If anybody could give me some advice on how to treat sciatic nerve pain I would appreciate it. For about a year I have had pain in the back of my right leg whenever I sit down. Recently I did squats and aggravated it and now when I walk every step hurts. When I run eventually it loosens up but not totally. If you have any suggestions I would appreciate it.
Jon
You need to find out what is pinching the nerve.
I think that, basically, it could be a muscle,
or it could be something to do with your spine.
Hopefully a muscle.
In my case, it was related to a very tight periforis (sp?)
muscle (it kind of runs across the butt). My pelvis
was also tilted/rotated and this was causing general
tightness in the muscles in my lower back. Strengthening,
ultrasound, eletrostimulation, all that jazz, and it
is improving.
Try to get to a physical therapist as a first order
solution.
A number of my cross country buds in high school (many years ago) came down with "nerve ass," as we called it. Everyone who went to the local chiropractor recovered within two weeks, got treatments every 2-4 for the rest of the season. I have not been back to chiro since (I have some scepticism about the mystic "energy flow through the spine," at least at the doc I saw) but I did learn a couple of spinal adjustments I could do myself. I use those to this day for sciatica, esp. when caused by repeats on the track.
Other thing to watch out for -- the size of your wallet. If you're carrying a Costanza, you can cause sciatica.
I've been bothered by sciatica for about the last 3 years. In that time I've tried to learn alot about it and even wrote a 10 page paper on it.
Your best bet is to do a simple Yahoo search to get info but I'll tell you what I remember.
It can be caused by tightness in anyone of the little muscles in you ass. Most commonly it is because of a herniated disc (either bulging or ruptured in nature).
I was seeing a chiropractor for quite a while and that made the pain go away.... but it would allways come back. I am now seeing an athletic therapist in conjuction with a non-traditional chiropractor (non of that hard cracking stuff) I'm receiving acupuncture, laser therapy and active release. At the same time I am doing plenty of mckenzie back extensions (lie flat on the floor and do a "push-up" but keep your legs/hips on the floor) I am also receiving plenty of active release treatment. I also been spending time off the roads and in the pool running. I am currently getting much better.
I really recommend that you either see a chiropractor that is trained in athletic therapy/active release, or better yet, go to a multi-disciplinary clinc where you can receive attention to the muscles as well as to the joint. Most injuries involve bth, so both must be treated.
I also take Advil occasionally to numb the pain so i can sleep.
It can also help to strenghtn your postural muscles (lower back and abdominals)
And don't sit on your wallet.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
and don't slouch.
Take my advice. 1. Stay away from chiropractors, they have a tendency to make things worse. And 2. Get a MRI. After about 6 months of running at 80+ miles per week with the intense nerve pain or "sciatica", I decided to get it checked out. I had a MRI done and found out that I had a ruptured disc blowing out onto the nerve root. Quite painful. In my case the sciatica was just a indication of something more serious. See a Dr. b/c most Dr.'s will order a MRI just to check for anything hitting the sciatic nerve. If there is and its nothing too major it shouldn't be anything that physical therapy can't help to improve. More serious ones, as in my case, may require surgery to cut out the disc.
I got the same problem, had doctors tell me for over a year it was a bad disc, finally they were willing to cough up for an MRI, and my discs were fine. Turned out it was a piriformis muscle problem, which a PT friend of mine had diagnosed over beers months earlier.
The actual cure was some deep-tissue massage from the aforementioned PT, the kind that leaves you feeling like you've been mugged and left for dead. She also pointed out that my hamstrings were really tight, so upped the stretching and balance (yoga) work and haven't had the problem since, unless Iet my wallet get too thick.
So the nice thing would be to go ahead and get the MRI if it's covered, and especially if this is something that shows up when you're walking as well as running, or when you're sleeping. But if you're young, in generally good health, and were training pretty hard before the onset of the pain, it could be just piriformis or some other butt muscle problems.
Soft tissue massage therapy can help clear this sort of thing.