Sciatica

rockmonkeysc

I have had sciatica for several years, since a rock climbing accident (fell 30ft before gear stopped me). Most of the time I'm fine but occasionally I get incredibly intense pain in my lower back and leg.
Does anyone else suffer with this and have any advice on how to recover quicker?

nicklouse

Funny you mention this viewtopic.php?f=40011&t=12955896

adamfo

I used to get it in my left leg early in the morning whilst still in bed. I'd hurt my back in the gym and whilst that cleared quite quickly the pain in my leg kept returning.
Someone suggested cutting out rowing and hey presto it went and never returned.
Try cutting out unnatural movements of your back. You may be able to isolate the exact cause that's pressing on the nerve.

rockmonkeysc

It seems to be completely random. I can go months without any pain then just wake up in pain one morning.
I did borrow a mates Santa Cruz Bullit with some horrible handle bars and that set it off. Other than that there's nothing particular that does it.

pilch

Go & see a good physio, I used to get it a lot... still have the odd attack, you will get specific advise on causes & exercises to relieve/help prevent it.

big_p

I had terrible sciatica about 18 months ago caused by lifting a large weight with awful posture, strangely, the only relief i could get from it was to ride my road bike, it vanished completely when i was out on the road.
It affected me for about 6 months, in that time the doctor prescribed codeine for the pain and handed them out like sweets, I dont know how it snuck up on me but i rapidly became addicted to them, I was pretty much doubling the prescribed dose and even then the pain never really went away, ironically they ultimately caused me to stop riding my bike, which was the only real pain relief i could find.
They made me very lethargic, I took massive amounts of time off work which was easy as I'm self employed, I spent days on end in bed, my business almost want down the pan, they made me aggressive and obnoxious, and i hated myself for taking them but just couldn't stop, I lost count of how many times i almost had a crash in my work van because i was so stoned on them.
Thanks to my wife making the decision for me that i wasn't taking them any more and literally dressing me in my cycling gear and dragging me up the road on my bike, i was able to get off them, i started going to the gym and doing a lot of swimming which built up the strength in my lower back, the pain soon disappeared and has never been back, I'm just very careful when i lift things now.

I dont know if this is relevant in any way to the op, I guess what I'm trying to get across is be careful with any prescribed meds, I think the road to recovery lies in physical and not chemical means.

DCR00

Go and see a chiropractor

Read "Core Advantage"

Really changed the way I thought about core and posterior chain

I have an ongoing alignment issue with my back and the programme in the book is really helping

Stevo_666

The time I had it, I laid off doing any sport/physical activity for a couple months and as much time as possible sitting down (only seemed to get me when I was standing). I still get twinges when standing up for too long but it's never a problem on the bike.