Sciatica

[Campfire]

Can anyone advise me please. I started with Sciatica about three weeks ago and have not been sleeping and limping about, pain in the back of thigh, calf muscle and pain in the bottom of my heel. Painkillers to dull it a little.

I've not been on the bike since a cycling friend visited me just a couple of days before this attack and we went on a bike ride. This is mainly because of the high wind and I didn't think I could cope with pushing into a wind.

Yesterday the doctor gave me anti inflammatories which I have started taking. As the wind had dropped (a little) I went down to my Mum's on the bike and after about half a mile noticed I was not able to put any pressure on the left pedal. Then I noticed that when I came to a halt, at give way signs, I was struggling to put the weight on that leg when transferring the weight over to put the other foot down. I tried also to honk out of the saddle and the same again.

Do you think when these anti inflammatories start to work it will release any pressure on the muscles? Surely I've not lost the use that much in three weeks off? My idea is to keep doing a bit and hope to build the muscle up again. I am only a low mileage cyclist nowadays but generally in good health and always active. Maybe I should ride the recumbent trike until I get back go strength again, that way I don't fall off?

 

[MontyVeda]

If your anti inflammatories are the same as mine (declofenac), they take around 3 days to kick in... or the pain in my lower back takes three days to go away... either way, I don't ride until it's better. Maybe you got back on the bike too soon.

 

[Campfire]

Mine are Diclofenac, oh, yes that's the same one. I've no pain in back, just now outer thigh, and heel is troubling me.

I don't think I cycled too soon, I'm not a hardcore cyclist these days, like to get out regularly but not distances. I thought that a spot of gentle exercise would do the leg good. I didn't attempt to push it and only noticed when I went up a slight rise but found using a much lower gear than normal did help. I have been doing specific exercises too. Another exercise I have started doing is to rise onto balls of the feet and down, although I just can't do it on the bad leg.

Thanks for replying MontyVeda and I live in hope that tomorrow evening will show a difference as it will be three days then.

 

[bikeyboots]

They were the drugs I was on too, I'm about 90% back to normal after a serious bout of sciatica 2 months back.

I've always been told that being as active as possible is good for sciatica. I'm actually (finally) going to see a physio next week and I plan to find out their thoughts on cycling a sciatica. If I find out anything I'll let you know.

I get pain in my calf and my toes on one foot are numb sometimes.

Have you tried the Mckenzie exercise? The one where you lay on your stomach and do a push up but keep your hips on the floor. Helps to right my back, might help you too. If you have a look on YouTube you will find a video.

 

[funnymummy]

I have suffered from Sciatica for 20+ years, I have had days when I can't walk without a crutch
A friend of mine has MS she goes to a Vibro gym & said i should try it..
Since starting there just over 2 years ago I have not had a flare up, and I know I have done things in that time that previoulsy would have had me laid up for days

 

[numbnuts]

I'm having a MRI scan next Tuesday due to Sciatica it first started over a year ago, but it got so bad I went to the doctors and they passed me on to a pain clinic. The pain now can become unbearable and seems worse at night in bed and the painkillers Co-Codamol don't seem to be doing much good so I hope the scan will show them something.

 

[cyberknight]

I get lower back pain radiating from the piriformis muscle that contracts pressing on the sciatic nerve.

The symptoms would be from the lower back/upper hip and down the leg , i took all the anti inflammatories etc etc with no effect till i started doing stretches to ease the muscle that can apparently become shortened by cycling ...

 

[Campfire]

I have suffered from Sciatica for 20+ years, I have had days when I can't walk without a crutch
A friend of mine has MS she goes to a Vibro gym & said i should try it..
Since starting there just over 2 years ago I have not had a flare up, and I know I have done things in that time that previoulsy would have had me laid up for days

What is a Vibro gym fm? I have never heard of that? I was thinking of looking for acupuncture but not the Chinese one with those herbs they give you.

I thought myself that it would be ok to cycle albeit a bit one-legged, at least there's no pressure as in walking. My heel and ankle have been giving me grief over the last couple of days. Makes me really grumpy! Hope it improves before York Cycle Show as you seem to do a lot of standing around and hanging about and socialising there.

Numbnuts, yours sounds bad, I've not succumbed to Co-Codamol because they make me feel bad but must admit painkillers only take the edge off so I'm trying to limit them.

Is this loss of power a temporary thing? I hope so.

 

[MLC]

I know it is hard to do but the key to getting over it is keeping mobile, stretching and core strengthening.

I had a prolapsed disc which pressed on sciatic nerve and gave me sciatica. I spent months in pain. Diclofenic dulled it and they kicked in straight away for me but it did not go away. I had not been able to sit in a comfy chair since September 2010.

On 17th Feb this year I had a caudal Epidural injection. I was still in a bit of pain a month later but since the op I have persisted with the strength and stretching exercises. I do Pilates once a week, swim, bike and walk. After the op I spent every night doing the rehab exercises for a solid two months and adding in some extra Pilates stuff to the exercises provided by the PT.

I had an episode at the last bank holiday. I went for a run on the Saturday and came back in absolute agony and spent the next 36 hours awake not knowing what to do. On the monday morning I went to bed at 6am woke up at 10 am and the pain had subsided substantially. I have not experienced any pain at all since that date it was as though the muscles went into spasm and settled back where they should have been originally.

I still do the exercises although not every night and I can now just about touch my toes with a straight leg. I can raise my bad leg to more or less 90 degrees to my body when laying on the floor.

Mobility, stretching, core strengthening are the key - subject of course to your Drs agreement

 

[funnymummy]

What is a Vibro gym fm? I have never heard of that?

They are a machine, basicaly you stand on a plate & it vibrates! LINKY
The lady who runs the gym worked out a whole routine of moves for me to do, squats, leg raises, twists while standing on the plate - In the first 6months I lost 42" over my entire body!!

 

[e-rider]

Sciatica can be horrible - I suffered with it for a few months a few years ago - never had any trouble since; so it is possible that your problems could be short term. However, some people have it for years.



I did nothing to sort mine - it just went after a few months. Doctor wasn't much help either.

 

[Fletch456]

+1 for piriformis muscle. I've suffered from sciatica and back problems on and off for years and have almost totally eradicated them by daily stretching.

Doctor's know a little bit about a lot of things and as a result can mean they don't give a precise diagnosis. Given you were sat on the bike when you had the problem and this muscle is deep in your backside - it causes the problem by pressing on the nerve - it suggests to me that this is the problem. I am no doctor but I do like thorough and careful internet research and have gone to a chiropractor too many times, a physio privately and a sports masseur and listened.

It's worth thinking it may be this as simply by stretching you may quickly reduce the problem.

This page has some information on piriformis syndrome as they sometimes call it is here, with a link at the bottom to a video for applicable stretch here . More piriformis stretches here though you will see common theme amongst how it is done. I've had some of the very strongest painkillers available and can happily say I take them no longer - I try not to, there are always side effects and feel it's nice if you can solve it naturally with stretching.

Remember that all muscles and joints are connected and keeping one in good order helps another. And that on a bike your hamstrings and hip flexors are compressed / unstretched so these are worth stretching on a regular basis anyway and may have an effect on the piriformis. Stretching hamstrings has reduced load on my (long) back and alone, almost removed my lower back problems. On my fridge is a list of stretches down one side, days of the week across the top - serves as a reminder and which stretches to do and do enjoy the feeling of getting them ticked off.

Also consider having someone look at your bike set up; visiting a physio privately if you can afford to and I think it's money well spent (they have broader and more thorough training than a chiropractor and just about anyone else.)

Other causes of sciatica are things like herniated disc and can be a lot more serious and not so easy to fix. Hope it helps you.

 

[Campfire]

Thanks Fletch, excellent post!!!!! I have done a few piriformis exercises but these ones you link to I've not seen so I'll try them. It didn't start cycling and I think I've remembered something that happened a few days before, I slipped down a steep bank of mud when I was walking, didn't hurt, just my pride and trousers/Paramo top!!!

I noticed the lack of power on the left leg whilst cycling, after noticing a slight difficulty of putting weight on that leg going upstairs.

Had a really bad night last night, didn't sleep more than an hour, my poor husband must have been cursing me.

I'm going to try to get an appointment with a practitioner after the BH, I don't want to keep taking painkillers. I think my bike set up is OK, I've an Orange Clockwork c 1994 and I've since had a higher shorter stem fitted with shaped bars rather than straight, it's a small 15" frame with short top tube and I know how to set saddle height (lifetime of the whole family cycling & dad an ex top liner in his heyday) It feels very comfortable, not too stretched. Saddle is decent, but I was thinking of putting Brooks one on, when this sorted. I wonder if shorter cranks would help?

 

[Fletch456]

Pleasure Campfire. Falling like that whether it caused it or not is the kind of thing I sometimes take for granted...that no harm will be done I mean but if you're anything like my age (42) it can mean a pulled muscle and they don't recover as fast or without help as fast as they once did.

May be that is the cause then..if so..nice to tie it down.

Have you applied any ice?Alternating ice and heat can be inconvenient to do but pushes blood through and some of the natural healing processes. Which is much like a masseur does.

 

[Campfire]

Oh, that I WERE 42 Fletch! That fall was quite funny as I was aiming for a bit of grass at the side and didn't make it! Then I couldn't get up and fell a couple of times more. We were all laughing! I've not tried the ice, as I've felt so wretched and the freezer is in the garage. Maybe I should go and find some frozen peas or something.