Trapped sciatic nerve...

miss notax

Hello

I've had a bad lower back for years, the latest problem starting about 2 months ago. My Chiropractor has sort my back out (no pain at all now and full movement) but *somehow* my sciatic nerve is now being trapped / squashed so that I have numb bits on my left leg and reduced muscle strength.

Does anyone have any experience of this? It's been like this for about 3 weeks, starting off where I could barely walk. I can now walk ok and some of the strength is back, but for example I can't stand on my left leg and go onto tip-toe I've been carrying on as normal - including mtbing and spinning - but last night I really lost my sense of humour. I'm usually pretty slow and rubbish anyway, but I couldn't get the power uphill at all :evil:

I fell off last week and bashed my arm because my leg stopped working, I looked down at it (not sure what I was expecting to see...!) and then fell off down a slope in that direction :?

It's not just a case of gritting my teeth - no matter how hard I try my legs just not working right!

I'm off to the Alps mountain biking in a months time and i'm getting worried that it won't be fixed by then. I've booked a doctors appointment for tomorrow to see what they say.

Any comments on what I can do to speed this up? I assume that it WILL get better? :shock:

I'm only 33 and am pretty fit and in good health any this is really starting to P!SS ME OFF :evil: :evil:

Surf-Matt

Have you tried Pilates?

Very good at helping unstable/bad backs.

miss notax

Really? I think they do Pilates classes at ym gym so I might look into that

Thanks!

Surf-Matt

Make sure the instructor is properly qualified - a friend of ours is a physio and Pilates instructor - she's helped loads of people sort similar problems.

Bit far for you though!

miss notax

Not sure I could afford the petrol at the moment

Do you know if the muscle weakness / numbness sorts itself out in the end? It really was frustrating last night - I just couldn't get the ooomph to get up the hills (non surprising on one leg!) :evil:

beancounter

Yeah I've had all of this, but my chiropractor sorted it all out for me and I now only see her once a month to keep it all "straight".

Have you stopped seeing your chiro? I was a bit confused by your post tbh. If you've stopped, you better start again!

bc

miss notax

beancounter wrote:

Yeah I've had all of this, but my chiropractor sorted it all out for me and I now only see her once a month to keep it all "straight".

Have you stopped seeing your chiro? I was a bit confused by your post tbh. If you've stopped, you better start again!

bc

Sorry about that! Yes, i'm still seeing the chiroptractor but have also booked an appointment to see my GP. My chiropractor is confident that she can sort it all out, but she says it can take up to 12 weeks (and i'm off to Verbier in 4 :shock: ) - hence the panic to get it working again.

Is there anything that I can do to speed it up? I am assuming that carrying on as normal (inc the mtbing, gym, spinning etc) is right and not making it worse?

Thanks!

Surf-Matt

Sarah - I'd speak to your GP first.

Just a few cases that have been sorted with the right physio and pilates:

Me - dodgy and instable right knee joint - sorted.
Me - very weak rotator cuff muscles in shoulder - sorted.

Wife - painful SI joint (lower back/hip) when pregnant - sorted through Pilates alone.

Wife's grandma - lifelong back trouble - huge improvement through Pilates and physio.

And my Dad who's had a terrible back most of his life - goes to the Chiro so regularly that he gets a major discount but still needs it constantly. He does no physio/Pilates.

beancounter

Trust your chiro. If (s)he says 12 weeks you'll probably be fixed in 12 weeks but probably showing good progress by 4 weeks.

Don't bother with your GP, he'll do nothing for you but prescribe some painkillers.

If I was you I'd leave exercise alone for a bit, it won't help and might make things worse (in the short term I mean, and you have a "deadline" looming...)

I'm no expert so this is just my 2p worth.

bc

1340jas

I get trouble with trapped nerves in my lower spine and have done so for the past 6 years.
I went to the Dr's endless times and physio. Nothing seemed to work.
I then paid for an MRI Scan. This showed that I had lost the discs between the bone at the botton of my spine just above the Sacram.
All the work the physio was doing was only pushing against the nerves and making things worse.
However I now do lots of core strength excercises and this has worked wonders. It was so bad that I could not ride for over 2 years.

If you get pain or numbness in your leg and it reaches or gets lower than your knee you should see a Doctor. If left untreated this can cause problems later on.

I will eventually have to have an op to fuse the bones together or cage them. The specialist I have seen is a sportsman and understands that with excercise you can put off the inevitable.

Take it easy, Don,t push things too quick and get some medical advice or ask for a proper scan. An x-ray won't pick up this type of problem.

AndyManc

1340jas wrote:

However I now do lots of core strength excercises and this has worked wonders. It was so bad that I could not ride for over 2 years.

Core excersise is the key , my lower 3/4 vertabrae are totally shot .. my Doc upon seeing my scan results told me to change jobs and give up sports .. I ignored him and 10 yrs later I feel better than I did then and with no medical interference.

What do GP's know ... very little .

jmeadows

sarah- u poor thing , you are always in the wars arent you!?

Surf-Matt

AndyManc wrote:

1340jas wrote:

However I now do lots of core strength excercises and this has worked wonders. It was so bad that I could not ride for over 2 years.

Core excersise is the key , my lower 3/4 vertabrae are totally shot .. my Doc upon seeing my scan results told me to change jobs and give up sports .. I ignored him and 10 yrs later I feel better than I did then and with no medical interference.

What do GP's know ... very little .

My GP told me to stop surfing when my shoulder was bad :shock:
It's now fine.

Pilates IS core exercising.

miss notax

jmeadows wrote:

sarah- u poor thing , you are always in the wars arent you!?

I don't mind - i'm always the person who falls down the flight of stairs / off the bike / out of the car etc. I convince myself that it shows that i'm an interesting person who does lots of cool things (rather than just wactching the TV!)! It is getting a little annoying now though :roll:

Sadly my gym only does Pilates classes during the day - clearly people who work full time don't need such things!

1340jas

Surf-Mat
I'm going to look up Pilates on the tinter-web, as soon as I've finished looking up everything else i find interesting.
I didn't realise that the excersise I did may be Pilates. I was given some good instruction sheets by a Physio and shown how to do them. I also use a big silver ball for ballancing on, when I can get it away from the kids. Please note the colour of the ball makes no difference to the benefits it produces.
My back was so bad I very nearly got retired from work at 40 years of age. Sounds great but I need a decent paying job to feed the wife kids and maintain my bike habit.

It may be worth a thread on this site directing people with ailments / injuries to decent web sites?

colsa

worth going to the docs, a mate of mine had to have an op to put his right

miss notax

Well, docs completely useless :?

He kept on saying that it's sciatica - which I knew- and as i'm young (ha!) and healthy it should fix itself. He couldn't really confirm whether I should exercise or rest, but I could do some stretches which I could find on-line.

The answer was to take ibruprofen for a week, but I don't like taking lots of tablets so i'm not sure whether to go down that route or not....

Hey ho! Onwards and upwards!