Not sure that it matters now, but…

I had an MRI in May, report said I hit the double trifecta - stenosis, spurs, foraminal narrowing, facet anthropathy, disc bulges, and ligamentum flavum thickening, mostly on left side. No surprises, I herniated a couple of discs years ago and I’m old.

And yet, except for an occasional twinge of pain in my middle lower back - NO real pain or problems, I could play golf, pickleball, ride motocross and basketball and walk miles with no pain.

Notwithstanding the lack of pain, I was persuaded by folks and my GP that I should work on strengthening and flexibility, that it would help as I aged (67 at the time).

Note: up to this point, I did almost no pre-activity stretching, no weightlifting, I really don’t like exercising. My warmup was to just start playing.

Anyway, I started in late July with a reputable PT shop, they gave me a bunch of exercises to work on, NONE of which caused me any pain while I was doing them or in the immediate aftermath, and all under supervision - 2 visits a week.

And now the good (sarcasm) part: starting in mid-August I started experiencing pain twinges up and down my left leg. Nothing serious at the time, but it kept getting worse and worse to the point (beginning of November) that I was unable to do much of anything, even with a couple of Dilaudid in my system. Now I alternate between leg pain, tingling and numbness, one or the others.

So, my question: is it possible that in some perverse, twisted way the exercises unleashed or loosened up something in my back that now lets the bone press on the nerve? Or built up some inflammation over time that just unleashed itself one day?

Some more info: I had no falls or anything traumatic, I didn’t lift anything heavy, no sudden twists or anything that gets associated with triggering back pain. I’ve had 2 steroid injections, the last 3 weeks ago, with little if any improvement.