Whether this would be helpful to you or not, I don't know: the thing that's helped me most is doing yoga regularly, since last December. In my case, I started having issues 6 years ago, after surgery for broken femur. Things aren't in the same place any more, and I was getting the pain down the leg, feeling it in the foot, feeling like sometimes my leg wanted to collapse. Lots of PT which helped once I found a good one. But still was having issues more recently.

Through doing yoga I realize how much of the time I have bad posture, which contributes to the issue, and how much time I spend on the bike in "cat spine" (flexion). It's not totally gone, but def. better. I am more conscious of position on the bike, and on long rides making sure I stretch out periodically, etc.

Also have learned that for me sleep position can aggravate it. I always try to sleep with my hips stacked and with a pillow between my knees. (that one was a PT recommendation)

If it's truly sciatica, why don't you just take prednisone or max dose Celebrex for 2 weeks and be done with it?

Lots of walls sits and a lot of the reverse hyper machine. Every PT should have one of these monsters.

I have to second the yoga, finding the correct muscles to loosen helped me a ton. Now I know exactly which stretches, yoga pose that I need in order to keep things in check.

As an update, I have “mild annular bulging at l4-l5 and l5-s1” and I started seeing a new physical therapist that is McKenzie Method. I’m hopeful that this will start me down a better path. Thanks for feedback and thoughts. I know I’m only responding to Andrew, but I truly appreciate everyone’s thoughts.

Make sure you're descriptive with your symptoms and keep good track of what causes and reduces. It's also good to have a move that always reproduces your pain reliably (concordant sign). Good luck.

Same here for me. It’s usually my glutes that complain the most sending shooting pain and stiffness along my back and leg.. I do yang/vinyasa regularly (iyengar is very good also) and roll my glutes out until it’s soft and smooth like cookie dough.

Also better posture and less stress (which causes me to tense my back up.. ) has helped a lot.

Back issues are no joke and it's amazing how they manifest themselves. I tore my ACL and had it replaced in 2006 then herniated a disc in 2010.
The disc issue was far worse (constant fear of complete lock up) and took longer to rehab. Some observations/advice:
- Find the best PT around and look specifically for back injury specialty as well as someone who gets the whole picture on multisport. Go to PT religiously. It's not just about the McKenzie stretches, it is also about strengthening your glutes, your feet/ankle mobility, Achilles, calves, etc. Typically injuries like this originate from lower down and manifest at the back. Likely you have an imbalance and your glutes aren't firing properly.
- Recovery will take a long time
- Be careful on the bike, esp the TT position
- Be careful swimming with flip turns as that can cause jarring
- I *think* anti-inflammatory meds are ok but stay off the uber pain killers unless you want to get addicted and constipated
- Focus on posture
- Get a new bed! Tempurpedic type on the firmer side
- Massage ball (like a softer lacrosse ball) on the pressure points: piriformis, psoas. Basically where your inner leg terminates on the front, your ass cheeks, the whole ridge around your hip, lower back, etc. All of those areas are likely pulling on your lower back which is creating the imbalance.
- Don't use stability control shoes. Use neutral ones and zero drop shoes and try to walk around barefoot. Your foot is the first step (pun intended) in absorbing the impact to your body.


Good luck!

Hey Nick! I strongly recommend you do not undergo any surgery. You will have to live like a robot for the rest of your life. Lower back pain should be treated with some advanced physiotherapy only. MRI scan will help you to decipher the complication you have. If your current therapist is unaware about your situation, I suggest you seek help from advanced therapists. Even medications have side effects which we all are ignorant about. Painkillers will help you thrive for the moment but you will have to face other health difficulties later. There are chances that it could affect the functioning of the heart. Don’t worry, get help from advanced physios. Hope you feel better soon.

Absolutely terrible advice.
All potential therapies have a role.
A gross generalization to avoid surgery is incredibly naive in the extreme.
"Chances it couldn't affect the functioning of the heart".....please......a herniated disc causing nerve compression and permanent nerve injury....yes I am sure some physio and avoidance of pain medications will help with that....

You call that naive. I call it sensible. Steroid medicines can I'm not it will, it can cause heart failures. If you are unaware of that please do check with some medical professionals near you. I'm a herniated disc survivor myself. Of course painkillers will help you get some sleep. But it is permanent solution we are talking about. I strongly disagree if you are saying pain killers are right for that. And surgery, do i have to really start with that. You will be advised not to have serious movements because lower back is the pivotal part for any body movements. If you want to live like robots then please go ahead with surgery. My rehab process was completely done through advanced physiotherapy and walking exercises. I got it through.

I am a health professional/medical practitioner (actually professor) that works in areas including acute and chronic pain.
You n=1 experience does not mean that others should follow the same route as you did.

I went through this for years, injections, chiro, PT....nothing worked. Finally found this guy who taught ELDOA stretches and it vanished within a month of doing the stretches. Now I do them a few times a week and haven't taken an anti-inflammatory or had my back go out in over a year. I love golf as well and that used to for sure flare it up and as long as I do the stretches before and after I can play a ton of golf as well. I recommend finding someone in your area who teaches the stretches....basic idea is they create space between your discs....the tiniest of space can be the difference between the nerve being pinched or not.

Here is a link to the guy I use with a basic explanation of EDLOA.

https://triumphtraining.com/pages/eldoa

Good Luck!

Heyoooo,

Thanks all for the advice. There have been some really great suggestions and thoughts shared here. Funny enough, it actually seems to be that a lot of this was in fact coming from my mind. It is pretty crazy to think about, and I don't think I can entirely understand it yet, but sure as heck it seems to be the case. I have been dealing with this for a while now, and after getting some super stressful news a few weeks ago my pains got SO much worse. In fact, within an hour of receiving the news my left leg was completely numb. This made me think that maybe there was something to this whole mind body connection thing and I started doing some more researching and talking to others. Since then, I have gone on multiple 25 mile bike rides and have been completely pain free, and even hit my first 2 mile run Wednesday night.

I will keep this thread updated as the journey continues, but the biggest break through I have had thus far came at realizing that, at the very least, my stress was preventing my body from healing OR causing the physical pain itself. Wild, wild stuff.

Nick

Nick – I stumbled across this thread looking into mindbody concepts and tension myositis syndrome. How have been since this last update? Hope all is well and that you're still pain free!

this has been amazing as someone with a rupture LS51 bulging L$ tremendous pain in the piriformus and dead numb legs to feet, since ive started doing these eldoa exercises a lot has helped thank you

I tried everything to deal with sciatica 6 months before the world championship......nothing worked til I took a chance on inverting. Back swing, teeter totter several names. Does not work over night have to stick with it but got rid of it. Full inverse sit ups.

Heyoooo,

Thanks all for the advice. There have been some really great suggestions and thoughts shared here. Funny enough, it actually seems to be that a lot of this was in fact coming from my mind. It is pretty crazy to think about, and I don't think I can entirely understand it yet, but sure as heck it seems to be the case. I have been dealing with this for a while now, and after getting some super stressful news a few weeks ago my pains got SO much worse. In fact, within an hour of receiving the news my left leg was completely numb. This made me think that maybe there was something to this whole mind body connection thing and I started doing some more researching and talking to others. Since then, I have gone on multiple 25 mile bike rides and have been completely pain free, and even hit my first 2 mile run Wednesday night.

I will keep this thread updated as the journey continues, but the biggest break through I have had thus far came at realizing that, at the very least, my stress was preventing my body from healing OR causing the physical pain itself. Wild, wild stuff.

Nick[/quote]



Nick, I'm glad you're feeling better.

I read the whole thread of posts and saw that you realized that there is a connection between mind and body, that's cool. Your recovery should accelerate now.

But remember one more thing, 1/3 of our lives are spent sleeping.
It is in sleep that we regenerate our body and mind.
A good night's sleep can only be on a high quality, properly fitted orthopedic mattress and pillow.

Don't forget that, too, and good luck!

---

When we start seeing our posts used by comedians...It's time to band together and sue!

+3

Like most folks, I guess, my sciatica erupted as a result of sitting all day and bad posture. I was regularly riding my bike a fairly long way into work, and then sitting all day, which was a recipe for (posture) disaster. My left knee and lower leg ached ALL the time to the point I was miserable. We went to the Grand Canyon on holiday, and the walk down to the canyon floor was unbearable (walking downhill was always more painful), Anyway, I figured I had to do something, whether it was surgery or medication. My wife suggested that I try yoga with her, and add on side planks and raises. I have to tell you, in three weeks, that pain completely went away.

I'm not a Doctor and this is my N=1 result, but the way I look at it, sciatica is a mechanical problem. I treated it as such and my pain is long gone. Just my two cents. Good luck - I know it sucks.