largosama

About five years ago, I developed a bad lower back pain that would happen when I walked up hills or did any impact exercises. It was even worse when I tried to walk with a full bladder (not that I lost bowel control, but the back pain was very bad). The doctor told me that essentially a disc had degenerated and that the disc was basically eroded so that the bones occasionally touch (or something like that). He then told me to lose weight and my back problems may resolve itself. Unfortunately, I have not lost the weight and I still have that pain. I was eating better, but not getting the exercise.

Forward to about two years ago. I played some semi-pro football... yes yes yes, not the best sport for a person with a back problem... anyway, during warm up exercises, we would run a lap around the field after stretching. During the lap, I would get an extreme pain in my left leg. I assumed that it was just due to the fact that I hadn't exercised in a long time and I was out of shape (considering that I was completely winded by halfway through, it made sense at the time).

Flash forwards to a few months ago. My fiancee and I buy Dance Dance Revolution for our PS2. It's basically a dancing game and is a great way to get exercise. I play it for a week or two, but notice that I start getting the leg pains that I got during football practice. As I played the game more, then pains came on more severely and quicker. It started after about 20 songs at first, then to 15, and on lower and lower. Now I can't do more then 1 song without feeling pain in my left leg (shin/calf area). I had some blood work done and an ultrasound on my leg, but those turned up fine. There's still a chance it could be Peripheral Vascular Disease and I'm going in for an MRA soon for it.

Assuming it's not PVD, what's the likeliness that this is related to my DDD? It's never the whole leg, just the calf/shin area. I'd like to hear opinion/theories on this.