Sciatica & the pain that comes with it

[barronj]

Out of nowhere, I have this pain in my left glute/hip that I'm told is classic sciatica. It's debilitating. I'm ok to walk, but standing still is almost impossible due to pain, have to sit. I can't stand in line at the bank, I can't stand in line anywhere without shifting my weight around (I weigh 195/200 - 6'1.5") but after a minute, it's almost unbearable. Makes me irritable.

I'm seeing a chiropractor/massage therapist, and my friends have also referred me to sports medicine docs... my physician friends say it will heal on its own with time, stretching, and strengthening, but I'd like to tap the brain trust here and get additional feedback.

[lowthreeohz]

Heard a lot of people say they've had good results with an inversion table.

[CyaNide]

I get the same thing from time to time. Hurts to walk and stand still. It seems to always be there even if just slightly. I haven't seen anyone for it yet, so I am not sure how to get it to go away. I try to stay active as much as I can. Going to see a chiropractor soon. I am not old enough to be this gimpy yet.

CN

[CWO]

I've been dealing with this for years. Stretching helps, and I recently bought a back brace and it helps quite a bit. I wear it most of the day under my shirt, but I sit at a desk most of the day.

The quickest relief I get is if I can bend my knees and hips as much as possible, whether sitting in a chair with your feet on the edge of the chair with your knees up by your face or lying on the ground in a fetal position... I only do that at home

Mine gets bad driving too, same thing there, I have to scoot my foot as close to the seat as possible and it takes most of the pain away.


Bottom line, it sucks. I'm going to a chiro today for some unrelated issues, but I'm sure it will come up.

[slow99]

Sounds like what I went through. I was 19 and stupid and let it go way too long. I know I did it squatting too much with poor form, it initially felt like a pulled hamstring on my left leg. It eventually turned to intense pain that spread to both glutes, legs, even down to the ankles. I think mine went for about a year and a half before I actually saw someone. Couldn't walk, couldn't stand, couldn't sleep, it was pure hell. My apartment was 3 blocks from campus and I'd drive the block and a half to the parking lot to avoid a block of walking.

I initially tried a chiropractor but it only made it worse. Finally got an MRI and saw a neurologist - turns out it was a ruptured L4/L5. I wish I would have taken care of it earlier, as it's possible I could have avoided surgery with other treatments. By the time I went to do something about it, surgery was my only real option. Best of luck, my advice is to get to a neurologist/some back specialist and get an MRI.

[barronj]

I'm seriously considering the MRI. With my deductible, it's either I get a plasma cutter or I get an MRI... decisions, decisions.

[abecx]

Heard a lot of people say they've had good results with an inversion table.

While I can not vouch for having it cure or resolve back issues as I have never had any, I did buy one for doing upside down situps. It felt good to stretch on it. I have no idea if it was placebo or not, but sometimes it almost felt as if I could feel my spine aligning/adjusting when I would hang upside down for 10 minutes.

[mstng86]

I'm seriously considering the MRI. With my deductible, it's either I get a plasma cutter or I get an MRI... decisions, decisions.

use plasma cutter to cut out the nerve.

win win

[2000 vert]

Iv had the same problem since i was about 20. Im 42 now. My leg stayes numb, cant sit too long cant stand too long without some pain. Driving is the worst. I finally broke down and had an mri around 30. Turned out to be two bulging disks causing the nerve pain. Pain is managable with stretching and exercise. I would highly recommend getting the mri so u know for sure what ur dealing with.

[akfodysvn]

Look up McKenzie maneuvers for back pain/sciatica. I battle the same issue for years due to herniated/bulging discs. Those have been the most productive exercises to get the disc off the nerve.

The biggest correction is body mechanics on a daily basis. No bending at the waist to pick things up. Squat down with a straight back. Kick one leg out behind you to reach down and pick something up. Core strength is huge... Abs and back. You should walk around with your core slightly flexed at all times and really brace every time you pick something up. I use an active release chiropractor who takes care of regular joes, ku men's basketball, and nba players.

Avoid anything that causes you to round your back forward like layng over an exercise ball on your stomach or drawing your knees up to your chest. All you are doing is pushing the disc out further. It's odd because it can provide initial sense of relief but long term is very bad. I personally would also avoid the back brace long term as it is just a bandaid and not fixing the problem. I have spent a ton of time researching and hours with my healthcare providers ad I thought it was going to end my career. It had certainly improved my quality of life

[barronj]

I'm just ignorant/stubborn when it comes to lifting. I had just installed a new oven in the guest house in Rockport, and nobody was around to help me put the old one in the bed of my truck & get to the lift station/dump, so I just picked it up and put it in the bed. That was 6 months back, not the trigger to my current situation. That's just dumb, but it's how I've always done things... I'm responsible for this, I know.

[Cooter]

It's a disc issue. DO NOT waste your time/money at a chiropractor.

Fill your fucking brain with as much info on discs as possible. The info is out there.

If I had done that vs. Going to a chiropractor when I first injured my disc lifting something, I would have been far better off.

The stretches you think you want to do are NOT the ones you want to do!

Piriformis stretches, pulling your knees to your chest, etc. Will cause more problems!

I had the largest L5-S1 segmentation that my quack chiropractor (after I had been reading/studying and requested an MRI!) or the sports medicine doc or the neurologist had seen. A piece 21mm long and 14mm in average diameter broken off and mingled in my sciatic nerve in the neutral canal.

It was excruciatingly painful. They all told me I needed immediate surgery. This was after almost two months of living with it and multiple reinjuries because nobody told me it was a disc.

I told them to suck my fucking dick.

I lived on the hard floor of my bedroom for two weeks. Then in bed for two weeks.

It's way better now. The numbness in my and loss of strength in my calf and foot are gone. I have slight numbness in another area of my foot after working too hard moving stuff into the new house.

I'm getting an inversion table. I may have to get a fucking fusion surgery layer in life, but I'm sure aiming to not have to. I had to completely relearn my body mechanics. Life sucks. Oh well.

Study up and heal yourself and your disc injury before you or some quack chiropractor completely destroys your back. I think I'd rather be toothless or missing a ball or something vs having a bad back because they tend to just get worse as you get older.

Mine has a dull ache constantly and I have to be very aware of my movements. I don't take pain killers because of my addictive personality, so that's fun too. Flip side is it prevents numbing the pain lest I make a wrong move that causes more damage.

Start reading and don't let anybody scare you into emergency surgery. Good luck and take care of yourself

[Rick Modena]

Out of nowhere, I have this pain in my left glute/hip that I'm told is classic sciatica. It's debilitating. I'm ok to walk, but standing still is almost impossible due to pain, have to sit. I can't stand in line at the bank, I can't stand in line anywhere without shifting my weight around (I weigh 195/200 - 6'1.5") but after a minute, it's almost unbearable. Makes me irritable.

I'm seeing a chiropractor/massage therapist, and my friends have also referred me to sports medicine docs... my physician friends say it will heal on its own with time, stretching, and strengthening, but I'd like to tap the brain trust here and get additional feedback.

I feel ya bruthu! Same shit happened to me, all I did was pick up a 5 gallon jug of saltwater water from my floorboard of my stang over my body to the garage floor (I've done this for over 15 yrs.). I felt something, but it didn't hurt right away, but man about 30 minutes later I was in the bed for a week. No position helps (at least not me), I could not get comfortable and the only thing that helped was 800mgs of ibuprofen. I went to the Dr. a week later, had an X-ray done and was given this prognosis of Sciatica. I had an MRI done as well and it looks like I have that and degenerative lower back condition to go with it.
I used to not believe people that always complained about back problems as I have never had any, well not no more, I can empathize like a mofo now. Good luck, it took weeks to get back to almost normal, I don't dare pick up anything heavy these days. This happened the Monday after Halloween and I barely got back to no pain the week before Christmas.

[GeorgeG.]

It's a disc issue. DO NOT waste your time/money at a chiropractor.

Fill your fucking brain with as much info on discs as possible. The info is out there.

If I had done that vs. Going to a chiropractor when I first injured my disc lifting something, I would have been far better off.

The stretches you think you want to do are NOT the ones you want to do!

Piriformis stretches, pulling your knees to your chest, etc. Will cause more problems!

I had the largest L5-S1 segmentation that my quack chiropractor (after I had been reading/studying and requested an MRI!) or the sports medicine doc or the neurologist had seen. A piece 21mm long and 14mm in average diameter broken off and mingled in my sciatic nerve in the neutral canal.

It was excruciatingly painful. They all told me I needed immediate surgery. This was after almost two months of living with it and multiple reinjuries because nobody told me it was a disc.

I told them to suck my fucking dick.

I lived on the hard floor of my bedroom for two weeks. Then in bed for two weeks.

It's way better now. The numbness in my and loss of strength in my calf and foot are gone. I have slight numbness in another area of my foot after working too hard moving stuff into the new house.

I'm getting an inversion table. I may have to get a fucking fusion surgery layer in life, but I'm sure aiming to not have to. I had to completely relearn my body mechanics. Life sucks. Oh well.

Study up and heal yourself and your disc injury before you or some quack chiropractor completely destroys your back. I think I'd rather be toothless or missing a ball or something vs having a bad back because they tend to just get worse as you get older.

Mine has a dull ache constantly and I have to be very aware of my movements. I don't take pain killers because of my addictive personality, so that's fun too. Flip side is it prevents numbing the pain lest I make a wrong move that causes more damage.

Start reading and don't let anybody scare you into emergency surgery. Good luck and take care of yourself

The day a chiropractor recommends surgery is when you know you have a pretty serious problem.

OP, be careful with chiro's. They'll most likely tell you they can fix you up with 3 visits/week for the next 4-6 months. Is it true, I don't know but it certainly throws up red flags when I heard the same damn song from different chiro's. That's not to say they don't serve a purpose or can give you some relief but their approach just seems like a way to bill the insurance for some big money. I'll typically go 1/wk when I fuck it up till it feels better.

[akfodysvn]

It's a disc issue. DO NOT waste your time/money at a chiropractor.

Fill your fucking brain with as much info on discs as possible. The info is out there.

If I had done that vs. Going to a chiropractor when I first injured my disc lifting something, I would have been far better off.

The stretches you think you want to do are NOT the ones you want to do!

Piriformis stretches, pulling your knees to your chest, etc. Will cause more problems!

I had the largest L5-S1 segmentation that my quack chiropractor (after I had been reading/studying and requested an MRI!) or the sports medicine doc or the neurologist had seen. A piece 21mm long and 14mm in average diameter broken off and mingled in my sciatic nerve in the neutral canal.

It was excruciatingly painful. They all told me I needed immediate surgery. This was after almost two months of living with it and multiple reinjuries because nobody told me it was a disc.

I told them to suck my fucking dick.

I lived on the hard floor of my bedroom for two weeks. Then in bed for two weeks.

It's way better now. The numbness in my and loss of strength in my calf and foot are gone. I have slight numbness in another area of my foot after working too hard moving stuff into the new house.

I'm getting an inversion table. I may have to get a fucking fusion surgery layer in life, but I'm sure aiming to not have to. I had to completely relearn my body mechanics. Life sucks. Oh well.

Study up and heal yourself and your disc injury before you or some quack chiropractor completely destroys your back. I think I'd rather be toothless or missing a ball or something vs having a bad back because they tend to just get worse as you get older.

Mine has a dull ache constantly and I have to be very aware of my movements. I don't take pain killers because of my addictive personality, so that's fun too. Flip side is it prevents numbing the pain lest I make a wrong move that causes more damage.

Start reading and don't let anybody scare you into emergency surgery. Good luck and take care of yourself

My chiro has never once adjusted me. We stretch, core strengthen, and work on body mechanics. Your case sounds about as bad as it can get but I'm dead sold on McKenzie maneuvers and body mechanics. You can also do nerve glide exercises and for me piriformis stretches and trigger point therapy have been beneficial. Nerve glides will help lessen the leg symptoms.

Surgery shouldn't be a first line intervention. The problem with the poor mechanics is you create microscopic annular tears that lead to the big problem...bulge or herniation You can never get back to perfect but you need to heal well beyond when you are feeling good. When you begin to feel good you go back to piss poor mechanics and never get as healthy as you can. You absolutely must give up the macho/proud/stubborn attitude of not asking for help. For me that was the second hardest part behind mechanics.

I am thinking about an inversion table as I haven't found anything truly negative about them.