Adele has opened up about the full extent of her back issues during a recent performance in Las Vegas.
The 34-year-old singer told the crowd, “I have got really bad sciatica in my left leg and my L5 disc is not f––ing there any more. It’s worn away.”
It’s not the first time that Adele has opened up about her back problems, which she has struggled with since she was a teenager.
Last year, Adele told The Face magazine, “I’ve been in pain with my back for, like, half of my life, really. It flares up, normally due to stress or from a stupid bit of posture.”
Adele’s chronic back pain first began when a bad sneeze caused her to slip a spinal disc at 15.
“I was in bed and I sneezed and my fifth one flew out.”
The injury flared up again when Adele’s son played a jump-scare prank on her in 2021, with Adele telling ELLE US that the prank caused her to slip her L6.
Adele revealed a little more about her back issues during last year’s New Year’s Eve performance, when she admitted that the pain gets so bad that she often has to “waddle” around.
According to SpinalCure Australia, the L5 disc is the last section of the lumbar spine and injuries to it can cause sciatica, numbness and weakness in the legs.
Adele has previously said that working out regularly does improve her level of pain, explaining “where I got my tummy strong, down at the bottom, which I never had before, my back don’t play up as much. It means I can do more, I can run around with my kid a little bit more,” she said.
We don’t usually condone playing through the pain, but it seems Adele’s injury hasn’t stopped her from putting on a stellar performance night after night.
