Home and Away's Leah star forced to take break from soap after 'excruciating' accident

Home and Away star Ada Nicodemou had no choice but to take a break from filming the Australian soap after she suffered with "excruciating pain" caused by a sneeze.

Home and Away star Ada Nicodemou was left in "excruciating pain" after injuring her back.

The actress, 46, best known for playing Leah Patterson on the Australian soap since 2000, was forced to pull out of filming and was told to rest up at home when the incident took place last year. At the time, Ada took to Instagram to tell her followers about the moment which left her unable to walk.

She kicked off her story by recalling that a "funny thing happened" before sharing more about her injury. Ada explained that she woke up early to go to them gym but was left in severe pain after sneezing.

"I woke up Thursday morning, quite early, to go to the gym and I sneezed," the soap star said. "I was in excruciating pain. I couldn't walk, I couldn't do anything."

Ada continued: "I had to basically lie flat on my back. I've done something, I think I've got a bulging disk. Now I can't feel my leg and I don't know when it's going to heal so yay to me sneezing."

As she couldn't walk, Ada was told by doctors to rest over the following days. But the time spent at home clearly led to boredom as she requested her followers to send over book and TV show recommendations.

Ada continued: "I had to basically lie flat on my back. I've done something, I think I've got a bulging disk. Now I can't feel my leg and I don't know when it's going to heal so yay to me sneezing."

Underneath a selfie snapped in bed, the mum-of-one wrote in the caption: "Didn’t know a sneeze could cause so much damage. I’ve now been told I need to rest and take it easy till I heal. Anyone suggest some books or TV shows for me? I need suggestions so I don’t go insane."

Over the past few weeks, Leah's trauma has taken over her as she continues living with the aftermath of being kidnapped and left for dead by a cult. Leah's skewed reality made her believe that Justin (James Stewart) was working with the cult and during Monday's episode (February 19), she threatened her former fiancé with a knife.

The tense showdown filtered into Tuesday's instalment (February 20) of the Channel 5 soap, with Justin held at knifepoint by the woman he loves. Justin attempted to talk Leah down before Theo (Matt Evans) walked in, begging his Auntie to drop the knife.

Theo called Bree (Juliet Godwin), who managed to convince Leah to put the knife down. Returning home, Leah revealed to Bree that she has no memory of what occurred, but became confused and frightened by fleeting memories of her brandishing a weapon.

Bree determined that Leah had a psychotic episode, likely caused by a combination of her trauma and sleep deprivation. Realising she could have seriously hurt Justin, Leah agreed to check into a mental health clinic.