Hayden Panettiere Was Seen on Crutches 'Struggling to Walk' After 'Painful Back Injury' Months Before Tragic Death at 36

Hayden Panettiere walked with a limp and relied on crutches and the help of others in the months before her tragic death, RadarOnline.com can report.

The Nashville star had been dealing with a painful back injury and worried she might have been "paralyzed for life."

Panettiere had been plagued by back issues since at least May, when she was spotted struggling to walk outside of CBS. The 36-year-old was caught on camera clutching her assistant's hand for support as she got out of her car.

Witnesses described her gait as "shaky" and "unsteady" with a bit of a limp. Her right leg was visibly causing her some trouble.

Panettiere opened up about her back during an interview with Women's Health as she described having suffered nerve damage in her lower back.

"I quite literally woke up and felt nothing but pins and needles from my waist down," she stated. "I wasn't able to bend my toes or lift my foot at all. No one was able to give me a solid answer."

She continued, "It was like that for so long that I was sitting there going, 'Oh my gosh, am I gonna be paralyzed for the rest of my... life?' It's the scariest thing that's ever happened to me physically, for sure."

It's not clear if Panettiere was taking any kind of pain medication for her back, but she had a well-documented history of addiction to drugs and alcohol. A medicine typically used for emergency drug overdoses was reportedly found in the Greenville, South Carolina home in which she died on Sunday, August 16.

Emergency responders radioed that the Heroes star may have had an accidental "overdose" of something, as they rushed to provide CPR in a failed attempt to save her life.

According to TMZ, a vial of Narcan was found on the mattress inside the apartment where she was staying. The nasal spray is commonly used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose or similar drugs.

As Radar reported, 911 calls said a woman appeared to be suffering "cardiac arrest."

However, at least two ambulances rushed to the apartment, which might mean there were actually multiple people in distress, and it's unclear who received the dose of Narcan.

An autopsy concluded that "no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death," and "the cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies."

Authorities told Radar in a statement that first responders and Emergency Medical Services fielded a call about a woman in cardiac arrest.

When they arrived at the apartment, "Panettiere was found unresponsive inside the residence, where she had been temporarily staying."

The statement added, "EMS personnel initiated advanced cardiac life support measures; however, resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and the individual was pronounced deceased at 2:32 PM."

According to her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere turned to alcohol as an escape from her ex's abuse, her career, and the woes of a fractured motherhood.

She turned to treatment in 2020, entering an eight-month stay and pushing through withdrawal symptoms, including developing jaundice and yellow eyes.

"A doctor told me that if I didn't stop drinking, I'd be dead within five years," she confessed.