[waterbuffalofarmer]

I have a horrible feeling my sciatica is coming back. When we were shearing a week last sunday I was bent over and kneeling a lot and since then my hip and knee have been  really painful. At first I thought it was my hip but since then I have found the pain is coming from my lower back, it is agony when working on farm atm and I cant seem to run properly, or at all. Can anyone suggest anything which may help the pain, apart from pain killers? I have had a serious bout of sciatica before and am prone to it from time to time, but I have a feeling it may be a mild bout atm. finding it difficult to walk atm and it feels really tense

[Sbom]

Surely it would be better to ask your doctor this question?? They would be able to correctly diagnose and sugest alternative treatments....

[Womble]

You have my sympathies - I wouldn't wish sciatica on my worst enemy!
IME doctor's advice re sciatica is "wait", then "wait some more" and that turned out to be good advice too.

However, take a pro-active approach too; what is it that sets it off?  Is there something about how you have been doing that activity that is causing injury? Likewise, are there any exercises or gentle stretches you can do that bring you relief, however temporary? (there are plenty of good, reputable sites online that detail these)

In my case, I had spent my whole life moving and generally 'using' my body badly. My body had then developed various strategies to cope with this, which all worked fine....... until we moved to a smallholding and I started lifting heavy things - then I basically fell apart!!

For me, rehab is an ongoing process of learning how to use my body properly (I've been taking lessons in the Alexander Technique, which is very odd, but after six months has really started to help), and also to learn to avoid high risk activities such as lifting heavy rocks, digging holes and bending over frisky sheep  .  I'm also on the lookout for a second hand turnover crate if anybody has one! 

[Ina]

Only had it once - three days of hell, and nothing that could have been done... Painkillers don't seem to work for me, but I do seem to have fewer problems with pains (joints etc) in general if I take my turmeric on a regular basis. No quick fix solution, but possibly one to add to the prevention package.

[devonlady]

You have my sympathies WBF, it's literally a PITA! I find anti-imflammitorys (sp) effective

[mab]

Ditto Devonlady (quote thingy doesn't seem to be working for me ATM).


I find that if I've got the beginnings of sciatica (typically if I've been on a ladder, or leaning whilst working a lot), if I don't do anything it can get worse, but taking an ibuprofen can stop it developing.


In my case lying down & sitting can make it worse, but doing something active in a different posture helps a lot (cycling, or ironically, lying on concrete under the landrover whilst working on it - I think it's relaxing whilst lying down that makes my sciatica worse)

[ellied]

You might want to find a remedial massage therapist and get them to loosen off the piriformis muscle (one of the hip rotators) as it is quite often guilty for sciatic pain due to the sciatic nerve going through the muscle - so if the muscle spasms through overwork/understretching the inflamed area touches the nerve when it shouldn't..  They'd also probably give you a good back massage while you were there, and work out any other kinks created by poor posture during repetitive work tasks.

If you want to test the piriformis, you can get a hard ball, your thumb or a doorknob even, and push your glut (bum) muscles against it until you find the deep muscles.  If you find a very tender point, sit into it, literally as much as you can bear, you'll relieve the trigger point by forcing the belly of the muscle to relax through the pressure.  It's pretty much what the RMT would do but under your own control so you have to go there..

In our pilates classes we do this regularly to maintain the hip rotators and it really does work - we use trigger point massage balls or lacrosse balls - a tennis ball is too soft but some dog play balls are rock hard and big enough.  A golf ball is too small and the pressure thus too intense - I've tried it!  You can see some funny faces when a class of people are doing the trigger point work, but it really does help!  I've given the info to several of my massage clients and it gives them some relief or complete management system depending on symptom/cause in each case.

Stretch wise, hug one leg to your belly with both hands and stretch the other leg right out a couple of inches above the floor (lying down), breathing out as you hug the knee in and out as you stretch/swap legs.  Repeat 10x very slowly each side even if the other side appears not to have any tension, you'll be surprised.. There are other stretches but I'm not the best at describing them, check on google for piriformis stretch, sacro-iliac stretch and sciatica stretch, then find what works for you and keep doing it daily or 2x daily then regularly at least a couple times a week even after it's pain free for maintenance.

[Old Shep]

ellied that is really good info thank you. Off to nick the dogs ball....