Sciatic pain after running

Spliner1969 wrote: »

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.

Spliner1969 wrote: »

I hope the adjustments help! I'm familiar with the pain, and it sucks. Easily some of the worst pain I've ever felt.

mitch16 wrote: »

jaymijones wrote: »

I'm willing to believe its that my hips are out of alignment. He said it's probably a direct result of 4 pregnancies. That absolutely makes sense. The pain is only on one side, and that side is the one where my hip is REALLY off. Most of my kids favored that side while in utero, one of them would jam her shoulder against that hip, get her feet against my rib cage on the other side, and then push on both, like she was trying to make room to stretch out. Another kid sat on the hip in question for what felt like the whole 9 months, I actually have more stretch marks and lose skin on that side than the other because of it. That combined with the relaxin hormone that losens the ligaments to allow the hips to separate in perpetration for child birth, all caused my hips to be where they are not supposed to be.

Since most of the adjustments he did dealt directly with my hips, I'm not too worried. He said if this doesn't start working he'll send me for X-rays and physical therapy. And honestly it makes sense based on other issues I've had that I didn't realize could be related. For instance my hip always pops when I do leg lifts, it's not painful but it only happens on one side, and is frankly annoying. Also my back tends to hurt right where he said it would for misaligned hips.

He said he could confidently rule out a herniated disk, and that he's pretty sure it's just a muscle that was already angry about the misalignment, and the running just made it angry enough that I finally noticed it.

Carrying your wee ones (ex utero) on one hip will contribute to it, too. Even though he has given you the o.k. to continue to run, keep working on your core and (lateral) hip strength as well to provide stability.

brittyn3 wrote: »

adamgoleafs87 wrote: »

If you're getting sciatic pain you probably want to consult your doctor as well.

Mine ended up with needing an L5 - S1 decompression surgery.

My hips were out of alignment too when I was competing. After they "set me straight" my hip displaced/dislocated on the final lap in the national 3000m. Holy hell pain, it literally took my breath away. Still finished, terribly... but finished. Took me 6 weeks of PT. ick.