So... How do you know when your Sciatica Nerve is healed?

[wookietim]

About a month ago I must have done some damage to my back and had some lower back pain. Nothing debilitating but it apparently pinched the nerve... Fastforward to today and I have been pain free for at least a week.

I am wondering how safe it is to wade back into the exercise regimen I used to have (Which really wasn't that horrible - I use the Xbox and Xbox Fitness - but I think I pulled something since it was a few new exercises I had been doing)... I'd like to start sort of transitioning back to that from the endless treadmill walking I have been doing for a month but I am almost scared to try...

[Colinm39 · Accepted solution]

@wookietimDiagnosis is the key so you know what you are dealing.

I know how you feel. I have suffered with sciatica on and off for years. It has been well in control until this time last year.  Pain like I have never had before, numbness down the left leg to the ankle. Pain killers had no effect. We can't ascertain what triggered it this time.  You don't want to get to this stage.

Luckily I had a CT scan of the area 6 years earlier and another at this time, and a neurosurgeon was involved and he examined the scans. Fortunately no change and no arthritis. Just degenerative disc issues in the L3-L5 area and stenosis (narrowing where the nerves leave the spinal area).  The amusing part was that I had lost 35lb and I had lost my supporting belt of fat...

Solution: No surgery, that would not help, walking, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, massage, exercise ball and now swimming. I'm not allowed to run or jog, aggravates the area too much. Buttock pain comes and goes, but at 74 I must expect some of that, but no sciatica or shooting pains down the left leg for nearly 9 months.

Diagnosis has helped me deal with it and knowing what the issue is helps me with my activity.

This wonderful book by Sarah Keys really helped in my rehabilitation  "Back in Action"

She is an advocate of not resting but movement is the answer. I now have physiotherapy massage  and acupuncture only once a month and use my exercise ball as a chair to gain more core strength.

It's working.

[WaltTN]

@Colinm39 

I wonder if a good massage therapist may be able to help with some of the pain.  I know with the issues you have with vertebrae won't be addressed, but as a LMT, I know I have helped some people lessen the pain, especially if there is any impingement going on in the pelvic girdle.

[Colinm39]

@WaltTNThanks for the reply. I'm now only needing once a month massage and I'm extremely happy with the outcome. I'm confident with my Physio, he is approaching 60 years and I have been going to him for years. he knows my condition and we are getting the results.

When I first started on this sciatica issue I had 3 sessions of traction which helped immensly. I also forgot that he doesn't wan't me to sit any longer than 30 minutes, keep moving.

He has had a back trauma from a cycling accident and we swap stories.

[BobWilliams]

After years of problems with my back, I was cured through regular massage.  Not a bad way to get cured of anything.

[WaltTN]

Problem with sciatica is that it can be caused by so many things.  If it's the Piriformis muscle for example, it could be because of three possibilities with the muscle... in some people, the nerve runs over or under the Piriformis... these are not too bad but pain can be caused by a tight muscle... the problem is some people have the nerve running THROUGH the muscle... that is the cause of all kinds of trouble.  There are also vertebral issues that can cause it, as well as a myriad of other pain points.  

With back pain in general, massage can often help.  Most people I've worked on have myofascial issues and not osseus (bone).  With proper treatment and care, most pain can be managed quite easily.  Massage can be VERY therapeutic

[Colinm39]

@WaltTNI agree totally, and diagnosis makes it so much easier to manage the condition.

[Cybertekkno]

For a couple of years I basically did almost all of my workouts on the treadmill and  developed a nasty case of sciatica and Trocanteric Bursitis (hip bursitis) that completely sidelined me from working out for about 6 months. After weeks of stretching exercises and several cortisone shots that were helping the situation I decided to start doing aerobic kickboxing. and as a result found that the pain in my hips and glutes was gradually going down.  Then I started working walking and then eventually added running back into my routine. Cross training has helped me keep my periformis syndrome and sciatica under control (most of the time).  I mix up my workouts so I run 3 days per week and do kickboxing two days per week....running works certain muscles and the kickboxing works the opposing muscles, so there is much less of a muscle imblance.  So far, this has been working.  However, now I am training for a half marathon and have been running longer distances, so my hip bursitis and sciatica have been firing back up again....today this has definitely been evident.  Mixing up your workouts and not doing too much of once type of exercise should help and stretching is very important.

[Colinm39]

@CybertekknoThanks for the wonderful post. I'm not into kick boxing but I'm finding the swimming has a similar effect. I was researching those types of movements to get better balance in my muscle groups after reading some research on people from other countries who squat a great deal. They statistically have a great deal less hip problems than westerners.  It all adds up.

I honestly believe I created my episode of Sciatica last year because I was doing a lot of walking and felt my upper body was out of balance and started pilates and that turned out to be the worst thing I could have done for my type of degeneration. Back spasms immediately.

[Mary]

I never had sciatic pain until I did live 90-minute yoga classes four times a week for nearly a year.  It started with slight numbness in the left toes and back of the leg.  It 'ended' with a disc bulging into the nerves in the spine.  

[wookietim]

My mistake was trying one of the harder classes on Xbox Fitness... I was doing an exercise where you do a sit up and then twist to the sides and that was when I felt a slight twinge - the next day I could barely move and felt like my left leg was on fire.

Haven't felt that in over a week now, so last night I ventured into a lighter workout and nothing bad happened... I am thinking that maybe if I keep away from the very hard workouts I might be okay.

[Colinm39]

@MaryHow have you managed your condition ?. I have a little compression on a disc but nothing to worry about.

One thing we need to be careful of is the way the back hydrates. While we are asleep the discs hydrate and the experts warn us not to lift heavy weights first thing in the morning.

On awakening light toe touching is one off my morning routines and knee curling and hip rocking.

[Cybertekkno]

@Colinm39 

 

Kickboxing involves lots of side kicks and leg lifting and requires good balance.  Balancing on one foot with your leg kicking out to the front, back or side strengthens the core muscles (the muscles in the back, abs, hip flexors, etc.) and the stronger your core is, the better your flexibility will be and the higher your kicks will go. These are some of the muscles that running basically ignores.  If you can strengthen those muscles, you will probably see some relief to your pain.

[Mary]

---

@Colinm39 wrote:

@MaryHow have you managed your condition ?. I have a little compression on a disc but nothing to worry about..

---

With vicodin.    I mostly have just been taking it easy, only walking for exercise, and it's down to a dull soreness most days if it hurts at all.  Desk sitting isn't friendly to it, so I should make an effort to move more throughout my work day, which is why I'm back on Fitbit Street.  

Aging sucks, but I guess it beats the alternative.  

[wookietim]

Just to sort of jerk this conversation back to my original question : It's been about a month since I threw my back out which seems to have been what caused the nerve to start hurting in the first place. It has not been hurting for about a week, but I am mildly reticent to start seriously working out again if it might make that pain come back.

So I am wondering not how to make it stop hurting or what might cause it, I am wondering how long is an acceptable period of no pain before one starts to feel comfortable with using the back again...

[Mary · Accepted solution]

I think it's going to vary for everyone.  I would ask your doctor or just proceed with caution.  You use your back in every movement but if I had no pain for a week, I would not hesitate to return to 'normal' exercise.  Though I think I'd forever avoid the particular xbox move that hurt you.  

[wookietim]

I know the exact point at which I hurt the back - it was during "Xbox Fitness" and was during the "Rockin Body" core workout where I had to do a situp and then twist from one side to the other before lowering the back to the floor again... I did that and felt the twinge in my lower back. But, since in my head I am still 25, I figured "Oh, it was nothing"...

[Colinm39]

Diagnosis through CT scans 6 years apart has helped me immensely. At 74 I have to be careful of sideways movements like moving items on shelves and twisting. The scans, knowing the problem, helped me do the right exercises. Core strength is critical for me. If I feel twinges in the buttocks while walking, concentrating on my core stops that. Walking is the main help. You should keep a watch on pain if you walk up stairs, that to me is a warning sign.

From your later post,"my leg was on fire", I presume that was pain down the outside of the left leg, I had never had the numbness until last year, just the sciatic pain like yours. The numbness worried my doctor hence the recent CT scan and Neurosurgeon evaluation. Narrowing in the area where the nerves leave the spinal cavity and some degeneration probably triggered by a sporting back injury 55 years earlier.

Sometimes I went years without an issue but in the last 15 years it was visits to the physio and each time we could never workout what triggered the event. The events were months apart.

There is plenty on the internet, but this link I have experienced all of the symptoms. There are plenty of "cures", but in your case if it occurs again I would be having it checked thoroughly because the more you know the better you can manage the condition, but normal walking is the key.

[Tspencerbsa]

The replies are very helpful. I was in so much pain, that I had to go to the emergency room yesterday. The pain brought tears to my eyes, and I'm a person with a high pain tolerance. I'm following up with my doctor tomorrow.

[Colinm39]

---

@Tspencerbsa wrote:
The replies are very helpful. I was in so much pain, that I had to go to the emergency room yesterday. The pain brought tears to my eyes, and I'm a person with a high pain tolerance. I'm following up with my doctor tomorrow.

---

@TspencerbsaMy last bout was a few weeks ago and I have never known such pain, sweats and shaking like I was in shock and all I did was turn in my bathroom, no picking up just turned.... The doctor prescribed oral Morphine which helped me, and when I was started to be free of that my Physio and Acupuncture person found what they thought was a lump of infection between my lower spine and LH pelvis. a 10 day oral cortisone treatment fixed that dramatically and the pain subsided. I have never had cortisone before at age 74....

When do you fell the sciatica is healing ?, probably when the numbness and the tingles in your lower left leg subsides. I'm at that stage this time, and the numbness is a little less each day. I now have to use a stationary bike for a few minutes/day at no more than 70 cadence...My Physio said about 6 months for the sciatica to right itself.

Keep you spirits up because I have had the problem for over 30 years and the CT scans show that over the last 8 years I have had no change which is good news.