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Back injury, sciatica, owwwww

Messages
14,795
My wife has had awful sciatica pain since giving birth to our son four years ago. She's just changed over her fitness regime to include a lot of yoga. She's virtually had zero issues with sciatica since. Hers was debilitating to the point where she could not walk.
 

Smack

Coach
Messages
15,099
My wife has had awful sciatica pain since giving birth to our son four years ago. She's just changed over her fitness regime to include a lot of yoga. She's virtually had zero issues with sciatica since. Hers was debilitating to the point where she could not walk.

good to hear, posture and core strength should go a long way as well as dropping weight
 

Old tiger 79

Juniors
Messages
1,745
I’m in the same boat unfortunately, f**ked my back at work. Sciatic pain all the way to my toes nearly, left side 24/7.
Doctor prescribed 600mg of Pregabalin per day & endone when needed. It’s f**king horrible
 

YoHadrian

Juniors
Messages
1,294
I've had an slightly elongated disc in my back pretty much my whole life & I've always mitigated the pain by exercises to get my core strength going.

One I do every single night is I lie down flat the planking position & elevate my arms about about a 10 degree angle dead straight & then do about 50-60 knee to chest bends. For me anyway it really helps alot.
 

Mark B

Juniors
Messages
532
Sorry to dredge up on old thread. After 2019 drought, there was absolutely no watering of lawns in the Central west where I hail from. The end result was as you would expect dead lawns etc. Then March 2020 came around and so so did the rain. After months of not giving a rats arse about the lawn and the fact there was none to mow I decided to drop the lawn mower off to get serviced. Lifted it out of the back of the Ute and bang. Herniated the L5 and the sciatic pain from my lower back all the way down the back of my left leg to the toes is one of the most excruciating things I have experienced. Had to take Endone just to sleep, how I did not get an addiction to the stuff is a miracle. This carried on for over a month. Could barely crawl. Saw the specialist and he was great. Not knife happy and was prepared to keep an eye on the fluid build up from the herniation that was causing all the drama pushing against the nerve. Then Covid hit with a vengeance and most surgeries including my possible one never happened. Anyway fixed the problem via physio and time off work. I now never forget to bend the knees when lifting. Don’t want to experience that pain ever again.
 

Aragorn

First Grade
Messages
6,761
This is some scary shit reading all this. What are the preventative actions needed to avoid this from happening ? sounds like keeping fit and healthy, not lifting heavy objects without bending your back. But more down to luck than anything else ? Is playing rugby at a rip age of 40 a bad idea ? I can’t imagine the pain but have a good idea having read this thread.
 

Mark B

Juniors
Messages
532
This is some scary shit reading all this. What are the preventative actions needed to avoid this from happening ? sounds like keeping fit and healthy, not lifting heavy objects without bending your back. But more down to luck than anything else ? Is playing rugby at a rip age of 40 a bad idea ? I can’t imagine the pain but have a good idea having read this thread.
I am no doctor, but the majority is caused by lifting reasonably heavy things, and doing the lifting by not getting someone else to help or bending knees etc.
 

fourplay

Juniors
Messages
2,232
When I had sciatica, this exercise/stretch helped me the most

Sharing it because the physio's I saw never gave it and it might help someone

 
Messages
13,797
I'm a rather "heavy set" individual who always used to have lower back or neck problems. I rarely have them anymore. Reason is that in 2002 I started seeing a chiropractor, and I have never been better.

What a chiropractor look at is trying to keep your spine in proper alignment so that all the vertebrae are properly spaced, as quite often most back pain is caused by a misalignment of your spine which sees one of the discs of your vertebrae pressing on the nerves of your spinal column. A chiropractor manipulates your spine so that those vertebrae are in alignment. The "crack" you hear when they do it is just the air escaping as the discs come into alignment.

Now they are not cheap. My chiro costs some $85 per consultation. When I started seeing him, I had to go in for adjustments three times a week for 3 months, then twice a week for a further 2 months. Now I go in once a fortnight. Have had none of the problems I used to have at all since I started seeing him.

If you have private health insurance, many plans do cover chiropractic.

p.s.

Weight loss does help, but so does regular stretching especially of the hamstrings, as your hammies are connected to the base of your spine. Tight hamstrings can impact on your spine, and hence lead to problems which will cause back pain.
 

Generalzod

Immortal
Messages
31,973
I'm a rather "heavy set" individual who always used to have lower back or neck problems. I rarely have them anymore. Reason is that in 2002 I started seeing a chiropractor, and I have never been better.

What a chiropractor look at is trying to keep your spine in proper alignment so that all the vertebrae are properly spaced, as quite often most back pain is caused by a misalignment of your spine which sees one of the discs of your vertebrae pressing on the nerves of your spinal column. A chiropractor manipulates your spine so that those vertebrae are in alignment. The "crack" you hear when they do it is just the air escaping as the discs come into alignment.

Now they are not cheap. My chiro costs some $85 per consultation. When I started seeing him, I had to go in for adjustments three times a week for 3 months, then twice a week for a further 2 months. Now I go in once a fortnight. Have had none of the problems I used to have at all since I started seeing him.

If you have private health insurance, many plans do cover chiropractic.

p.s.

Weight loss does help, but so does regular stretching especially of the hamstrings, as your hammies are connected to the base of your spine. Tight hamstrings can impact on your spine, and hence lead to problems which will cause back pain.
I found that tummeric capsules helped me allievate my pain.
 
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