Best advice I can give is if you seek medical advice or attention, try to get in front of a good orthopedic surgeon and then hopefully he requests an MRI to find out EXACTLY what the problem is. Then he can choose the correct course of action to get you fixed.
I'm a 47 y/o male, retired USMC with 21 years, and a gym rat as well. My problems are blown herniated disc's from years of abuse and wear and tear. When the disc's are blown the nerves get pinched and that is where the sharp jolting pain comes from. It would put me on the sidelines for days/weeks at a time. Blown/herniated discs are like teeth, once they go bad they don't heal themselves so I've been told by my doc.
I had a microdiskectomy on my L5/S1 and he basically made some more room for my nerve root using a laser maybe or a some type of dremel like tool. 1/2 inch incision, 2/3 hour procedure, and I was up and walking an hour later. No problem's since and that was back in 2014. I don't try to squat 300+ lbs anymore or any super heavy lifting in the gym, but bowling and/or any other physical activity gives me zero problems.
I've also got a blown disc in my upper back/neck area that crushed the nerve root that works my left arm and chest muscles. Basically got to the point the muscles didn't fire anymore. Had the discs fuzed with a titanium plate that spaced the discs apart to make room for the nerve root. To this date I've always had full range of motion with my head/neck with no pain. I can't tell the titanium plate is in there. Easy recovery and everything works again. That procedure was more invasive as they go in thru the front of your neck to reach that part of your spine. And I was league bowling again a week later. Doc told me it was the same procedure Peyton Manning had done.
Bottom line, get in front of a good orthopedic surgeon specialist and beg for an MRI. In my opinion it's the only way to find out what the EXACT problem is.
