It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Amy Schumer. I assumed she was either licking her wounds after her movie I Feel Pretty sputtered out at the box office or was just still in the honeymoon phase of her recent marriage to chef Chris Fischer. It seems some medical setbacks have kept her out of the spotlight, but she’s definitely on the road to recovery.
The 37-year-old actress and comedienne shared in an Instagram post on Sunday revealing that she’s been dealing with some painful back and hip problems. In the post, she stated, “About 7 months ago I was in excruciating back and hip pain. From old volleyball and surfing injuries I have a herniated disc, a bulging disc and a labral tear in my hip.” Ouch.
Amy initially treated her pain via an epidural and then worked with two trainers to regain her strength. She doesn’t talk about it much, but Amy is no stranger to the gym. One of her trainers, Haley Pasternak, told People Magazine last year that Amy is a natural athlete, “She played sports at a high-level through high school and college, and was an aerobics instructor. So she’s very coordinated, and easy to push in the gym.”
In her recent IG post, Amy credits another trainer, Tim DiFrancesco, and her boxing trainer, Steven Frank, for getting her on the road to recovery. She said, “These great people nursed me back to health and made me stronger than ever.” She ended her post by encouraging anyone in pain to “do the work to feel better” and added, “I know I’m lucky I have the time and money to heal. Everyone should be entitled to great care. Everyone. Period.”
As much as I am ambivalent about Amy now (I loved her back when she was on Last Comic Standing, but she lost me with Snatched), I’m sorry she was in such pain. After abusing my joints for years, running half marathons when I had no business to be doing so, I can totally sympathize with her plight. I also agree that affordable health care should be available for everyone. Period.
Photos: Getty, WENN, Instagram
Epidural steroid injections, I am assuming?
That’s what I assumed also. I had back pain that could not be alleviated by PT. They finally did the injection (a series of 3) and what a relief it was!
Could be epidural steroids or like my sister has gotten for the past 25 years since her spinal vertebrae were fractured at work – a painkiller, Lidocaine and steroid delivered via epidural.
And for my sister, the epidurals are hell because when she had her last son just 18 months before her spine was broken at work, she had had an adverse reaction to the epidural. Slight variation in her anatomy and the anesthesiologist ended up paralyzing her diaphragm during her C-Section. So sister couldn’t move, could breathe and couldn’t tell anyone she could breathe. Luckily the anesthesiologist was paying attention to the monitor and begin manual respiration for her and immediately began reversing her epidural.
But now every time her neurologist says that she needs another spinal epidural for her intense pain she has a panic attack and cries but she goes through with it because the pain is worse than the panic attacks,
With the back pain epidemic we have currently, I just want to use this post as an excuse to mention a book called “Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection” by John Sarno. That is all.
That’s a wonderful book – I second its recommendation!
Fun fact: running isn’t bad for your joints. Our joints are meant to be used, and the impact is good for our bone density. But people tend to have a lot of muscular imbalances that result in knee issues. Ta da!
Anyhoo, you can’t fix a labral tear any way aside from surgically. You can manage pain, but cartilage doesn’t repair the same way muscle and bone do. Cortizone can help with the inflammation, but it wont ultimately fix what’s wrong.
As someone who’s gone from running marathons to chronic back and joint pain, can empathise. After months of being told it was random muscle pain, I have just being diagnosed with a chronic, autoimmune inflammatory condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis. Chronic pain is truly life altering.
I feel you. After years of weight training and sprinting I developed excruciating pain in my feet and hands which initially I was told was overuse. Turns out it’s rheumatoid arthritis. Chronic pain is absolutely no joke.
It took me years to get a diagnosis despite having huge swelling in my hands and a decent family history, they decided I was too young. Now I can’t even do the stuff that was probably helping keep it at bay for as long as it did, it’s no fun is it?
I don’t like her at all. The way she dismisses the concerns of black women angers me, but chronic back pain is brutal. I hope she find healing.
I think it’s because Rory Scovel was so likeable, but I actually didn’t hate I Feel Pretty. Snatched, however, was worthy of all the hate it received.
This pisses me off, not Amy but for her chronic back pain and labral tear the best we have is a shot we give women during child birth (granted I realize it’s probably steroids, but still) There are so many people with chronic pain from backs, joints, nerve disease, cancer, etc and what we have to help them cope is some form of steroids, opiates, and maybe marijuana if you live in the right place. Our research in this country on pain relief is horrible and leaves very little long lasting options. It’s just sad.