Hip/ Sciatica pain

See a doctor to get a correct diagnosis. Then take it from there.

I suggest an orthopedic doctor/surgeon. He'll probably tell you to lay off for a while and possibly prescribe steroids and/or some exercises to help. The most beneficial for me has always been yoga stretches designed to push the discs back in their correct position and to help loosen up the piriformis muscle. You can google stretches for sciatica, and for working on the piriformis as well, but do consider a doctor's advice. The sciatic nerve does a lot, it runs from your lumbar spine through your hip, down your leg, and all the way into your feet/toes. Imagine if that nerve was inflamed and angry what kind of pain that would be. Trust me, you don't want that. Last time it happened to me with a herniated disc, not even the max dosage of Percocet would touch the pain.

Echoing others to go see a doctor. I played Dr. Google for this issue for a long time and ended up having a more serious problem (herniated disc that is causing sciatica).

Sorry, but do you KNOW you have a back problem resulting in sciatica pain? Sciatica pain is from the spine, not the hip. The hip could be anything, like arthritis.

I HAVE sciatica pain. I have a bulging disc in my back and degenerating discs. The pain from that is nothing like when I get hip pain. Hip pain I can get from overuse of all the surrounding muscles and ligaments. I have nothing yet that I can identify as being in the joint itself.

You (OP) stated you know what muscle pain is like in the hip and its not that. You then imply its in the joint. This requires a correct diagnosis.

Have you tried K-tape?

burtisfamily7 wrote: »

successgal1 wrote: »

Sorry, but do you KNOW you have a back problem resulting in sciatica pain? Sciatica pain is from the spine, not the hip. The hip could be anything, like arthritis.

I HAVE sciatica pain. I have a bulging disc in my back and degenerating discs. The pain from that is nothing like when I get hip pain. Hip pain I can get from overuse of all the surrounding muscles and ligaments. I have nothing yet that I can identify as being in the joint itself.

You (OP) stated you know what muscle pain is like in the hip and its not that. You then imply its in the joint. This requires a correct diagnosis.

The muscles can absolutely cause Sciatic pain. It is not just bugling discs or structural, When my issue flares, It irritates and contracts on my Sciatic nerve! Awful, hip and sciatic at the same time. But I agree, he needs to get a correct diagnosis, as other issues can imitate sciatic nerve pain. Hes not clear in post though, Hip or hip and sciatic nerve?

And As Ortho nurse for 8 years out of 17 in nursing. Almost EVERYONE has degenerative disc issues after 35, some minor, some major, but a natural process. Bulging dics too. Unless they herniate so bad they touch or compress spinal cord. Very common issue. Not easy going, but 8 out of 10 have them. Stretch stretch stretch! haha hydrate, and move!

Mine started in my early 20's.

Mine to, but I have cervical herniation not lumbar, But I was very active, motocross, running, kickboxing, car accidents etc didn't get worse until 30s. My 21 yr old is showing degeneration, she choose to take the nursing route too! Hard on a body! Hope you are able to manage yours ok!

What do you do? Im fighting surgery on My C6 And C7 herniated discs. They aren't quite touching the spinal cord, but almost. Im 39, I Do NOT want fused discs at this age! So I keep it low impact, stretch, chiro care etc I had to quit racing dirt bikes and I keep quad riding to not bahahhing it through the dunes like I used to. Sucks, but better than surgery! My Spine specialist thinks I cant avoid it, but I have met other people successful at it! And working at Orthos office, I dont see very long lasting successful surgeries!

Curious to see how other people are avoiding surgery!

_dracarys_ wrote: »

I had a lumbar epidural steroid injection this week and it seems to be working. My pain has dulled. Orthopedic surgeon I originally saw said to start with injections. Per my pain management doctor, no surgeon should touch me at this point and conservative measures should be taken. I can have 2 more injections this year that my insurance will cover. Surgeon said if after those injections I have no improvement, I won't have improvement and surgery will be the next thing.

I had the injections 3 times in 2015 within a span of three months. The first time was with a local doctor and honestly I think he botched it. It really did not work at all, I was in constant pain for two weeks so I went to see my usual ortho guy who gave me another injection. Within 1.5 weeks or so it felt like it never happened. I was stupid at that point and went right back to my previous exercise regimen (walking 4 miles a day 7 days a week.. yes dumb). Two weeks later bam, bulging/herniated disc again. This time MRI showed two bulging discs and one was the one I previously had surgery on years ago (laminectomy). /sigh.. back to the ortho for another set of shots.. took about two weeks, lots of pain killers, but finally it started to heal. This time, as soon as I could stand it I started the stretches (first two in the post above). As soon as I could do the second stretch fully extended (straight arms) I went back to my elliptical/stair stepper but not walking more than 1 mile. I also cut it down to 6 days a week, and reduced my speed for a while. Thankfully I have not had to go back. I now focus a large portion of my exercise regimen on my core 5 days a week. I take 2 rest days a week to let my body recoup and I keep doing those stretches both before and after my workouts daily. I even do them on rest days once in the morning and once before bed for good measure. They are designed to compress the discs forward rather than back into your nerves. I will never stop doing those stretches, the pain from the sciatica was the worst I have ever felt in my life and never want to have it again. Not even double doses of Percocet this last time dulled the pain fully. It was horrible.