Originally Posted by
ocschwar
I'm 35. I hung the bike up for the winter and rode the bus. By spring time I had a bad case of sciatica (an inflamed disk int he lower back pinching one of the outgoing nerves.) The physical therapist forbade biking, and the one time I tried it, it frikkin' hurt. I'm doing the exercises she prescribed. It's been a month now. Still feeling the sciatica, but a lot less.
Have any of you been there? How long did it take you to get back in the saddle?
Well, no sciatica here, but I lived with a herniated disk in my neck for 25+ years, and probably one in my mid-back for 20+ years. The one in my neck was fixed surgically when it started pinching nerves and my spinal cord and I started going tingly and numb at my extemeties. Whatever's in my back only flares up rarely now that I've really rediscovered the heavy levels of exercise I did in my youth.
During all those years, I was mostly symptom-free, but the times I had the worst symptoms (mostly muscle spasms in my neck or back, depending on which one was acting up) was when I was exercising the least.
What did I do for exercise? Depending on when it was, I was running, biking, or powerlifting (competitively, too!) Oh, and playing 2+ years of college football - I injured my neck my sophomore year playing, came back a few weeks later, then almost immediately suffered a season-ending arm injury. But I came back and played two more years with the herniated disk in my neck. Didn't know it was a herniated disk until just a few years ago when I had an MRI after I got all tingly and numb and then had it cut on.
Your physical therapist would be apopleptic about me, I'm sure. But IME, back problems are helped by just about all kinds of exercise, as the muscles supporting your back become stronger.
And you say your sciatica appeared when you STOPPED riding? But your therapist FORBIDS riding? Did she say WHY? If not, I say time for a second opinion. From someone skilled in sports medicine.