Sciatic pain after running

jaymijones wrote: »

I'm not sure seeing a Dr is going to help me. I'm seen by a military Dr. I can pretty much guarantee that he'll prescribe a giant bottle of Motrin and tell me to just stop running, but won't be willing to do much else for me. My husband has had back pain for years, Motrin and heat/cold therapy has been the only solution he ever gets from military Drs for years.

Sadly, I know this routine since my husband is also military.

In my experience (with civilian doctors), it definitely is a long road to get a legit diagnosis for "back pain" especially if you're young-ish (I'm 38). I started with a chiropractor who ended up being a joke. Then I went to my primary doctor. After 3 trips to her, she exhausted her conservative treatments and sent me to physical therapy and referred me to orthopedics. I went through 3 months of PT and the ortho finally was the one to order an MRI. MRI confirmed a herniated disc and from there, I was sent to pain management for steroid injections because he didn't want to jump right to surgery. I got two injections that lasted 4 weeks each. I finally went to a neurosurgeon who recommended surgery and I had a microdiscectomy two weeks ago. It took 16 months from the time of my injury to the surgery, but it was well worth it.

Good luck!

Sciatic pain can be caused from a herniated disc, but another common cause is a tight/inflamed piriformis. If you've never experienced back pain the second seems more likely although you'd of course want to get that confirmed in person. Another thing to mention is many people think they have sciatica and they actually have another condition like ITB syndrome. I'd just tell my Dr. I had leg/back/radicular pain (whichever is appropriate) and ask for a Rx for PT. A PT should be able to accurately diagnose you as well as give you corrective exercises to fix it.

It could be your piriformis muscle acting up. Start using a foam roller every day and get yourself a lacrosse ball to lay on and dig into that muscle to get the blood flowing to it. You should also do these stretches daily. I have the same trouble! http://www.spine-health.com/video/sciatica-exercises-piriformis-syndrome-video

Could it be something to do with your form? Not sure, just trying to throw ideas out there, but I almost wonder if adjusting your form would help?

bigmuneymfp wrote: »

Start squatting

Terrible advice for someone with sciatic pain.

You should see a running coach or orthopedist. I have sciatica and when I run farther than 5 miles without doing so properly, my sciatica flares up. For me, it's due to a tight hip flexor so I was given good dynamic stretching techniques to do before I run, and was instructed to adjust my gait (take short strides) during long runs.

ninerbuff wrote: »

If you have sciatic pain, then it's from compression on the nerves likely originating from your lower back. MAY get better if you strengthen your core and low back muscles.
You DON'T have to run. Walking is great too. Just walk fast.

From experience I can tell you.. stop running. Heal up. Then run again after you've healed up. While you are healing strengthen the core, and after that keep strengthening your core/back muscles because that's the only thing that is going to help. You likely have a bulging or herniated disc somewhere in your lower back and if you aggravate it further you will regret it. I spent weeks in so much pain I had to lay on the floor and crawl to the bathroom because I ignored it and kept walking/jogging. Not even heavy doses of Percocet would dull the pain completely. Don't just go see a doctor, go see an Orthopedic specialist. They can give you a steroid injection in your spine, then with rest, core strengthening exercise, you have a chance to get over it. Keep up running and high impact exercise without doing something about it and I guarantee you will regret it. Just my .02.

I'm getting a foam roller asap! I've heard positive things about them on different forms .Really appreciate reading these threads.

jaymijones wrote: »

I've plateaued with my current routine and I'm bored anyway. I wanted to try something harder than walking or my elliptical. I want to be outside now that the weather is nicer. I do have a bike, but I really can't use it as a form of exercise where I live now. I used to do it all the time, but I lived right next to a bike trail, in a city that encouraged cycling over cars as a form of transportation. Then I moved and it's not something I have easy access to here. It's the same issue as going to the track. It's too far and too much of a hassle, I want something I can feasibly do. And I wanted it to be running.

Shin splints have always stopped me before. I finally found a solution and now this. I'm very frustrated.

I don't think you need to quit running forever, you just need to deal with the sciatica first. I've been through much worse and am now learning to run again, so it's not impossible. About a dozen years ago I crushed a disc in my back (L4/L5) so badly that it not only caused horrible sciatica, but even with steroids it cut off the sciatic nerve all together and I lost all feeling below my waist (and yes that included some bodily functions we won't discuss). Emergency surgery took care of it, and then 10 years of not doing anything after that added on over a hundred pounds of weight. That landed me here. My first year at MFP I decided to walk 7 days a week, about 4 miles a day and ignored sciatic pain when it happened. I managed to re-herniate the same disc again that they partially removed before and it took me down. After rest and steroids a few weeks later I went back at it again, ignored warnings, and managed to herniate two other discs in my back. Two more rounds of steroids, much rest, many pain killers later, I then eased back into walking slowly, incorporated a lot of yoga stretches into my routine for my discs/spine, and started to work a LOT on my core strength with crunches, planks, squats (body weight only) and took back up walking but took it easy. I've been injury free for over a year now and my core is much much stronger. All I am saying is that you shouldn't ignore it, if it's happening after your walks or runs, then you should take it easy and consult an Ortho doctor. It's likely they will want you walking anyway, but probably not running for a while until it heals. The steroid shots suck but they will heal it usually in a few weeks. But you have to work on your core, for that I suggest planks mostly, crunches if you can do them, and anything else you can do safely to build muscle in your core/abdomen and back.