Sciaticaaaaaaa!

[spacecat]

Hi everyone,

Any advice, tips, etc. Would be greatly appreciated in relation to the bloody awful debilitating condition that this.

To cut a long story short I commute each day with cycling at the weekends too. I've done this for years. Am now 43 years old and weigh next to nothing.

Anyhow, I experienced a horrendous back injury at the end of April. It was caused by doing too much heavy lifting in the garden one weekend. Later that week before getting on the bike to go to work I coughed at the kitchen sink, heard and felt a ripping sound and was subsequently on my back for two weeks with awful spasms for days in my lower back.

The exact point where I felt it was just to the left of my spine on the bony sticky out bit on the top of my pelvis. Not exactly a medical description I know!

I have been seeing an nhs physio for a few months, stretches etc. She reckoned it wasn't a disc but was a muscle tear. Am now left with the sciatica that has recently flared up again over the last few weeks after it had subsided quite a bit

The frustration is that when I had back pain there was no sciatica, and now I have sciatica there is no back pain.

The only things that have changed over the last few weeks is that I'm now back on the bike full time (no pain when warmed up) and travelling a lot in the company car again (awful constant pain). The doc reckons that It's the car, obviously I want that to be the case. My boss reckons It's the bike!

Iam now back on the painkillers and only experience relief lying down or on the bike.

Should I go to see someone else do you think to try and sort it? Are the nhs, although very good, able to appreciate how to best help a cyclist?

Am clutching at straws now as its really starting to get me down.

Any of you guys thoughts and experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ian 74]

Check this link out http://www.lower-back-pain-answers.com/sciatica-exercises.html This stretch - Gluteal & Piriformis Sciatica Stretch really helps me when I get that nipping pain in my buttock/upper leg.

 

[spacecat]

Thanks Ian, will have a look at those to see if there's anything new.

 

[Bobtoo]

In my experience sciatica is caused by pressure and sitting still, so I'd blame the car. I first got it when I was driving taxis

Does your driver's seat have any hard spots or lumps? The pressure of a spring in my driver's seat was enough to give me terrible sciatica, fitting a "bubbly" seat cover over it made all the difference. The point where pressure brings it on for me is right at the base of the buttock/top of the leg.

I don't suffer from it much these days, I think changing my job helped, but the things I found helpful were walking and drinking plenty of water. A decent walk at the weekend was enough to keep it at bay for the week, otherwise I was in pain all week.

 

[spacecat]

The car is a focus with horrible cheap uncomfortable seats, I don't think there are any hard spots but I will check.

Now you come to mention it I was walking quite a bit before I got back on the bike and I'm not now. There may be something in that!!!

 

[Bobtoo]

It was the last model of Escort I had, the seat design carried over to the Focus but I don't know if they are still using it. The seat base was a big foam pad on a wire frame. Over time the frame had cut its way through the pad so the structure could be felt. It might be worth getting some kind of padded seat covering to try.

 

[Saluki]

I was told that sciatica, if you are prone to it, can be caused by something as simple as having your wallet in your back pocket when you are sitting for long periods.
I suffer with sciatica and I found a DORN practitioner who really helped me. I have found that a chiropractor helps greatly, but this DORN practitioner did the business for me and I was pain free for well over a year. I get the odd twinge now and again at the moment so I have booked another session. What I liked about the practitioner is that she didn't pull me about and make my joints crack. It was totally stress free but really did the job.

I paid £25 for my treatment so it didn't break the bank.

 

[cjb]

As an occasional sciatica sufferer, I would blame the car here. Obviously, your boss will say it's the bike. I used to run to and from work and whenever I had the slightest health issue my boss would blame it on my running. Needless to say, he was overweight and didn't excercise!!

 

[spacecat]

Thanks everyone.

I am now thinking that it's an imbalance somewhere in my muscles since they repaired. Am thinking this because I didn't get sciatca until around a month or so after the injury, and I know that I am favouring my right leg for most things these days.

The doc said there was a very long waiting list round here for an mri, It's a mobile one that turns up at the local hospital!

Have booked an appointment today with a Bowen Therapist. I think It's worth a shot. I shall report back early next week.

I hope that you don't get too many episodes lately reiver, my sympathies are with you. If anyone had told me that the pain could get to almost passing out and sweating then I wouldn't have believed them!

BTW. The boss is overweight and doesn't exercise

 

[spacecat]

I did speak to a dorn therapist today about it and told him my story. Unfortunately he is no longer practicing in our area but did recommend Bowen.

 

[doog]

Your sciatica is more than likely caused by a prolapsed disc.(Ive had two) Its caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve from the contents of the disc either bulging out or they have actually extruded. Many people have prolapsed discs but are totally unaware because the prolapse isnt pressing into the spinal cord and compressing the sciatic nerve which is a large nerve the size of your thumb that runs down your leg.

Its normal for sciatica to develop some time after the original injury.

You need an MRI scan to confirm. Your GP will let you wait as most disc injuries do settle down however if you feel the need you can get your own MRI scan done privately for £200.

Where is the sciatic pain? Your discs are numbered and a typical L5/S1 disc injury / herniation will exhibit sciatic pain down your buttock, back of your thigh, knee, calf and into your foot and toes.

You have my full sympathy, I posted a similar thread here.

http://www.cyclechat...ck-injury-disc/

ps what pain killers are you on? Off the shelf stuff wont touch it, get the doc to prescribe if he hasnt already, Im on Naproxen and was previously on diclofenac. These are super strong anti inflammatory's and can be combined with paracetamol and codeine.

 

[spacecat]

Hi doog,

The path of the pain is exactly as you describe. The doctor has prescribed 500/30 paracetamol and codeine nothing else. Maybe I should ask for something else as well.

Am great in the mornings and can run down the stairs but the torture usually begins mid morning.

There is actually no pain in my back so I wouldn't know which disc/s they are. Am just very frustrated at the moment as this has been going in since April.

I think I will go back to the doctors and be assertive about more help. Problem is I don't like admitting how much pain there really is. I was even lying on the office floor yesterday before someone told me to go home lol.

 

[numbnuts]

Hi Doog
brief history, damaged my spine in an accident had a laminectomy in 1989 cured pain, but left me incontinent.
Now early last year lower back pain same place as laminectomy, November could not put up with it any more saw doctor, sent to hospital, sent to have a MRI scan, the results showed I have a 10mm prolapse disc L5/S1 I had two options epidural injection or surgery I chose epidural as it was the easiest, but now find out on the internet it is only short term pain relief, anyway I have to see another doctor before the epidural so may ask for surgery as that would sort it out for good.
As for pain it starts off in lower back and travels down through buttock and then onto the back of the leg, over the last 4 weeks the lower leg gets pins and needles and numb in places.
I can still cycle and use my kayak which amazed the doctor, but I have to take loads of painkillers before and after trips which I'm sure is not too good for the body

 

[doog]

Hi doog,

The path of the pain is exactly as you describe. The doctor has prescribed 500/30 paracetamol and codeine nothing else. Maybe I should ask for something else as well.

Am great in the mornings and can run down the stairs but the torture usually begins mid morning.

There is actually no pain in my back so I wouldn't know which disc/s they are. Am just very frustrated at the moment as this has been going in since April.

I think I will go back to the doctors and be assertive about more help. Problem is I don't like admitting how much pain there really is. I was even lying on the office floor yesterday before someone told me to go home lol.

I was the same with my first disc injury. Thought I had pulled a muscle, went back to work the next day. It happened in July 2008 but it wasnt until October that I basically collapsed at work after 3 months of fighting it. I was cycling during that time and boy it was the wrong thing to do. It took me a year to get back to normality.

This time around I have the knowledge so I went straight to the doc, got the MRI scan to prove it (10mm herniation on L5/S1)have been off work for 2 months doing next to nothing, only walking, very light stretching and very light physio (and the meds) I am slowly getting better but it takes time. No cycling.To be honest i am only doing the physio because my job paid for it. No amount of physio in the world will get a disc extrusion back in (although there are positions that alleviate the pressure)

With the GP you will need to force it im afraid. His next step would be to refer you to a consultant and then epidural /MRI however i have it on very good authority that due to NHS cost cutting they are not referring as a matter of course. However go back and tell him its not getting better, the least he can do is up your medication.

 

[doog]

Hi Doog
brief history, damaged my spine in an accident had a laminectomy in 1989 cured pain, but left me incontinent.
Now early last year lower back pain same place as laminectomy, November could not put up with it any more saw doctor, sent to hospital, sent to have a MRI scan, the results showed I have a 10mm prolapse disc L5/S1 I had two options epidural injection or surgery I chose epidural as it was the easiest, but now find out on the internet it is only short term pain relief, anyway I have to see another doctor before the epidural so may ask for surgery as that would sort it out for good.
As for pain it starts off in lower back and travels down through buttock and then onto the back of the leg, over the last 4 weeks the lower leg gets pins and needles and numb in places.
I can still cycle and use my kayak which amazed the doctor, but I have to take loads of painkillers before and after trips which I'm sure is not too good for the body

Your history is far worse than mine, however we have the same L5/S1 10mm herniation. Im holding off having an operation as blow me down with a feather things are improving. My worry is that being the same disc as before it may well happen again.