Trying to lose weight with sciatica :(

i hear you on pain, exercise, lack of mobility, etc, all so important in weight control but how to do it when everything hurts..................

I have so many skeletal problems, spine hips, shoulders etc etc etc, my Specialists tell me the best exercise for ortho patients is bicycle riding, whether it is stationary or not. This may be hard on your knees? However the absolute worst thing someone like yourself or I can do , is to become a couch potato as then your ligaments go too

Please feel free to add me if you want or need someone to vent or for support and encouragement.

I am fairly new to this site and find it great:)

I can't help you with with the exercise except say swimming?? Possibly?? But I have so far just changed my eating habits with only walking half hour once a week (so not really any exercise) and I have lost 35lbs in about 104 days now? If you change your eating at least, that will help get a bit of the weight off. It may make it a little easier then to start lightly exercising. I am no expert, hopefully others will come and help you out a bit :-) But yes, changing your eating WILL make a difference, even if exercise is not something you can do much of right now. Good luck!!

This really breaks my heart. I'm sorry you've got this kind of pain, especially during a time in your life that is supposed to be some of your best years. The only advice I can offer you is that if you're really hurting, maybe it would be best to take it easy on the exercises (swimming and water aerobics is very gentle, I hear) and stick to a calorie restriction plan that fits your physiological needs. Do you have a dietitian you can go to, or can you talk to your doctor about what foods you should be eating to limit joint pain and inflammation? I'll be 100% honest with you- as much as I am aching to assist you there is very little anyone here can do to help you with this kind of problem unless a) they have personal/familial experience with it or b) are themselves health professionals.

Try to stay happy and safe, and I wish you the best of luck on your journey. You can add me if you would like some motivational support.

90% of weight loss will be solely linked to your food intake. Exercise is great for your fitness level but your calorie intake will determine your weight.

I had sciatica so bad I could hardly sit to drive. I finally visited the chiropractor and with just a few visits I was pain free. Now I can tell when I start getting that tingle of sciatica pain a trip to the chiropractor brings everything back inline and I'm good to go. I hope you can find some relief.

Exercise is great for helping along weight loss and for keeping you strong, but it's not a requirement for weight loss. You may need to track calories more diligently than most, but you theoretically can lose weight as a couch potato as long as you eat less than the body needs for its daily functions.

I have a severe back condition called Adhesive Arachnoiditis, which causes a lot of back pain as well as pain radiating into the legs. I also have bad knees, and had surgery on my right knee because of swelling and bone spurs behind the knee cap. Probably the same thing you have. Severe pain in my knee led to surgery to clean off the kneecap and they also did a lateral release to remove the lateral ligament from the kneecap, because it wasn't tracking properly and that is what was causing the bone spurs and swelling (official diagnosis was Chondromalasia).

All this to say I understand completely what you are dealing with.

The only exercise I found I can do is a recumbent bike at very low tension. I started off very slow and for a short period of time, then I worked up a little more each week until I am now able to ride for an hour at a time, spinning at around 12 miles per hour.

I also ice my knees and my back after every ride.

I take Celebrex for an anti-inflammatory as I have stomach issues with long term use of the other NSAIDS.

The greatest help I have received is in changing my diet. I eat very low/slow carb. No sugar, except for 1 serving of fruit per day and minimal naturally occuring sugars, but no white processed sugar. I also don't eat bread or any flour, or any grains at all really. This automatically puts me gluten-free, so I don't know if that has a positive effect or not. It might.

I eat almonds, and sunflower seeds, and avocados, lean proteins, cheeses and lots of fresh veggies, also strawberries and grapes, and some other fruits.

I basically followed the anti-inflammation diet, before I realized that there was such a thing. I kinda started the mediterranean style diet and tweaked it to fit my needs and tastes.

I used to hear people talking about diet changes for health and pain, etc and never gave them much thought. I pretty much wrote them off as health nut cases that ate bean sprouts and did yoga and sang kumbaya around the camp fires. Now, I get it. Ok maybe not the kumbaya thing.

After 2 months eating this way my pain level has dropped substantially. I have also lost 19 pounds. I have more energy, sleep better, and don't have the mood swings and food cravings I used to have.

I would never have believed that I would be able to ride a bike, much less ride it for an hour at a time. I had resigned myself at 40 to live the life of an 80 year old. A fat and crippled 80 year old.

So don't get discouraged. There are things you can do to get better, Be patient and take it slow. Try different things to find what you can do and what you can't do. Don't beat yourself up when you cause a flareup, just take a step back and take it a little slower.

Feel free to add me to your friend list if you like. I will be happy to help in any way I can.

90% of weight loss will be solely linked to your food intake. Exercise is great for your fitness level but your calorie intake will determine your weight.

I agree. I've been hitting the gym but since ive cut down the lbs are starting to come off.

As for sciatica issues, physical therapy helped me get back into the gym. You should ask your orthopedic to give you a referral.

I can empathize with the sciatica. I had never had it until this past June. I was in tears with the pain and frustration half the time. I would wake up in the middle of the night in pain and it would take a couple hours for it to subside enough for me to fall back to sleep. This lasted for 6 weeks. It finally went away, thank goodness.

A neighbor gave me a sheet with back stretching exercises but they never seemed to do anything. All I could do was take pain killers (which helped a little during the day but not at night for some reason) and hope it would eventually go away. I don't know if losing some weight helped or not....its possible. I wish I could help more.

The YMCA near my home has a stationary bike that is underwater. They say it takes all the pressure off your joints. If there is a YMCA near you maybe give them a call to see if they have one.

I understand far to well, I too suffer from Sciatica, chronic lower back problems from 12 years of carting Beer, osteoarthritis in both knee's now to the point I have been bone on bone for the last 10+ years have had multiple knee clean outs and get knee injections and am on 3 pain pills and last year tore my ACL in my right knee (which they will not fix do to the damage of the arthritis, I am getting knee replacements in the spring) and the fact just 3 years ago I weighed 560 lbs. and could not walk from room to room in my own house. I had a computer chair I would roll myself around the house on to go to the bathroom or go to the kitchen for food. So yes obstacles are always going to be in your way, you just have to find ways to deal with them. I had to start in the pool at our local YMCA and use water displacement so that I could stand and exercise. I literally walked from one side of the pool to the other, the first time I lasted 5 minutes and literally had to be helped out of the pool. But every day I went back I added another lap and over the course of 17 months I lost 170 lbs. and eventually worked my way out of the pool and on to dry ground got fitted for OA braces and continued my journey and lost another 141 lbs. I get up every day fighting the pain and it takes me forever to get going in the morning and by the time my day ends I am paying for it with ice packs on my knee's but I have a life again, You just have to find a way and do what works best for you and then stick with it...... Best of Luck......

I have sciatica. First, I recommend finding a good Chiropractor--my Chiropractor has helped ameliorate my symptoms so much. Sciatica reacts differently for different people. I am able to walk without much pain, so walking is my exercise of choice. You may have to experiment with different exercise techniques to see what works for your specific pain. Cycling, swimming, rowing, eliptical--see what causes the least symptoms and just do that.

I understand completely. The pain is excruciating. I suffered from it about a year ago. I still have the lingering numbness in my foot. What I did at first was follow the physical therapy exercises that they give you. Surprisingly most of the physical therapy movesa re from yoga. You might try there to start off. Start stretching LOTS! Water aerobics helped once you get more mobile and now there is even aqua spin. Which is spinning in water..ha no impact. Good luck and feel free to add me if you ever need advice and encouragement.

Ask your dr about physical therapy using ultrasound. Dunno how it works, but it gave me major relief from a bulging disc. For exercise, you might be able to swim. Even if you use one of those floaty board thingies. Since the water is bouyant, it should be less painful. If your doctor will write you a prescription for swimming as physical therapy, your health insurance may even cover the cost.

Barb

I had really bad lower back pain and that seemed to be from a hormone imbalance. It's a long shot, but maybe get your hormone levels checked. Swimming is low impact and portion control works regardless. Good luck to better health.