Sciatica issues ...
 

My long time buddy is in some serious pain ... been going on for a few months now. He's ready for surgery ... past ready.

He's seeing all the right docs, etc. but still not the "potential surgeon" ...

Any suggestions?

His issue is probably due to sitting and driving a computer screen for 4 decades... but that is over now.

I had excruciating sciatica pain that lasted for 2 weeks in late 2024. I tried everything and did all of the recommended stretches. After listening to my wife's advice, I went to an acupuncturist. I have never gone to one before because I believed it was not "real." However, after my first one hour visit my pain had decreased by about 70%. I went again a couple days later and it was completely gone. I am now a believer.

Same here, David...my two week episode that was, uh, painful:cool:

I did acupuncture and, on another suggestion, I bought a TENS unit. Both helped.

It has been a few years with no recurrence, thank goodness.

Best to your friend, KC...have him try AP, seriously.

Thank you guys! I have suggested that maybe acupuncture would help ... but don't know if he has seriously considered that yet.

He's in Jax .... mebbe I'll reach out to Byron for suggestions... they just live on opposite sides of the river.

He had to drive to Baptist downtown last week to talk to a PA ... an ordeal :(.

About 40 years ago another buddy endured a 17 hour back surgery ordeal with 3 teams of surgeons in that same hospital... I was there.

Thanks!

TENS and a chiropractor worked for me. Took 3 weeks or so before the hip joints were flexible enough for him to manipulate them.

Since then dynamic stretching of the lower body is a regular part of my workouts.

Thank you! He's been seeing a chiro (amongst others) and "thought" he was getting some relief a month or so back... now that doesn't seem to help and it's worse than ever... he is doing everything they suggest ... to the max. That's who he is...

I would see an osteopath (D.O.) with a neurosurgical consult.

I don't know the specifics of everyone he's been seeing, but he did mention seeing a neurologist (I think that was what he said) ... and I asked if that would be the potential surgeon he was gonna see next... yep.

Thanks!

I’m certainly no expert but when I think of nerve pain, outside of a traumatic event, I think it’s a result of impingement likely due to improper body mechanics, just like riding a desk for 40 years might create.

I would spend a lot of time trying to reverse those before surgery.

Oh man that sucks. Core... Core... and more Core exercise with solid warmup and cooldown, and stretch every, and I mean every single day. A good PT can help but the patient has to be willing to listen to, and do what the PT says. Oh! And Yoga. Might add some massage therapy focusing on the piriformis as well as some stretches that focus on the piriformis.

^^^ Totally agree. I think the pain level is such that he is ready for surgery now... and that is scary to me. My other Jax buddy and my sis have had multiple major back operations (hers was sciatica related too). That is certainly no "sure cure" either imo.

A couple of months ago he started seeing results after just a bit of "physical therapy", chiro visits, etc. Dropped the pain level from 10 down to 2ish. We were both optimistic ... I didn't realize it had shot back up to 10 until he said he was "past ready" for surgery a week or so ago.

Thanks!

I would try everything, including bed supports for the back, braces (there are some really good ones these days) and literally anything else before he gets his back (meaning spine) operated on.

Back surgery is not a hip replacement or a knee...it is potentially life altering and often not in a positive way.

After he gets through this episode, and he will, he needs to do a lot of homework on how to prevent the next occurrence. Lots of solid advise in this thread...weight, diet, movement, stretching, etc. works wonders.

My Primary Care Doctor walked me through the "after this bout of sciatica" and it has worked...he did not recommend surgery.

A quick search is all he will need. Patience, not surgery on the back.

Thank you all. If he could just get some immediate relief, I know he would/will do everything possible to "fix it" ... it came outta nowhere a few months back ... we talk all the time and he didn't let me know for a while tho'.

I've called him a couple of times today and sent a text earlier ... no answers... yet.

In the text I relayed the acupuncture/TENS suggestions....

I personally would avoid any type of back surgery unless it was "last resort".

Check out epidural as a treatment. Pain will be gone and free him up for exercise, possibly weight loss and PT. Would not operate, this often goes away. Need to be patient.

Suffered with sciatica for years. Had epidurals, PT, etc. Turned out it was piriformis syndrome. When the piriformis spasms it cuts off the sciatic nerve.

That's the "fun" of this stuff. It goes away and then BAM nails ya again. I've been living with three herniated discs in my lower back for several years now. Two of my friends went the surgery route and still have problems. I went the exercise, stretch, stretch and more stretch route.

Paul suggested a TENS unit. I use one of those as well when things act up along with getting off my lazy a.. and getting back to exercising and stretching.

FWIW, I've never had a chiropractor help. A good PT OTOH, yep. Hard to think clearly when you're in pain and it hurts to even walk or stand up though.

I had it for a few months, a few years back, hurt sitting, even on a bar stool. I have a great Acupuncture doctor in Jax and chiropractor, who helped tremendously. That one is in Orange Park.
The combination of the two got me pain free
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1748323582.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1748323582.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1748323582.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1748323582.jpg

https://youtube.com/shorts/OAMaraChKEg?si=c_oRVzGWi4kZlcNA

https://youtu.be/pUzJpkk40QI?si=mH6iB1EoNLzJjHD6


And Select was great http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1748324142.jpg

Thank you all! Byron, I will pass this info along and am going to see if he will schedule an appointment asap. I haven't heard back from my friend yet ... that tells me he is NOT in a "good place" right now. I'm getting ready to call him again...

Thank you ... and everyone!

I completely agree with Paul. Surgery should be the last resort after everything else has failed. I can be life changing in a negative way.

My sciatica pain was about a 9 out of 10 for two solid weeks. I was ready to try anything to relieve the pain. During that time, I would have performed surgery on myself to relieve the pain. I have a needle phobia, so acupuncture was out of the question until I could not bear the pain anymore. Like I wrote earlier, it immediately reduced it and cured it.

Just got off the phone with my bud...

He's going to call the place Byron recommended today :)

Thank you all!

I have had all sorts of broken bones, and last spring I herniated a disk.
The pain in the leg was so, SO bad I could almost not walk.
After much research, I discovered that the disk protrudes out into the S. nerve.
This is the cause of the pain dwn the leg, the burning, the loss of use, the numbness on the top of the foot.
The good news in a high percentage of these types cases, the body will slowly eat it up.
It did. ( I guess?)
That it would take a few months and a LOT of pain pills to survive.
I still have limited use of the right foot, but getting better, and the pain is 90% gone too!
Moral of the story- don't get in a hurry to get under the knife!
At least with a Hurnated disk.

^^^ Look up the "Cobra pose" and do it but not to the point where it hurts. Work gradually towards full arm extension. I think the one for the piriformis is called the pigeon pose. There's a variation where you lay on your back, put your left ankle on right knee and pull the right leg towards your chest. You can also so something similar from a sitting position leaning forward towards the leg. The pigeon pose is "advanced" but it's the one that helps me the most when I have a flareup. Another good stretch that I've used is taking a broom stick, holding it at the base of my neck and waistline, facing a set of stairs I put my heel on about the second stair and gently lean forward using the broomstick to make sure my spine stays neutral. This stretches the hamstring and calf. Remember to always warm up a bit before stretching.

Hopefully this will help, some of you guys only had to deal with it for 2weeks?? I hope as over 2 months, and the pain, I could not even sit on a bar stool doing shots to take my mind off the pain for 5 minutes (even pounding shots) and the only thing that my primary doctor could do was write a prescription for painkillers. While I have no problem when it comes to drinking, I’m not a fan of painkillers (probably why I have so many bottles still 1/2 full).
When the pain goes beyond my threshold, will take them.
One of the reasons I am looking to change Pain management doctors, for my back and knees, I want pool exercises physical therapy, and he ask me if I have been taking the pain medicine he prescribed, then noticed that I never had the pain pills prescription filled.

There is a thread here, “greetings from the Kettering …”. It’s about my experience with back surgery. You might want to look through it.

This. Varieties of the pigeon pose and piriformis stretch can help tremendously. It's not instant, but doing these stretches over time can meaningfully improve sciatica.

And/or do yoga a couple times a week. It will transform your back for the better over time.

Sent from my CPH2451 using Tapatalk

Literally anything? More like try everything.

I would talk to a witch doctor about voodoo treatment before I would get back surgery

I kid, sort of

Your spinal column is kinda complicated
https://teachmeanatomy.info/back/bones/vertebral-column/

It moves sort of like a rope made out of a stack of bone blocks(vertebrae) with gel shock absorbers(intervertebral discs) between them, with gel prevented from leaking out by a fibrous wrapping that contains the gel.

The spine is pretty straight, or should be from the front; if you look at it from the side, it is curved, because the bone blocks are semi wedge shaped. Behind the bone/shock absorber column is a roughly triangular shaped space with little struts of bone that stick out the back and to either side of this triangular shaped space. The little struts are where the muscles attach. Looking at a vertebra from the top, you have a sort of round bone, that has this pieces sticking out the back that forms the triangular shaped space that carries the Spinal Cord, which is all the nerves coming out of your melon like a big cable that has smaller cables coming off at each vertebral level. Each of these nerves is often bundled with nerves from the level above or below to form larger nerves, which is the deal with your sciatic nerve, which is like 4 or 5 levels of vertebral nerves bundled together and runs from your lower back to your foot, with the nerve getting smaller as it goes down your leg and gives innervation to structures along the way.

This nerve is big as one of your fingers in your lower back/ass, and can get hung up at a number of different levels. For example, you can have a tight piriformis muscle and it compresses the sciatic nerve, giving you screaming pain down the back of your leg that is quite incapacitating. You can also have an intervertebral disc herniate posteriorly and impinge on the spinal cord.

First thing is to figure out what is causing the symptoms. Surgery is what you think about when all the conservative measures have failed and your quality of life is crap.

Yes, I fully agree and mine went out on Saturday, just as I got to where I could walk without a cane. When I 1st started having serious back issues, 1st thing said was steroids, then surgery. Fortunately, had friends (and my girlfriend at the time) in the medical profession, and they pointed out the percentage of success,seems like you have a better chance of winning in Las Vegas. I’ll stick with my acupuncture (see what I did) Chinese girl giving me a massage and my stretching and work outs in a swimming pool.
Honestly, the pool helps me a lot and that is why I keep telling my pain management doctor that I prefer aqua PT over pain pills. And the latest X-rays show lots of damage, and most arthritis, something they say nothing can be done about. I’m tired of living in pain, but I have responsibilities and my elderly Mother counts on me, as does the feral cat colony I feed. If I wasn’t needed for those, I’d probably just say screw it. Seriously, I’m tired of the pain, tired of the so called friends who don’t do what they say or only hear from them when they need something, just flat out tired or not being physically able too do what I used to do with ease..
The old man in Logan’s Run had it right.

They also gave me a stack of steroids.
My usual mindset is to stay away from meds.
In this case there was SO much pain, if they had set a bowl of pig poop if front of
me , and said this will help, I would have eaten it !!

A 90/90 stretch is also useful and maybe easier to get into.

Sit on the floor, make sure you do along side a chair or something else to help you get back up if you think you’ll need it.

Put one leg in front of you bent at the knee to 90 degrees, the other behind you also at 90. Sounds more difficult than it is. Google for pictures or videos.

Using your arms to control the movement, lean forward letting your upper body weight aide in the stretch. Hold it for a couple moments and then back up and repeat for 30 seconds. Switch leg position and do it again for the other side.

Leg swings both front to back and side to side (30 seconds each for a total of 2 minutes) are an easy warm up to get the blood flowing. Again google for pictures or videos.

Pool therapy is the cat's ass for you old heads

My buddy called me earlier ... he had just had his initial visit with the place Byron recommended. Another visit scheduled for Sat. morning.

Attitude wise .... he was my 40 year long friend today ... not "that guy" I talked to a few days back.

Time will tell ... but he was in a totally different mood today .... just his whole perspective.

I just can't thank you guys enough ... for me or him!

Pain sucks ....

Best to you Byron.

Now maybe Byron can find him a few dancers to date

He's married to a fiesty red head with Irish roots (30 years) :D

Hopefully both your friend and Byron can get some lasting pain relief.

I was in back and leg pain for over two years. The crappy Canadian health care system could only tell me that I had a degenerative spinal condition, no reason for my quads and knees to give out. I went to my place in AZ got an MRI (9+ month wait in Canada). The good American doctors took two days to diagnose me with spinal stenosis in the lumbar. They still couldn't tell me why my legs were messed up.
Long story short, after some research I got an inversion table and in less than two months I'm pretty much back to normal. In addition to 10 minutes/day of inversion I try to do 45 minutes of stretches and old man exercises and about 1 hour of walking every day. I also take extra protein.
I'm an inversion therapy apostle now.

Hopefully, somebody taller than 3’…. 😂

My good friend of 30 years, passed away after complications from back surgery. RIP, Eric

I posted a thread here many years ago about sciatica misery. I won't link it here because I was in such pain I sounded pathetic. My right leg was numb, and I dragged that leg trying to walk. I spent many nights in a hot bath drinking huge volumes of liquor combined with Vicodin pills. I was ready to kill myself to end it all. That lasted 2 months until my body started to heal. I had an orthopedic doc try to make some adjustments, but they did not work. I took the recommendation of a local acupuncture guy and after the first visit I was in much less pain. Success! NOPE, my second visit he got more serious with the needles and I was literally crying in agony. I had to crawl out of his office on my hands and knees. It was quite the spectacle.

The only relief I got was standing upright. Not so good when you are wasted and have no sleep. I tried pool therepy and was comfortable hanging on the edge until one leg went a few degrees to far and made everything much worse. Repeat the crawl spectacle this time out out of the gym pool.

In the end nothing really helped much. I found a chiropractor that focused on minute adjustments that after 10 sessions or so started to help. I found ice to be horrible and went with heat in the pain areas. A few more weeks and I got feeling back in my leg/foot and no longer needed pain killers (booze/pills). I started a slow regimen of core body exercises using my own body weight and have been mostly pain free since...going on 15 years or so.

I am getting older and it's just a matter of time until I lift a coffee cup and it all comes back to haunt me again. Far too many injuries in my youth and middle years that I cannot overcome.

So my suggestion is once you get the sciatica pain under control focus on core strengh training. In my case that really worked and continues to work.

I am happy that you and I got better! ^^
Pain still haunts me as I have done way too much abuse to this back.
Standing for long kills me, but the rest of it is Ok compared to where I was!

I've been migrating from my 2015 MAC to a new one...cleaning up files and links, etc. and I found this older link:

https://www.silversneakers.com/blog/sciatica-stretches-exercises-ease-pain-seniors-2/

I never became a "Silver Sneaker", but the info and exercises are good:cool: