Back problems

ABabilonia

Hello everyone, so I posted here before about some back problems that I've been having, and I received some helpful information. Just to summarize, I was diagnosed with sciatic nerve problems almost a year ago, never got treatment, and I was able to do all my activities normally. As a matter of fact I was able to go from 0 to 5K with no problems. Then (silly me) I hurt myself doing kettlebell swings. Now, I went to the doctor (GP) and got some improvement, but still got some minor discomfort (mainly stability problems), so the options I have are:

1) Go to the chiropractor to get chiropractor adjustments (whatever that means). I read interesting materials about chiropractor adjustments and spine manipulation that give me some hope
2) Go to the sports doctor (Orthopedist) that most likely will end with few too many physical therapy sessions to improve my back.

Has anyone deal with back problems? Which option sounds more reasonable? Any other options I should contemplate? TIA...

Alisonswim46

Not a fan of the chiropractor. Personally, I would go to the sports medicine doctor and then get a referral to a physical therapist.

DebLaBounty

Sports doctor with a referral to a physical therapist. I had a bulging disc, and my doctor's referral to PT was basically until I didn't need help anymore. The therapist showed me a few exercises I could do at home, and that was helpful information to have. I was able to continue on my own and my back improved. It's really all about doing stretches, not spinal adjustment. You'll also need to strengthen your core muscles with exercises.

augustremulous

I'll +1 on sports doctor and physical therapy. Chiropractors often give short term relief but they don't fix the problem of alignment.

I'ld also suggest certain yoga classes (and be careful with this, because many aren't appropriate for all people) that focus on restorative or iyengar yoga. It's not the type of yoga that makes you fit, but it will reduce pain.

And, of course, deep tissue massages. Lots of them!

Swimming is also great for cardio as you deal with this.

canadianlbs

i think it really depends on what's causing it. and ime so far the modalities have all kind of blended together. it's not either/or. i think i'd start with the sports doctor just to get the assessment, and then start fine-tuning and going from there.

as a single example, i had a rotated pelvis that was making my s.i. lock up when i hinged at the hip. mechanical s.i. disfunction made soft tissue pain and sciatica. it was actually a massage therapist who identified the mechanics problem, but once diagnosed all they could do in a practical sense was soft tissue work. i went to a chiro eventually to get it re-set, and then i leveraged what i already knew from various physiotherapy sources to support the correction and [so far] keep it in place.

so tl; dr: i dunno. i could have done any of that in a different sequence - chiro first, then the soft-tissue stuff. for me so far it's been a process of fine-tuning and tweaking and building from whatever info/assistance i get from the different places.

ABabilonia

Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated

AliNouveau

I went to a physiotherapist for my back problems. they gave me exercises which I did and stretches which I do when I get a flare up. I'd go with the sports dr.