OT, Sciatica - Is there a cure ?

I've been suffering from Sciatica off and on since February. Bloody painful and it's limiting my ability to get around dramatically. Nothing seems to work really. Any fellow sufferers got any good advice ?

Regards Tyrone.

I have had it as well. pain so bad the very first episode I was throwing up and in hospital with painkillers.

You need to get to a good therapist so you can relearn to use muscles/correct posture.

From working we have all hurt our bodies and need to learn how to move around like normal people.

I do many exercises to strengthen my core. But at he same time they need to be low impact.

My mother had that and she suffered too. She worked full time and she hated taking any drugs including asprin. But she took Bufferin asprin for it seemed 6 months. Check this out...maybe it will help as that was 40 years ago. Good luck and I hope your feeling better real soon. Rich
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sciatica/basics/treatment/con-20026478

PS: she lived to 96...

I see a chiropractor every two weeks, keeps me walking. I've done some pretty extensive doses of Ibuprofen also. Losing about 20 lbs helped a lot too. I sure like the suggestion about physical therapy, I've noticed a lot of my physical responses are reactions to habits I've formed.

Best to you Tyrone.................. Tim

Chiro can get you walking, good PT may make it go away

Did the chiropractic and PT thing both temporary.

A 3/8 shim in my left boot fixed it.

Therapy. lots of it. no more lifting like a 20y/o either. For me I no longer lift more than 25 kg and I always lift as close to my body as possiable.

Get one of the tens boxes that send electrical current to to the muscles in your back. Put it on at the first sign that your back is flaring up. TENS and IDET Therapy for Back Pain Treatment

When my sciatica acts up I get shooting pain in my legs and the sensation someone has kicked me in my groin I have went into shock and thrown up because of the pain.

You can learn what motions will make it flare up and will be able to prevent it for the most part by thinking before you start manhandling awkward or heavy things.

Take care

Regards,
Alonzo

For me the key was to loose weight and do the exercises suggested by the physical therapist.

Nasty -I've lived with it on and off for 35 years,

Mine's always caused by something moving out of place and trapping the sciatic nerve, hence the pain which is a bad as others have said. A good chiropractor can put that back (something Neilson method IIRC)

+ 1 on all the other advice about diet posture and exercise.

Loose weight , exercise like crossfit, aerobics , and especially yoga will get your core strengthened and moving again .
Chiropractor and sports massage therapist busted mine loose.

Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I've been suffering from Sciatica off and on since February. Bloody painful and it's limiting my ability to get around dramatically. Nothing seems to work really. Any fellow sufferers got any good advice ?

Regards Tyrone.

Click to expand...

Do not rule out spinal stenosis. A couple years ago, I suffered severe "sciatic pain" in my legs and went through the drill of all sorts of medication and therapy. Nothing helped. Finally, my doctor decided to have me get an MRI and an appointment with a neurosurgeon. The surgeon showed me the MRI results and it was obvious that the spinal cord was being pinched and he recommended surgery. My wife wanted me to get a second opinion, but I refused because even to my untrained eye, I could see the problem and besides if the "second" opinion did not agree withe "first" opinion, I would need a "third" opinion. Surgery was scheduled, fusion performed and I woke up pain free followed few weeks of in home therapy and several months of "taking it easy". It has been two pain free years now and I place no restrictions on my activities whatsoever other the the fact that I am 74 years old and am not as strong now. Good luck. Rick

As Rick said, if this is your first serious round with "sciatica" make sure you check it out at the hospital. A family member got diagnosed with it about a week ago, and then stopped feeling her legs and couldn't walk. Long story short, rushed her to a hospital (a different one) and confirmed it was a mis-diagnosed tumor crushing her spinal cord. Doctor said three more days and she would have been paralyzed. Things aren't always what they seem.

4 screws, two pins, and a Tantalum cage in my L5-S1. That went in, in 2008. I'd love to say it was a total success, but it wasn't. My life IS measurably better than it was then though. I can function, and make it through a shower or a sit on the pot, without having to lay down flat until the pain lowers enough to be able to continue. That was how bad it got, I am nowhere near that now, though better living through chemistry is still a part of my life.

Did lots of the PT, and physio, used way to many over the counter drugs, and put up with pain for far longer than was reasonable, for the sake of keeping my job.

End result was a pretty severe extrusion of the disk, out two sides of my spine. Somewhere around here I still have a copy of the MRI that showed exactly what was going on. Really obvious, even to someone that only half figured out what they were looking at.

While there are a fair few things that have been mentioned, that will aid in being able to get on with your life, like losing weight, core muscle training, and such, which are pretty damn good ideas even without pain to remind you that you should put in the time, I would really suggest trying to get in and see someone qualified to give you a reasonable assessment of what condition your back is actually in. If it means digging in to your pocket to pay for a MRI, it might be worth it. Dunno what the local fees are, but it was around $800 per session, in the machine at the cash clinic that I went to in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Or I would have gone on a wait list...

In any case, I ran across the modern equivalent of snake oil sales in huge volume, of folks offering miracle cures for back pain, and offering various quackery ideas as to why you didn't need surgery. It's a huge business. Try not to dump any more money into it than you have to.

Cheers
Trev

My wife had a bout around 2 years ago. Some friends are a physical therapist and his wife does acupuncture. The physical therapy is what helped her the most, and the deep tissue massager we bought. When ever it starts to flare up she uses the massager to calm it back down. In hindsight we wish we would have spent the $500 for a professional model instead of the Sharper Image one, they are nice to have.

Really you have to find an Osteopath that knows what he,s doing and thats not easy mines retired and he was a god send they can find out the cause and fix it-but to find a good one is nigh on impossible

Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I've been suffering from Sciatica off and on since February. Bloody painful and it's limiting my ability to get around dramatically. Nothing seems to work really. Any fellow sufferers got any good advice ?

Regards Tyrone.

Click to expand...

My mother suffered from Sciatica for years, it was pretty much cured by an osteopath in Southampton (UK) Another friend of hers went to the same osteopath and after treatment was able to play golf for the first time in 25 years, and has been pain free ever since.

My wife has Sciatica as well, there's a pressure point on her inner thigh, that I push on for 30 seconds,if she feels it 'coming on'. That seems to work, and stops it getting any worse. You could do the same with the curved end of a walking cane. If the specific spot is common to male and female anatomy, then the spot will be easy to find.

Something else, that nobody has mentioned. Simple stretching can also be effective. The sciatic nerve has a muscle that lays on top of it, which goes through your butt cheeks. If that muscle becomes tight, it puts pressure on the nerve, pinching it. This is a video of the stretch I do when mine flares up due to tight muscles. When this doesn't work, I go to the chiro.

Thanks for all the responses guys. Much to digest there.

Thanks again, Tyrone.

I am now 85. Back and legs started having moderate pain 40 years ago. The pain gradually increased as I aged. An MRI several years ago showed severe spinal stenosis. I have lost about 4 inches in height since my 20s, and the compressed discs simply squeeze the spinal cord. There are varied opinions about surgery helping. I did a round of PT a couple of years ago, and that helped a lot. I have slacked off on exercises to keep my core strength up, and I need to get at them again. A lot of our problems are TMB---too many birthdays.

Jim

My most recent bout with it was just about a year ago. I did paperwork at the physical therapist office laying down because it was too painful to sit upright for more than a couple minutes. About six weeks of therapy got me straightened out, and I haven't had sciatic pain since. I had a bulged disc at L5 that was causing the issue.

My PT was educated at the McKenzie Institute, who specialize in spinal issues. It made a big difference compared to my first go round with sciatica and PT from another therapist. The treatment was completely different and I responded much more quickly. I'm hoping it doesn't return.