Sciatica
 

Does anyone else suffer from this?

https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid...F-8#q=sciatica

The last time it flared up I went to my Doc and he prescribed muscle relaxers (anti inflammatory)and an exercise regiment. The exercises helped but the anti inflammatory's blocked me up. And there's is nothing I hate more than not being "regular". Three Day's without a Shyte is just wrong. I have been trying some Herbal remedies such as Devil's Claw and St. John's Wart. But they say they take Time to get into the System. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Get yourself a decent chiropractor who can better diagnose the source of your ailment. You need to ask around for referrals. Find someone who is excellent at boney adjustments because a sizeable proportion of chiros out there simply cannot adjust worth a scheiste.

-former chiro here.

Regular use of a foam roller to prevent flareups. 'Dry Needling' from a trained PT to calm down a flareup.

I have used physical therapy to relieve this. Once it is back to normal I started doing 25 toe touches each morning after I get up. This has kept it from coming back.

Cycling and weight loss was my medicine. I increase the duration and intensity if there is any hint of relapse.

a good chiro and a massage therapist got me thru the hell of sciatica. foam roller, yoga, ice packs helped too.

NSAIDs are, for the most park, junk, I used to eat them like candy...terrible for your liver and they only mask symptoms, they don't 'cure' anything.

as for being constipated, prunes have always worked and taste pretty good.

Have you seen a spine doc?
I learned last June (2015) that I have spinal stenosis. My spine doc (who is a serious cyclist) said my road bikes are great for stretching out my lower spine to relieve the pressure on my spinal cord. Leaning and stretching is the trick. I could never ride a hybrid or comfort bike (sitting upright). It would kill my spine.

Are you talking about pain that extends from your backside to below the knee?

I have sciatic pain issues that became rapid onset debilitating about 10 years ago. Though due to inoperable degenerative lower back problems, things learned through physical therapy, behavior modification, and judicious use of NSAIDS have kept it at bay/under control. Cycling helps a lot.

Actually right down to just above the Ankle. Combination of numbness and pain.

Sciatic pain can be really terrible. Over the years, I've tried medication, massage, stretching, exercise, and chiro. The only thing that eventually stopped the pain long term was getting a spinal steroid irrigation at the site of the inflamation. It's been five years without a flare up.

For the constipation, gentler is better. Bisacodyl, a generic laxative, works well -- no more than 5-10 mg, and be sure there's a toilet nearby for the next 24 hours.

Even gentler, but slower, docusate sodium stool softener and gentle laxative.

For daily regularity and bicycling fuel, my usual breakfast is a banana sliced over any decent cereal and yogurt rather than milk.

Regarding pain relief, if you're especially sensitive to ordinary stuff like cyclobenzaprine, try over the counter stuff with magnesium salicylate -- Doan's pills or generics. Very commonly found in truck stops, grocery stores, pharmacies. It's just an ordinary NSAID, but works better for me than aspirin.

While I've had good experiences with a couple of chiropractors, that's mostly because of the massage and consequent improvements in circulation and reduction of swelling. There's nothing magical about chiropractic treatment, and aligning joints is mostly hocus pocus -- the alignment vanishes as soon as you move again. But some chiropractors have great hands and if it feels good, do it.

Long term, the treatments to relieve spinal stenosis probably works as well as anything. Worked for my mom and dad and several other folks I know, and it's minimally invasive.

[QUOTE=canklecat;18866570].......................While I've had good experiences with a couple of chiropractors, that's mostly because of the massage and consequent improvements in circulation and reduction of swelling. There's nothing magical about chiropractic treatment, and aligning joints is mostly hocus pocus -- the alignment vanishes as soon as you move again. But some chiropractors have great hands and if it feels good, do it............QUOTE]

From a fall that I took I suffered sciatica for a couple of years and during that time I sensed that something had gone awry with my pelvis. Only after a single chiropractic adjustment both the sciatica and pelvic misalignment were gone and I've felt fine for over 35 years without a relapse..

Massage therapy and specific stretches has done wonders for mine.

Yes. In 2006 the Doc said sciatica was the cause of my hip/leg pain.

He gave me a prescription for some pain pills, advised which over the counter product to use when the prescription ran out, and gave me a card with several exercises on it.
It eventually subsided and would only flare up every now and again.

You've perhaps already heard the bit about it being caused from sitting on your wallet? Of course, if you don't carry your wallet on that side, you can eliminate that as the cause.

[QUOTE=tjkoko;18866648]I don't completely discount the work of chiropractors. I'm just not convinced the therapy works the way some of them believe.

My last chiropractor, whom I saw for a year after a nasty car wreck broke several vertebrae in my back and neck, was a former lumberjack and military special forces. Although he'd also suffered injuries on the job, he was -- as you'd expect -- strong as an ox. His manipulations of my hips, back and neck (I wouldn't trust anyone else on my neck) all felt great and over time helped with the chronic pain. But I suspect it had more to do with improving blood flow, reducing swelling, etc., than with "alignment". All the stuff a good masseuse might do.

On the other hand, the next best chiropractor I've been treated by was a tiny little guy, not strong at all. He needed more office equipment than most chiropractors to assist with his practice. But the guy had magic hands. Seemed like it took very little physical effort to be effective. Coincidentally he and I used to participate in local live theater plays and I nearly missed a performance once due to a migraine that made me so nauseated I couldn't stand up. I thought he was going to do a neck manipulation, but after asking a few questions he said, "Nope, it's your gut, your GI tract that's giving you trouble." He massaged my abdomen and, sure 'nuff, the migraine was gone within a few minutes. Damnedest thing I've ever experienced. Maybe it was the power of suggestion, but he's the sole reason why I won't completely discount chiropractic treatment, even if my logical side says it's mostly hocus pocus. :foo:

I'm going through it right now. I'm in PT with a therapist who uses the McKenzie method. I'm only two days into it and hurt like crazy due, I think, to stretching things that haven't been stretched in years. But overall, I feel better, but still not well enough to get back on the bike. :-(


For Patients - The McKenzie Institute, USA
https://www.amazon.com/Treat-Your-Ba...+your+own+back

Being on the Bike isn't a problem for me. It's walking and standing that are painful.

I had terrible sciatica a number of years back. Physical therapy and Cortisone injections worked briefly, but it was caused by a very badly herniated disc and the only solution was to eventually have surgery, which fixed the issue.

Nothing like that burning sensation down my leg.

I'm a big guy and the amount of medicine I need to take for effectiveness makes me nervous for my liver and kidneys. For that reason, my favorite pain remedy is an ice pack.

I have found that prevention has been the best remedy so far. Prevention and extreme caution. The prevention has been specific core exercises to strengthen my lower back and abdominals. The caution is a little more of an art. If I feel my back is getting tired, I back off anything that could cause it harm.

[QUOTE=canklecat;18868295]you can be skeptical as you like. it's an effective form of treatment for minor to serious medical conditions.

my first foray into chiropractic came at a time when I had been diagnosed with cervical stenosis and was facing a somewhat daunting surgical procedure. the proposed spinal surgery and tissue graft seemed like something I wanted to avoid if there were any other options.

long story short, a dozen chiropractic adjustments relieved the almost constant numbness in my arm and spared me the trauma and hazards of surgery.

as I stated previously, it also got me thru a bout of severe sciatica and is proving to be an appropriate therapy for the whiplash injury I recently sustained from being hit on the bike.

Having gone through a long road of pain due to a blown disk which caused extreme back pain and sciatic nerve issues I would highly recommend going to a back/spine doctor/surgeon to find out what is causing the pain to begin with. It wasn't until I got an MRI that the blown disk was obvious. Xrays alone did not diagnose it. I, to, went the chiropractor route, the pain meds route to no avail. Once I got the disk fixed it was like the sun came out and the skies parted and the clouds disappeared. Have never had pain problems after that.

Oh, the chiropractor took xrays to and was "adjusting" my back with a blown disk. I could have really belt dealt a blow had he jacked it up doing his quackery.

Used to get it...before I had my hip replaced. My hip was so shot that it had caused changes in my gait and really played hell with the musculature all the way to my thoracic spine. I walked with a limp. A year later, totally recovered and getting a lot of power and flexibility back.

I'd have never thought that almost all of the back pain was coming from my bad hip(s)!

The other one is getting replaced in 6 months.