Ellen DeGeneres closed the chapter on her talk show after an impressive run of 19 seasons. As fans look back on her journey, some focus on the challenges Ellen faced, including a surprising bout with COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic. At 64, Ellen revealed having “excruciating” back pain due to the virus—a symptom she hadn’t anticipated.
After her show was enveloped in accusations of a toxic work environment, Ellen chose to step back from the limelight. She redirected her focus towards her love for wildlife conservation, notably finishing work on The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda.
Recently, Ellen shared her COVID experience on social media, expressing with surprise that back pain had emerged as one of her symptoms.
When speaking about her health update a week after testing positive in December 2020, Ellen mentioned being “100%” feeling better but called attention to a detail that caught her off guard. Medical professionals hadn’t mentioned this particular symptom to her initially.
While many take to watching shows like “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that air every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. EST with an ensemble of star-studded guests and beats, Ellen’s candid reflections on viral symptoms cast a new light on what we knew about the virus.
Ellen noted, “I’m feeling great now, but nobody warned me about the severe back pain. I was surprised to hear from a couple of others that they experienced it too.”
She wondered aloud, “Who would have thought? I didn’t know back pain was linked to COVID.”
Back when COVID first introduced itself to the world, research on the wide array of symptoms was still in its infancy. The CDC did not list back pain as a symptom, although they did include “muscle or body aches” as a general indication of the virus.
Initially, the common warning signals associated with COVID-19 were fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, headaches, sudden loss of taste or smell, and others like sore throat, nasal congestion, nausea, and diarrhea.
The NHS sheds light on the reasons back pain and joint aches might arise, explaining that many people could have had pre-existing aches and soreness which could worsen with illness.
The NHS highlights on their website, “Many individuals may have had minor discomforts before getting sick with COVID. The illness can trigger these problems again. Regular activity helps keep our joints and muscles in shape.”
For people affected by COVID-19, reduced levels of physical activity compared to their usual norms can enhance these aches and muscle weaknesses.
When muscles weaken, daily activities such as standing, walking up stairs, holding things, or lifting arms can become quite challenging. As the virus spread globally, a mention of back and shoulder pain started creeping into the list of symptoms.
With the pandemic pushing many into home offices, even those not quarantined found themselves less active, social restrictions adding to this sedentary lifestyle and its resulting backaches.
A Maltese study involving 388 participants found that before the pandemic, 30% faced chronic back pain, a figure rising to 49% post-COVID—with the majority unfamiliar with such pains before the pandemic.
It is vital to remember that experiencing back pain doesn’t conclusively point to a COVID infection. Back discomfort can result from various conditions and should it coincide with nasal congestion, frequent sneezing, persistent cough, or fever, other ailments like the flu might be the culprit, especially during winter months.
Pneumonia patients similarly report back pain, often due to thoracic inflammation. Other signs following back pain might include a shooting or burning sensation, pain trailing down your leg, tingling, inability to relax, and a continuous mild ache.
