Back Injury - Sciatica

Did you just see a GP? I’d be a second opinion and see an orthopedist. There’s a lot that can be done for sciatica that is more than taking pain meds.

I'm not sure if you're able, but I love Jen Hilman's yoga videos for sciatica pain. She's on YouTube.

I haven't been to PT for my back, but if I went to my Dr for back pain, that's what I'd ask for.

I have bouts of lower back pain. I control it with stretching and Pilates exercises. Recently started yoga. The pain is in my back, but the cure is in my hamstrings, hips and glutes.

Second the ice over heat and a TENS unit.

For me, it was time as your doctor said - and I did see pt, chiropractor, pain management. Pushing through pain to be active, aggrevated the herniated discs more and spread nerve pain beyond just sciatic.

Massages at the chiropractor helped. So for me me it was:
Time
TENS
Ice
Mastage

If you're looking for hope, a year later and I'm comfortably walking 2-3 miles a day. (I was reduced to a walker and shower chair for a couple months - at 38!)

Back in February, I felt a sharp shooting pain in my right lower back that basically crippled me. The first doc said it was sciatica and gave me a muscle relaxer for overnight and prednisone. The pred worked right away, but by the end of my dosage and after I had horrible heart palpitations. A month later, the pain was back. I saw a new doctor, and he diagnosed me with a Pinched Nerve and I got pain shot, a script for a low level - ever 4 hour hour muscle relaxer and tylonol 3. I also got a rec for physical therapy.

I ended up seeing a chiropractor on the suggestion of a friend. My spine was pinching down on that side, and my neck was straight instead of curved like it should be. I got adjustments, ice and stim (Which I think is like a TENS unit) and massage for a few weeks, then ice and stim was replaced with physical therapy and stretching. I was told to ice and stretch at home when I felt tightness. After the first few sessions, I didn't need any of the medications, even my OTC pain reliever.

I have to say whatever they did worked. I don't know if it was a combo of all treatments, or if it was just the therapy or just the massage. But I would recommend making sure nothing is pinched. For me it felt like getting stabbed, and then it shot down my leg, then after that everything was tight and painful, I was bent over and my husband had to help me walk to the car.

I also mention my neck in this because after the doc cracked my neck (the scariest part! it was like you see on tv or in the movies) my mobility increased so much. I was having a hard time fully turning my head to the right, which was causing my back and spine to compensate when I needed turn to look behind me, like while driving.

I've had sciatica, and it comes back now and again. I'm a professor, which means I basically sit all the time and work, and I commute long distances, which is also hard on my poor butt. I've got some kind of hamstring issue that flares up, so it seems like that nerve is always hurting. Whenever I'm working out a lot, it basically hurts.

What helped me more than anything is YOGA, as well as daily NSAIDS. Doctors and physical therapists are generally going to prescribe stretching - some variation of these: https://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/stretches-and-exercise-sciatic-pain-piriformis-syndrome

Stretching really really does work. Keep doing it. Daily yoga not only treats pain that is already there, but it's preventative to an extent. I'd be careful with the pain meds. In my opinion they don't treat the nerve pain as much as they get you so wasted you don't care about the pain anymore. I took gabapentin for a while, which treats nerve pain, but it made me gain mad weight - like 10 lbs (as well as made me drunkity-drunk).

Don't despair. It WILL improve.

lrob87 wrote: »

Hi all. I'm a mom of a 2 toddlers (ages 1 & 2). Have had a really great summer - lost 20 lbs, biked, walked, or ran places instead of driving, and did lots of swimming and outdoor activities with my kids. I injured my back on Sunday and was diagnosed with sciatica yesterday. The pain is the worst I've felt outside of labor, and I've been reduced from being pretty active to barely hobbling around the house. The doctor said there's not much they can do except give me some pain meds (which help a little) and wait for it to get better. Has anyone been in this scenario before? I know everyone is different, but how long did it take to improve? Looking for some encouragement I guess. Thanks!

-raises hand- This happened to me, and I remember the agony of the pain in the first few months of the injury. The pain does improve, but... I've never regained my full range of motion, and some days the pain is just really bad. It stinks, but it does improve a little. I still have to be careful how I sit, where I sit, and how long I sit or I'll be in agony. I'm two and a half years into it. Physiotherapy and the stretches they tell you to do at home do help, a lot--but you have to be consistent and do them daily.

I had sciatica, and yes, it's really very painful. My doc at the time prescribed codeine, and anti-inflammatory, a heating pad, and rest. The codeine really took away the pain.

Ask your doctor for a referral to physical therapy and maybe a chiropractor. Gentle yoga will also help. It takes a while to be good again. At 2 or 3 weeks, I thought I was ok enough to go shopping. It was most definitely not ok. More like 4-6. Be sure to rest.

lrob87 wrote: »

and will find out what a TENS unit is. Thank you all again for your posts. ❤

ask the physio you're seeing already. there are also other forms of 'electro therapy', so it's a steep learning curve. i have a little unit** i bought a few weeks ago, which has tens, ems, microcurrent and interferential - not that i know what all of them are or what they all do but since i wasn't sure i wanted all the options that i could get. my issue is not your issue (mine is probably soft tissue of some kind, as opposed to a nerve). and i am NOT going to give advice to anyone with a back problem that i know nothing about. but fwiw i don't use the tens very much, but i'm pretty happy to have the ems and microcurrent for the particular issues that i'm working on.

i also suggest trying to find one with a power adapter, or at least that runs off a chargeable battery. a main reason why i bought the one that i did was because i didn't want to be addicted to buying disposable batteries for the [possible] rest of my life.

**it's a neo ultima something something, in case you were curious. 'expensive' at 200 bucks but i felt like spending some money that month.