Sciatica, physical therapy, and biking.
 

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?

Sciatica & Herniated Disk
 

60 yr. old. Nasty sciatica August '09; 24/7 charlie horse lasted about 2 weeks. Nothing, NOTHING, helped! Eventually got better & back on the bike w/i 2 months. Similar injury Nov. '10 after a 30 mi. road bike. The pain may be felt down the leg, but the problem's usually the lower back where you may not feel pain. Generally docs advise wait it out & therapy; a herniated disk will disinegrate over time. Except in a case like mine where there was continual nerve numbness (felt mainly on the bottom of the foot). Bottom line, operated Feb. '11. Took it easy for a month (needed it). Needless to say, lost strength with no exercise. Now 5 weeks post-op & just jumped on a hybrid for some easy 10-12 mile rides. Feeling pretty good! If no numbness, give it time, and definitely do the exercises suggested. You've got youth on your side! Don't be discouraged!

Ask about a muscle relaxant. I used one 30 years ago called Parafon, something like that.

15 years or so ago I had sciatica. I was in pain, nerve running down the back of the leg. I discovered it came from the way I lied in bed before dinner. I lied with my legs hanging over the edge, they weren't supported. This position created sciatica. I moved up on the bed and supported my legs and it went away. When I got lazy and did this again, the sciatica came back. Maybe you have a body position that's creating it or aggravating.

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.

Flexeril.

Works great.

I have a whole list of things wrong with my lower back. Biking is one of the things that really helps it. I'd be curious why your PT forbids it, as my experience and that of most folks is exactly the opposite. When you bike, your position should feature a torso inclined at 45° to 50° to the horizontal and a straight back. No or little curvature to the lower back. Right flat from butt to shoulders. It is very bad to bike sitting bolt upright on the saddle.

What happens with anyone else should be taken as "their problems." Trying to imitate, or actually "trying anything" can result in slowing your recovery.

In April of 2008 I tried to ride a century on a bike with an aggressive seat to handlebar height. A day later, I tried to do some sit ups and got a "twinge" pain and by five PM I was groaning and moaning with my foot going numb and tingling going up and down my leg. I was off the bike for weeks after that, mostly because I kept going to chiro-doctors and trying to "fix" a pinched nerve that was the result of a herniated disc.

Ice, rest and drugs are you friends for now. Only start your "core rehab" when you can focus on your muscles and posture without being sidetracked by pain. Eventually you'll figure this thing out and adjust your fit or posture on your bikes and how you sit and hold yourself while using better abdominal muscle control.

But trying to rehab in the face of pain is a mistake in my "experienced but humble" opinion.

As both a PT and a cyclist....

I would strongly advise against asking a bunch of bikers about medical advice. Just like I would avoid asking your PT about installing a headset.

There may be serious reasonings for not wanting you cycling. If they didnt explain, ask them WHY cycling is bad for your back, at this time.

Sciatica is such a broad term with a variety or sources, your description means nothing. Your PT didnt say stop cycling because of sciatica, but because of your signs and symptoms.

I can have someone in back pain that I want to get on a bike, and someone who I definitely DO NOT want on a bike at all.

Summary:
Talk to your PT.
Dont listen to people on message boards.

Yeah, there was a core thread on here recently that convinced me to never do another sit-up or crunch, ever. Nothing with a curved spine.

IME, the PTs and doctors who know anything at all about the physiology of biking are a definite minority. So in addition to listening to your PT, find one who bikes seriously.

actually, I can think of a variety of LB issues that would make it a very idea to be cycling, and it has nothing to do anything with how one functions on a bike.... just the posture and position one is in ON a bike.... now a PT familiar with cycling may have a better understaning for specifics down the road, but pretty much everyone has a general concept of how one rides a bike.... and that may be all that is necessary to tell you what he/she did

Thanks for your input, everyone! I'm sorry I disappeared for a while. So, here's how things have gone so far:

As my PT explained to me, and as I verified with a test ride of under a mile, cycling relies on abilities it doesn't actually develop. It relies on good muscle tone and posture using muscles that it doesn't actually exercise, with muscles you normally don;t even know exist. If you let that muscle tone slide, and the posture in your lower back gets crooked, then you have to get off the saddle and fix the problem. And that's what happened to me. This winter was too treacherous, and I was working long hours, and I let myself go a little, and now I have to take babysteps getting back in shape.

" I would strongly advise against asking a bunch of bikers about medical advice."

Oh, understood. PTs get annoyed when they're asked for estimated times to recovery, so I'm mostly posting to go behind her back to collect anecdotes. Not to worry, aside from asking annoying questions, I will not disobey her. :-)