Back Injury - Sciatica

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lrob87
lrob87 Posts: 20 Member
in Motivation and Support
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!

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  • pomegranatecloud
    pomegranatecloud Posts: 812 Member
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    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.
  • Moobear214
    Moobear214 Posts: 39 Member
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    I agree with seeing a DR, I have back pain in 3 different areas, they have helped a bunch and can still be active through most of the pain
  • 76Crane76
    76Crane76 Posts: 133 Member
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    I'm not sure if you're able, but I love Jen Hilman's yoga videos for sciatica pain. She's on YouTube.
  • mkayatin
    mkayatin Posts: 3 Member
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    Takes a few weeks to get better unfortunately and sitting does not help since you are essentially compressing that nerve area. Heating pad at night. Stretch regularly. Great videos online. I too suffer on occasion. Chiropractor helps and walking.
  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,477 Member
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    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.
  • KryssiMoore2017
    KryssiMoore2017 Posts: 1 Member
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    Sorry to hear about your pain. I have had back problems for about 7 years now. Have tried the chiropractor, Airrosti, stretching, ended up having 3 surgeries on the same region. My biggest advice would be when it's really flared, pay attention to the pain. Take it easy for a few days, limit bending, twisting, and lifting. That's hard to do with young kids. I also found that ice helped more than heat and a small ten's unit helped the first few years. I also switched from an orthopedic doctor to a neurologist after the second surgery. That made a wold of difference. Hope it gets better soon.
  • Aqualang26
    Aqualang26 Posts: 149 Member
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    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!)
  • jonni82014
    jonni82014 Posts: 1,424 Member
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    Sports medicine doctor - Action Release Technique I had pinched femoral vein in leg. Good as new
  • lrob87
    lrob87 Posts: 20 Member
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    Thank you everyone! I am feeling a bit more positive today and the pain is still severe but more manageable and feels like it's improving for the first time in almost a week. My family is working together to give me a few days without the bending and lifting required by having small kids. I did go to physio and have another appointment on Monday (I went to physio before seeing the physician, which was through the ER as I was completely immobilized by pain at that point, felt like someone was turning a screw in my back and tightening all the muscles from my ankles to my neck), and will ask about the action release technique then. I'll also look into the suggestions for heat, ice, yoga, and massage - and will find out what a TENS unit is. Thank you all again for your posts. ❤
  • jennyvalentine4
    jennyvalentine4 Posts: 15 Member
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    I have chronic back issues including sciatica. I can’t even do yoga! I have found the some Pilates poses are great because they stretch everything out. I hope you get to feeling better. I know back and hip pain is awful.
  • moodybear2003
    moodybear2003 Posts: 225 Member
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    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.
  • Kristen8912
    Kristen8912 Posts: 32 Member
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    I have sciatica and small children too. It comes and goes; sometimes just moving the wrong way brings it back on. What seems to have helped me was going from obese to a normal weight range and exercising. With that said, i enlisted a trainer at the beginning to show me proper form and technique so I didn't cause further damage. It still bugs me sometimes but not near as often. And when it does, I take it easy until it passes. That includes lifting my kids. It's tough with a 1 year old but they understand a lot. "Walk over here to mommy. Can you climb on this chair for lunch?" Etc. rather than lifting her into the high chair.

    I hope this helps. Good luck to you.
  • mrack1
    mrack1 Posts: 31 Member
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    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.

  • lili200
    lili200 Posts: 200 Member
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    Been there. Feel free to add me
    For me: hydrotherapy , tens machine (~20$ Amazon), hot packs and yoga
  • Susieq_1994
    Susieq_1994 Posts: 5,361 Member
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    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.
  • TanyaHooton
    TanyaHooton Posts: 249 Member
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    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.
  • Porshiana
    Porshiana Posts: 20 Member
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    transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation. They sell them for like $30 at Wal-Mart. Love the omron one
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    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.

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