Why does distratcion pain start weeks later?

[Michelle]

This leg pain is in the same pattern as it used to be, only on the left instead of the right leg. It came on quite severe in my left leg only a few hours after I'd been significantly more active than before. (I wouldn't have thought that 5 hours out of bed was that much 3 weeks after surgery but I guess it was too much). I laid down feeling fine, then the pain started a few hours later, and I hurt most of the night. It went mostly away by the next a.m., and is back to the minor bilateral leg pain I've had since surgery. The inflammatory response makes sense, though why wouldn't it have been bilateral? Is it also true that the less the disc had to be distracted from where it was, the less leg pain that is typically experienced? I don't know yet how much of my disc height was restored. I'm not really worried because it does follow the same pattern as my previous leg pain, and had abated drastically, just curious. Thanks for your insight!