My Sciatica .02
just started month 4 with my sciatica. Yes, it does suck. Nerve pain is the worst pain there is. First, have you seen a Dr. about it? You need to find out what's wrong. Herniated disc is the obvious choice, but a few other things can cause similar symptoms. If it is herniated you need to know how and where. When I figured out where my herniation was I figured out what my ranges of motion are--I know what flares it up because I can imagine where the disc is pressing on the nerve. You don't always need an MRI to figure it out. They can often figure it out by where you hurt and what positions aggrivate it.
Mine is herniated at S1/L5 which is pretty common. What's not common is that my herniation is to the side which makes rehab very difficult. I'm at the mercy of my body's ability to fix this fucker on its own. Luckily my body seems to be doing that--just slowly.
My pain is in the hip/butt and on the outside of my left calf. I also get tingling/numbness in my toes on the left foot. Some people do a few exercises given to them by PTs and Drs. and heal in a few weeks. Not me.
I went through rehab and it did nothing for me but inflamed the living hell out of my back real bad. I'm avoiding surgery and narcotics at all costs. Both can royally screw you up. There is a debate about McKenzie versus Williams exercises. You can read about it on the web. Keeping my back straight and laying off the activities that inflame me (walking) has helped me the most. In fact, my pain is getting tollerable now to the point that I don't notice or think about it all the time.
When do you hurt? sitting, standing, laying down on back, laying down on stomach etc...?
You'll read and hear that disc injuries should heal in no more than 6 weeks. I think that's gotta be BS. I think "sore backs" get thrown into that statistic.
I truly believe that inflammation around the injury compounds the problem. What I did for the first 2.5 months was aggravate the injury. This just kept it inflamed. I kept insisting on walking for cardio which just kept me inflamed 24/7. The inflamed soft tissue crowds the nerve which is being pressed on by the disc. The disc has a little space between it and the nerve. When it herniates it takes up a bunch of that space. Your body thinks the herniation is an invader and orders the area inflamed. This can take up any remaining space between the nerve and herniation and cause even more compression which leads to severe pain. If you do any glute exercises at all youre butt will get inflamed from the muscle trama and I bet youll hurt worse for a while. I hate anti-inflammatories b/c I believe they interfere with muscle growth. But, I gotta say that I took prescription Naproxen for 10 days and then Aleve on an as needed basis and that seemed to set me off in the right direction. It knocked the inflammation way down and allowed me to get a break. Now that I'm off the stuff completely my inflammation has not come back. Since I know where the herniation is I can keep from inflaming it.
Some studies have come out showing that the body can (but not always) heal discs by resorbing them. Essentially the immune system attacks the disc and shrinks it. This especially happens if the disc herniation is a sequestered herniation, meaning the inner core has been squished completely out. This resorpotion is what Im hoping for and believe is happening. I think being able to get off the anti-inflammatories helps me. But, they were useful in getting me to this point.
Bottom line: Youve got to see a Dr if you havent already. Go to the best.
Tell us more about your injury.
