Sciatica

princessbear

princessbear

Cathlete
So, I just got back from my GP cuz I've had numbness and tingling going down my leg from butt to feet for about 3 days. She said it was likely sciatica, although I don't have any back pain at all. I will be seeing my physical therapist Tuesday anyway for my shoulder so I have a prescription for treatment of sciatica. The only thing my doctor told me NOT to do was any jarring movements (kickbox). She said that I could do all other workouts as long as there was no pain. She said running will be okay on a treadmill... so, I'm reading old posts and some people say that running cause flare-ups, so I'm confused. Also, my girlfriend said she had a problem with sciatica - saw a chiropractor and started practicing yoga and she is fine now. Honestly, I'm not happy with my doctor lately - I also have some numbness in my left arm that started last night and am having some difficulty feeling a contraction on that side when I do rows, etc. Also, when I do a rowing move on that side, you can see the lat muscle bulge, where it doesn't on the right side. She saw this but said that has nothing to do with sciatica and that she would wait a month until performing an MRI to see if it gets better. Ugh - I've known it's time to find a new doctor but they could fit me in today at last minute and I was afraid the numbness was a clot or something so wanted to see someone before the weekend.

So - my question is - who out there has sciatica and if you do - any suggestions on what kind of doctor to see, suggestions on doing weightraining etc?

Thanks!
 
Hi Mary...I had sciatica a few years ago. I never had tingling or numbness just pain radiating in my lower back and down the back of my thigh. I had treatment by both a Physical Therapist and a Chiropractor. (I don't have a GP) I could not run for 2 weeks. I remember at the time I used a Nordic track ski machine for my cardio. I did still do weightlifting exercises but avoided anything that caused pain. The sciatic pain finally went away after about 8-10 weeks but I was running after 2 weeks of treatment. Do you have a massage therapist? They can also help with sciatica. I know others here have had it too and I hope they will post and tell you what worked for them as we are all different....HTH
 
Sooooooooooo sorry to hear about your sciatica! I just came off a 4 month battle with it. I had my 1st episode 20 years ago when pregnant with my oldest son, none for 3 years until pregnant with my 4th. I had back labor with both those pregnancies as well. I was sciatica free for a long time, then had about a 2 week episode 2 years ago. This last episode was awful.

I've always had leg numbness associated with it, as well as pain and burning.
I'll be honest, this last time I tried everything...muscle relaxants, bed rest, ice, continuing exercise, stretching, massage, heat, you name it, I did it. I've never been so miserable in my life. The pain is unrelenting and I am so sorry, you're experiencing it. :(Finally I broke down and went to a chiropractor. It took him about 7-8 visits to pinpoint the precise problem location , turns out my tailbone was out. Nothing else gave me relief until that final adjustment. I was actually getting ready to give up on the chiropractor until the last visit, and I wouldn't give him credit except that it was absolutely amazing. He moved my tailbone, I stood up, walked 10 feet and almost cried b/c for the 1st time since March I was pain free. That was July 28th, and since then I've resumed running, biking, yoga, pilates, weight training, kettlebell, etc. This week my lower back is a little sore and tight from a lot of pilates, but I'm being aware of my posture,etc to avoid a recurrence.

Do NOT let your doctor blow you off. This can effect your quality of life. I would recommend seeing a physical therapist as well as a chiropractor. One to adjust if needed, the other to help you stretch and strengthen your muscles.
As far as the lat issue, same advice. That is not normal and you need to take care of yourself!

Good luck. Keep us posted.

Becky
 
Thanks Becky and Carol - interestingly I don't have any pain with this - except for the occasional throbbing in the calve and behind the knee... weird stuff for sure... I am not going to sit back and let the dr. determine what is important for me to deal with and what isn't. I'm going to get some recommendations for a chiropractor from someone I know at work on Tuesday and the dr. did give me written order for my physical therapist so I will at least start there. I just don't want to make it worse by exercising, but it has been a tough month not being able to do any shoulder exercises and limited upper body exercises for other parts - now if I can't at least work lower body I'll be bummed... I'm already bummed not to do my planned KPC workout on Sunday ... love KPC
 
I noticed my sciatica flared up again after years of being "dormant" after I tried running on the treadmill...ouch. Now its aggravated all the freakin' time, especially if I sit for long periods of time, OMG I want to scream. It feels like charley horses going up and down my hamstrings...I do not run now and never should have for various other reasons, so hopefully eventually it will give up and go away.
 
Good morning Mary!
I'm a blathering idiot!:eek: I forgot to put my point about all the things I tried w/out success. None of it (other than the chiro) seemed to help or hurt, so unless you are told specifically to avoid a certain activity, I'd keep moving, maybe just slow down and use less weight.
Ie. : it never hurt while I was running, at least not like walking did, but it hurt when I stopped, so I did some easy runs when I felt up to it.
Have a wonderful weekend and I hope you get fast relief from your sciatica!
Becky:cool:
 
Thanks Becky!! I'm quite convinced that even the upper back/lat issue is all tied in with with the leg numbness/sciatica. In hindsight, I know I've been "off-kilter" for a long, long time.... comes from doing crazy heavy squats years ago (to the point that when I stood up from the squat rack with the bar on my traps, I could literally FEEL my spine compress - ugh. At the time, I though "how cool - I'm lifting so heavy that my spine moves - how crazy is that? I was very very very young and stupid). Anyway, I am definitely going to make an appt. on Tuesday with a chiropractor - and am going to call my doctor and insist that she write an order for xray and MRI (although my girlfriend told me some chiropractors do the xrays or MRI.

In any event - I did Supersets for the first time today and it was a perfect workout for me with all my issues ... not too hard, but worked hard enough to feel like I did SOMETHING. I wasn't too fond of Push/Pull when I did it - but looks like I might incorporate these workouts into my rotation (or actually MAKE them my rotation) for a bit while I recover...

Thanks for all you advice and have a wonderful long, holiday weekend.

I'm going to buy Rodney Yee's Yoga for Back today and try that tomorrow...
 
I Love Back Care Yoga by Rodney Yee!:)

Yes, a good chiropractor will not even touch you without a set of x-rays.

Speaking of dumb;)
my issues are tailbone related, so I've been doing LOTS of pilates for core strengthening, but spent a lot of time yesterday working on moves where I balanced on my *sitbones*. Wonder why I have a little pinch in my back today!?! Duh!:rolleyes: I'll be visiting my chiropractor Tuesday as well!

Happy Labor Day!!!:cool:
 
I had the kind of pain you described about 2 years ago. It was piriformis muscle which led to sciatica (if I'm not mistaken). Mine mostly in the butt. I went to PT and the piriformis stretch helped A LOT. I almost feel an instant relief.

Search for piriformis stretch on the 'net... you might want to try that.
 
I'm going to start incorporating that stretch daily - thank you for the info. See my PT on Tuesday for shoulder so will talk to him then about this.... never ending saga of aging :(
 
SteppingFool said:
I had the kind of pain you described about 2 years ago. It was piriformis muscle which led to sciatica (if I'm not mistaken). Mine mostly in the butt. I went to PT and the piriformis stretch helped A LOT. I almost feel an instant relief.

Search for piriformis stretch on the 'net... you might want to try that.
Click to expand...
SteppingFool - do you know how you hurt yourself? My doctor claims it might be kickboxing and I should avoid that (at the very least right now until it is healed). Did you do kickboxing? And, if so, can you do kickboxing workouts now? My favorite Cathe dvd is KPC and I would die if I couldn't do that workout. Plus I just ordered DrillMax and am wondering if I should return it if I'm not going to be able to do any kickboxing or step.
 
princessbear said:
SteppingFool - do you know how you hurt yourself? My doctor claims it might be kickboxing and I should avoid that (at the very least right now until it is healed). Did you do kickboxing? And, if so, can you do kickboxing workouts now? My favorite Cathe dvd is KPC and I would die if I couldn't do that workout. Plus I just ordered DrillMax and am wondering if I should return it if I'm not going to be able to do any kickboxing or step.
Click to expand...


Oops - why did I type "DrillMax"? I meant 4DS ...
 
princessbear said:
SteppingFool - do you know how you hurt yourself? My doctor claims it might be kickboxing and I should avoid that (at the very least right now until it is healed). Did you do kickboxing? And, if so, can you do kickboxing workouts now? My favorite Cathe dvd is KPC and I would die if I couldn't do that workout. Plus I just ordered DrillMax and am wondering if I should return it if I'm not going to be able to do any kickboxing or step.
Click to expand...

I did a stupid thing. While I was doing squats, I tried to wipe sweat off my brow. The barbell tilted one way, off balance, and I hurt my butt. I'm fully recovered. I can do almost anything after that incident, but now I found out I have heel spur... like you said, never ending battle with aging!
 
I started with a bad pain in my butt and down my leg - a little bit of yoga (and yoga only during that time) every day made the pain go away after about a week or two. Regular yoga practice keeps it away. For me it is the stretching.
 
princessbear said:
So, I just got back from my GP cuz I've had numbness and tingling going down my leg from butt to feet for about 3 days. She said it was likely sciatica, although I don't have any back pain at all. I will be seeing my physical therapist Tuesday anyway for my shoulder so I have a prescription for treatment of sciatica. The only thing my doctor told me NOT to do was any jarring movements (kickbox). She said that I could do all other workouts as long as there was no pain. She said running will be okay on a treadmill... so, I'm reading old posts and some people say that running cause flare-ups, so I'm confused. Also, my girlfriend said she had a problem with sciatica - saw a chiropractor and started practicing yoga and she is fine now. Honestly, I'm not happy with my doctor lately - I also have some numbness in my left arm that started last night and am having some difficulty feeling a contraction on that side when I do rows, etc. Also, when I do a rowing move on that side, you can see the lat muscle bulge, where it doesn't on the right side. She saw this but said that has nothing to do with sciatica and that she would wait a month until performing an MRI to see if it gets better. Ugh - I've known it's time to find a new doctor but they could fit me in today at last minute and I was afraid the numbness was a clot or something so wanted to see someone before the weekend.

So - my question is - who out there has sciatica and if you do - any suggestions on what kind of doctor to see, suggestions on doing weightraining etc?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

You might want to see an orthopedist, I have numbness down my entire right arm & my left foot, it is from herniated discs in my neck. An mri might be ordered for you. I would definetly get rid of your gp

Karen
 
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