sciatica stops play?

linsen

I think I may have sciatica

When I cycle it doesn't hurt,

Am I making it worse though?

I have pain in my left buttock, leg, sometimes down to the foot.

Grrr

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Ouch, I really do sympathize! Had a nasty lumbar region back muscle sprain last summer, which gave me sciatica from time to time. It has taken about eight months to finally be able to get back to how I was before the accident at work.

A quality adjustable stem, to get you more upright, may help you to still cycle. An Oval R710 allowed me to do some cycling, once I was confident that my lower back was not likely to go into spasm while descending Lances Hill or Chessel Avenue.

My GP prescribed me diclofenac to cope with the agony. For the first four months or so, I was dependent on the max dosage of three a day, but then I was able to take them less often. Just make sure you do not overdo things for the sake of your back's recovery, as strong painkillers will mask any damage you are doing while drugged up!

redvee

Get down the GP and get a proper diagnosis and get somebody to carry your heavy schoolbooks such as one of the many assistants you have at work.

always_tyred

You may need to tinker with your position. It sounds like you aren't central on the saddle. There might even be some pirineal artery related pins and needles going on. Do you have numbnuts?

To get things loosened up in your back might need some rest, stretching, physio, blah. But if its any consolation, its a fairly familiar cycling niggle.

linsen

Always Tyred wrote:

You may need to tinker with your position. It sounds like you aren't central on the saddle. There might even be some pirineal artery related pins and needles going on. Do you have numbnuts?

To get things loosened up in your back might need some rest, stretching, physio, blah. But if its any consolation, its a fairly familiar cycling niggle.

numbnuts?

always_tyred

linsen wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

You may need to tinker with your position. It sounds like you aren't central on the saddle. There might even be some pirineal artery related pins and needles going on. Do you have numbnuts?

To get things loosened up in your back might need some rest, stretching, physio, blah. But if its any consolation, its a fairly familiar cycling niggle.

numbnuts?

itboffin

Aw you poor thing that censored really hurts, but what AT said you might need to adjust your set up, have you recently increased your mileage and time on the bike?

I found that a set up good for a couple of hours on the bike is murder for 4+ hours.

Lots of pain killer with wine or beer and rest, feet up watch TV that sort of thing, in fact your in luck because the track champs are on at 7pm then of course this weekend is the start of the F1.

You do like F1 right!?

Greg T

linsen wrote:

I have pain in my left buttock, leg, sometimes down to the foot.

Grrr

I'd need at least a high definition picture to make an "accurate" diagnosis.

I'd settle for a graphic pen picture

boy on bike

itboffin wrote:

in fact your in luck because the track champs are on at 7pm then of course this weekend is the start of the F1.

You do like F1 right!?

Ta for the heads-up on the track cycling ont' telly - I hadn't clocked that.

F1... is that a Cervelo model?

Headhuunter

I read somewhere that cycling's good for prevention of sciatica because it strengthens the back muscles which support the sciatic nerve but as AT said, you should get the saddle position right. Numb nuts is usually caused by excessive pressure on the perineum caused by some saddles or an improperly angled saddle

linsen

Headhuunter wrote:

I read somewhere that cycling's good for prevention of sciatica because it strengthens the back muscles which support the sciatic nerve but as AT said, you should get the saddle position right. Numb nuts is usually caused by excessive pressure on the perineum caused by some saddles or an improperly angled saddle

Thanks for the info about numbnuts - I am however confident that I will never get these

greg66_tri_v2.0

boy on bike wrote:

itboffin wrote:

in fact your in luck because the track champs are on at 7pm then of course this weekend is the start of the F1.

You do like F1 right!?

Ta for the heads-up on the track cycling ont' telly - I hadn't clocked that.

F1... is that a Cervelo model?

Nah. It's a Felt, I think.


Linsen - I'll pm you.

always_tyred

linsen wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

I read somewhere that cycling's good for prevention of sciatica because it strengthens the back muscles which support the sciatic nerve but as AT said, you should get the saddle position right. Numb nuts is usually caused by excessive pressure on the perineum caused by some saddles or an improperly angled saddle

Thanks for the info about numbnuts - I am however confident that I will never get these

I couldn't even begin to propose how pressure on the pirineal artery might manifest in the fairer sex. However, in addition to the well documented manifestation in men, I've noted that, from the sort of bike position issues that result in numbnuts, its also possible to get tingling feet as well.

You have feet, right?

(although unless someone is in the process of kicking you in the nuts, the pirineal artery doesn't go anywhere near feet - its just a correlation I've.... ahem.... noted).

linsen

hmm interesting.
Pain does indeed go down into my foot and having been okay today I have just walked to school and back to fetch children and it now hurts again.
Haven't changed the bike set-up in the last 500 miles, so I'm puzzled it's all happened now....

always_tyred

linsen wrote:

hmm interesting.
Pain does indeed go down into my foot and having been okay today I have just walked to school and back to fetch children and it now hurts again.
Haven't changed the bike set-up in the last 500 miles, so I'm puzzled it's all happened now....

Spring. I don't know about you, but throughout the winter I cycle fewer miles with less vigour.

Linsen, you have become invigorated by the joys of spring, and thereby become slightly broken. It happens to me most years. I plan to try to make it happen this weekend.

Jay dubbleU

Linsen - have you done anything to jerk or twist your back ? I had a similar thing before Xmas - turned out that I'd trapped my sciatic nerve - chiro sorted it out in no time

itboffin

boy on bike wrote:

itboffin wrote:

in fact your in luck because the track champs are on at 7pm then of course this weekend is the start of the F1.

You do like F1 right!?

Ta for the heads-up on the track cycling ont' telly - I hadn't clocked that.

F1... is that a Cervelo model?

NP cav's up tonight lets hope he does a better job than yesterday :?

itboffin

You've not been fooling around with Wii by any chance?

I get my best injuries don't nothing mostly, I'm not sure how that works.

doog442

serious post as i cant compete with the comediens on here

See your GP ASAP....you 'may' have a prolapsed disc...sciatica is a major sign. If your GP says you do....ask for an MRI ASAP...and when you are waiting dont see a physio,chiro or anyone else...stay off your bike until you know the score. Please dont let anyone mess with your back until you have an MRI scan

I didnt do any of the above and 9 months later after 2 epidurals im just getting back on the bike..had a prolapsed disc..try to run/cyle through it and paid for it also 12 courses of useless physio

just to add...my sciatica was down through my buttock, down my right thigh and 'pinched' on the right of my knee...down through my calf and into the small area to the right of my ankle bone..then down to my two smallest toes.....

classic symptons of L5/S1 prolapse

jimmypippa

Furthermore, chiro can be pretty dangerous:

The debate over the connection between chiropractic neck manipulation and stroke has been widely reported in the medical literature. After 5 years of handling these kinds of cases, Abelson has developed his own opinion. “I would not personally have it done now that I know what the risks are,” he says. “The practice of chiropractic neck manipulation is a belief, a philosophy, and has no scientific basis,” says Abelson.

linsen

Always Tyred wrote:

linsen wrote:

hmm interesting.
Pain does indeed go down into my foot and having been okay today I have just walked to school and back to fetch children and it now hurts again.
Haven't changed the bike set-up in the last 500 miles, so I'm puzzled it's all happened now....

Spring. I don't know about you, but throughout the winter I cycle fewer miles with less vigour.

Linsen, you have become invigorated by the joys of spring, and thereby become slightly broken. It happens to me most years. I plan to try to make it happen this weekend.

Ah well bizarrely, throughout the winter I have cycled many more miles with more vigour - perhaps that's the problem!

always_tyred

Oh, now you are just being obtuse.

In seriousness, there COULD be all manner of nasty things going wrong, but its so common in cycling to get niggles of this type (its a fundamentally unnatural thing to do in all honesty and on top of that its repetitive) that in the first instance I'd not worry, and just try the obvious things.

You've not been cycling for all that long, in the grand scheme of things, so you might well be encoutering the first consequences of things that have been slightly amiss from the outset.

I think you need to replace your saddle with this though -

linsen

itboffin

Always Tyred wrote:

I think you need to replace your saddle with this though -

Slightly less padded than your current saddle

attica

Actually ITB has hit on a good point, how long have you had your saddle? It might be the case that the foam/gel has degraded and you're now sat on something that's no longer fit for purpose, is it showing signs of wear and tear above and beyond the obvious "I dropped it"/"I fell off"/"Some clumsy censored knocked it over n the shed" type wear and tear?

always_tyred

Attica wrote:

you're now sat on something that's no longer fit for purpose, is it showing signs of wear and tear

Not even I would be this rude. 8)