This may help speed up the diagnosis of someone else’s sciatic pain.
Mine hit me as muscle cramps in my calf muscles which could only be unlocked by acupuncture .I carried on and completed a half and full Ironman over a year in the meantime but asked for further medical investigation more recently after pleading as I’m 40 yrs old.
MRI has revealed a stress fracture to my pars interarticularis in my lumber area on both sides, also termed as spondylolthesis
The actual area was pointed out with some signs that there was an area affecting the nerves.
I was been told if I keep fit this should not be a problem but I was so shocked I came away without seeking clarification of the repercussions. My only question was is my back ok which I was assured there were no other problems. The consultant stated that this was common in gymnast’s javelin throwers etc . On searching the web there are a number of remedies , I would rather not have any operations.
Hope this helps someone else as a possible reason for their injury
A lot of people live very active lives with spondylothesis. It is important that you be aware of it an keep yourself fit. It’s actually not that uncommon a condition, seen most often in males who played contact sports when young.
The condition has different levels of diagnosis depending upon any degree of slippage away from the vertebral body. Surgery would only be a consideration in the most advanced stages.
Typically people who perform some type of repetitive hyper-extension of the back are the ones that end up with this injury. Like your doc said, gymnasts, javalin throwers, football linemen. My suggestion to you would be to see where you might fit this profile, ie.do you do things that require hyperextension of your back, are you a person who has a naturally large curve (lordosis) to their lumbar spine, are you overweight, excessively tight hip flexors, weak abdominal muscles… the list goes on, but you get my point.
Typically with stress fracture situations there is some kind of underlying cause and the key to treating the injury is isolating the casue not treatment of the symptoms.
Look for a good sports PT and get a program of lumbar stabilization exercises focusing on recruiting the mulifidus stabilizers of the low back. There is some research indicating that it is more effective than general “abs” exercise and I believe the study was done with spondylolisthesis.
the pain is isolated to the calfs and A/Heel. It is starting to develop in the front of the right leg. It seems to issolate a band of muscle so it becomes rigid like a thin piece of rope within the muscle.
Couldn’t accupuncture the front of the leg but the calfs and A/heel were ok. I limped into the P/T and walked out as if nothing had happened.
Just hope this helpe other who may have this problem, pilates has really helped.
MRI has revealed a stress fracture to my pars interarticularis in my lumber area on both sides, also termed as spondylolthesis
Actually, what you’re describing is “spondylolysis.” “Spondylolisthesis” is when you have malalignment of the vertebrae. That can occur with or without spondylolysis. I’m a radiologist, and to be perfectly honest, we see spondylolysis all the time in patients with no symptoms. In other words (and I bet this is the case), the fact that you have spondylolysis likely has nothing to do with your leg pain. However, if you have spondylolysis with spondylolisthesis that is resulting in nerve impingement (which would be unlikely unless you have associated disc disease), then you could end up with sciatica. Were you told that the MRI specifically demonstrated nerve impingement? That’s key. If not, then the isolated spondlylolysis is extremely unlikely to cause sciatica–any symptoms related to isolated spondylolysis would most likely present as focal back pain.
Without trying to offend anyone, what kind of doctor is treating you? An orthopedic surgeon? Sports medicine doc? Chiropracter?
I’ve had pain in both both hips , into both hamstrings and calves for years . But for the last 2years its been down my left leg , and last year i had to take some time off from running. So i had an MRI done , and it showed a Pars defect at the L5 , fractured on both sides. Think it happened in my years of competitive Powerlifting , and one of my back injuries in that time. What seemed to have help this year so far is not lifting weights with my legs , and stretching. I’ve been Riding ,and Running lots of hills this year since i moved to the hills in prep for IM Ariz ,and i have had only miner pain in left hip. So so far so good…
Whoa - those are my symptoms exactly - left Achilles and right calf with “shin-splint” kind of pain. When I run I do get some radiating paid in the back of my right leg. Although my PT and masseur have indicated that my calves are too tight and “pulling” on the muscles in the front of my lower legs . . . nothing about sciatica or stress fractures. Should I have concerns? Oh, and btw, I am a hypochondriac.