After Ellen DeGeneres’ chat show wrapped up its 19-season run, a whole lot of fans have been looking back at the peaks and valleys of her career. More recently, the 64-year-old said she had “excruciating” back pain after getting COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic.
DeGeneres chose to step out of the public eye when there were accusations that her show had a toxic work environment. Instead, she wanted to focus more on her love for animal conservation. She just finished building The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda.
But the actress got diagnosed with Covid and gave an update on social media. She also said she was really surprised that back pain was a symptom.
The host said she was taking “proper precautions” when she caught the virus in December 2020, after making sure she was.
A week later, DeGeneres shared a health update and said she was “100%.” Then she went on to talk about something related to the condition that medical people “don’t tell you.”
Every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. EST, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has all kinds of celebrities, athletes, musicians, comedians, human interest stories, funny bits, and a house band.
On Tuesday, April 20, the guests were Ellen DeGeneres, Billie Joe Armstrong, and musical guests Jimmie Allen & Brad Paisley.
“I feel great,” she said. “What they don’t tell you is that you’ll have really bad back pain. I had no idea that was a symptom until I talked to a few other people.”
“Who would’ve thought?” “How come?” DeGeneres asked. “I’m having back pain.”
Since she got Covid in the year it first showed up, there wasn’t as much research on symptoms as there is now.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) didn’t officially list back pain as a Covid symptom at the start of the pandemic. But one of the early symptoms was “muscle or body aches.”
Other early signs of Covid were fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, tiredness, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.
In contrast, the NHS explains why a lot of people get back pain and other joint and muscle problems.
According to the NHS website, “many patients had some aches and pains before getting sick with Covid.” “The illness might have brought back or made these problems worse.” That’s because moving around regularly is good for our joints and muscles.
“People who are sick with COVID are less active than usual. So aches, stiffness, and muscle weakness can happen.”
If your muscles are weak, you might have trouble standing, going up stairs, grabbing things, or lifting your arms. As Covid spread around the world, back pain and shoulder pain were often reported.
Another thing that led to back pain during that time was the increase in work-from-home options. Even when people didn’t have to work from home, limits on socializing and going out meant people were moving less and sitting more.
A study of 388 people in Malta found that 30% of people had chronic back pain before Covid, but 49% had back pain after Covid started. Most of those who got back pain after Covid said they never had it before the pandemic.
It’s important to know that just having back pain doesn’t mean you have Covid. There are lots of things that can cause backache. And if it comes with a stuffy nose, sneezing, coughing, or fever, muscle pain might be a sign of other illnesses, like the flu, which is more common in the UK in winter.
Also, pneumonia patients might have back pain because of inflammation and infection in the chest. Back pain might also have these symptoms:
A sharp, burning, or stabbing feeling
Pain going down your leg
A pins and needles feeling
Not being able to relax
A constant dull ache.