing usual daily activities.

Last week tho, he went from ZERO to HERO.

He and some friends played flickerball for 2+hrs (it's a form of soccer only instead of kicking the ball, you throw it). He played barefoot - not sure if this mattered.

That night and until yesterday-ish, his muscles (basically all over his body) were screaming in soreness - not surprising. What usually happens when you're pretty much completely inactive and then play a sport very hard, for 2+hrs.

His lower back all across the back (not just one side), was included in the soreness along with his legs, even his feet hurt.

Here's where my curiosity comes in.

Since playing that day, when he's been taking his daily showers, which he likes pretty hot, AND he admits he likes to let the hot water hit his lower back a bit. He's been getting a nerve-type feeling basically in his LEFT calf. He's a poor historian, but he says it mostly skips his thigh & then he can feel it mildly in his upper left calf. He says on a scale of 1-10, the feeling is around a 4.

Here's the confusing part, IT COMPLETELY GOES AWAY AFTER HIS SHOWER IS DONE AND HE COOLS OFF.

Yesterday morning he did a test. He let cold water hit his back at first to see if the feeling came, and it was barely noticeable, if at all - until he made the water hot again.

He also had this same type thing occur in the postop period after both surgeries, for many months - again, only during showers.

He's been pain free for a long time, but he's also been sedentary. For this instance since playing the game last week, he's had the whole body soreness but nothing down the leg *EXCEPT for during his showers once a day.

He almost 100% likely has scar tissue formed where that 1st left-sided surgery was done. Could it be that his inflamed back muscles (from the sudden increased and intense activity) then become more inflamed during a hot shower from where the hot water is raining down on the lower back (muscle) area for many minutes causing increased blood flow/more inflammation, which then the now larger & even more swollen muscle impinges on the deeper layers and the scar tissue which then impinges on the nerve which is likely close by?

If you want to reply, please read my description of the problem carefully and thoughtfully before doing so. As his mom, I don't want to become more frightened, I am already quite nervous bc I obviously don't want my young son to need another surgery. I am looking for sensible theories here from those who have a good grasp of anatomy and perhaps similar disc issues. I am an RN, so I have my ideas but I desire more input, as I don't have back issues myself.

I appreciate your time in reading this.

Any thoughts on what could be going on *just during his shower and at no other time in his day on campus?

The bottom line from our observation (I've even kept notes on his symptoms during his daily showers since last week lol) is that SOMETHING is going on during his HOT showers and ONLY then.

THANKS!!!

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