Dave:

The sciatic nerve usually causes pain felt on only the right or left side. The pain is most pronounced when lifting the afflicted sides thigh in the normal course of walking. This gives you a characteristic limp from the pain.

There can also be pain when pressing firmly in the center of the afflicted sides glut. That's generally where the nerve bundle is.

When the nerve bundle is irritated by whatever means, it takes quite a while to get back to normal once the source of the irritation is removed. It took me about 3 months of seeing a chiropracter to get over my sciatica. They used; PT, adjustments, hot compresses and ultrasonic heat therapy (paid by great insurance).

I would keep a lookout for one of those free coupons or a booth at an event where you get a "FREE Evaluation" from a chiropracter. Should be easy to find. Maybe they will even offer free x-rays which is a big plus. Get the evaluation and never go back. That may at least point you in the right direction if they are a good chiropracter.

Also, I agree with Daryl in the above post. If there is any chance of physical disk injury, be careful. Many chiropracters nowdays use much gentler techniques in their therapy just because they have seriously injured people in the past. So I don't think the risk is as high as in the past.

I won't go into detail here as the thread clearly has experienced plenty of that already, but I will say that I research health on a regular basis and am consistently pretty up-to-date on the latest medical developments. It also just so happens that I've had sciatic pain in the past that caused me to seek medical advice, and I was able to entirely solve it. Here's what I did (some things to check FIRST):

- Replaced my office chair. NEED ample lumbar support and a short enough seat that your feet can reach the ground. Be sure to sit back and straight up as often as possible.

- Ordered custom-molded orthotics for my shoes. A podiatrist visit revealed that I had been pronating (walking on the inside of my feet) fairly badly for a very long time and it had never occurred to me thanks to force of habit and simple biology. Custom-molded orthotics cost a few hundred bucks but make an ENORMOUS difference in posture and alignment. I first suspected this could be an issue after traveling to E3 Expo in Los Angeles and walking for three days. My foot pain became pretty significant and I noticed pain running down the back of my right leg (specifically sciatic irritation).

- Watched my sleeping position. I now ensure that I sleep on my side or back and try to consciously prevent myself from contorting too much during the night. Much of that originally was due to existing sciatic pain thanks to my walking and sitting issues, however.

A little bit -- 500mg/bid -- of naproxen sodium (Aleve and generic) for a few weeks to suppress existing inflammation and pain, then stop medicating and see if you haven't improved.

Again, I'm no doctor, but I would be very cautious about taking large steps toward treatment until you try these simple yet EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE measures. A very large percentage of people have problems either walking or sitting (or both), and that will cause sciatica symptoms every single time.

By the way, you take my advice at your own risk, blah, blah, so on, so forth. ;-)

Steve

Well, I guess I'll chime in here...Having been the recipient of 4 lower back surgeries, and 1 cervical surgery (so far), I can say without equivocation that back problems suck!

My most recent was a minimally invasive, L3/L4 spinal decompression and roto-rooting to remove stenosis built up from the previous L4/L5 spinal fusion (where they put in a titanium and graphite cage).

I've tried everything, from orthopedic inserts to specialized ergonomic chairs, diet and exercise, you name it...Nothing works for any length of time...Bottom line is, once the problems happen, they won't get any better, and once the medical community get's their hooks into you (and your wallet), they don't let go.

My back problems are a daily issue...That is to say a day doesn't go by that I'm not in constant pain of some sort...Anti-inflamatories help with the leg numbness that is a result of the fominal canal being compressed, but it doesn't solve it...They are now looking at yet another surgery for the leg pain and numbness that was suppossed to be fixed the last time (it helped a bit the last time, but didn't solve it). The only thing that helps is the pain meds I'm on, and I'm sick of taking those...Have been for the last 12 years...

Do I sound depressed? I suppose I am to some extent, but overall I am an optomistic person...Just not about this subject...

My best advise to anyone, is to avoid doing annything that will strain your back/spine...Avoid heavy lifting, and if you do; lift with your legs, not your back. Avoid prolonged standing on concrete floors, or uneven terrain...The presure shocks will affect the discs in ways that build-up over time eventually causing the nerve roots to get permanently damaged...My left leg has permanent damage causing a pronounced limp as a result of the foot drop caused by the compressed nerves...Develop a routine of core exercises to strengthen the muscles in the lower back...They are what hold the discs in place, then all you have to worry about is degeneration from age, or disease.

I could go on, but I won't as I don't want to bore you with any more gruesome details than I already have, nor do I want any sympathy from anyone...Just telling it like it is, for me at least.

I wish anyone having back issues here all the best, and hope that you don't end up like me...

Regards,
JRZ

edited for spelling

JRZ's story is an excellent reason for treating problems early.
Prime causes of spinal injuries (apart from severe trauma) are carelessness in lifting and computers. Maybe I'm kidding a little about the latter, but sitting down all day hunched over a keyboard leads to weak abdominal muscles (reduced support to the spine), poor posture and tension headaches. I have a herniated disk (L4/L5) suffered in 1990 after putting up with bouts of sore back ( "sore back": self diagnosis being 'a lot of people have sore backs'). So I have a back injury and a copy of Gray's Anatomy, which hardly makes me an expert! However:
Consult a good sports physiotherapist;
Avoid Chiropractors (at least in first instance);
Walk an hour a day;
Get out of your chair for 5 minutes every 30 minutes;
If not getting better see your doctor (a CAT scan is very informative).

Chiropractors can be very helpful, but in my experience there are very few who really understand what they're about and are actually beneficial. Quite a lot of quackery and poor qualifications. A friend in medical practice won't hear a good thing about any of them because he is involved in medico-legal work and he sees the worst side of chiropractors. But I do have regular treatment that is beneficial to me, and that guy has undertaken many post graduate medical courses (and I do mean med school) -- very rare.

echo serena's comments about chiro's - did a piece a few years ago for abc tv about shonky operators - they were, and apparently still are, everywhere.

i also have a few friends who tried chiro for various reasons - 1 out of six had a good result, the others ranged from no improvement to worse than ever (3 of them!)....

leslie

Dave,

Just like Serena, I have an L4/L5 injury (from sports in High School)- didn't surface until 4 years later. I was fortunate to not have had to go the surgery route as anything back-wise is pretty much scar tissue waiting to happen.

Any kind of numbness / tingling associated with the pain is something you want to have seen immediately. Yes, don't look into chiropratic work unless directed by a back surgeon or sports doctor. I was fortunate to have a back surgeon who referred to a sports chiropractor and vise-versa, however I would concur with pretty much all the advice given thus far.

Walking is crucial. Get out and walk even for 30 minutes. Not only is it good on your back, it's better for your heart. If you have a stationary bike, that helped me a great deal.

Look into a Pezzi Ball (big inflatable balls) that you can do some stretching on. These are great and there are a number of exercises online that you can find.

The naproxin suggestion is good to an extend. Take it before you do the exercise just to make sure you're a bit loosened up and you don't stiffen up afterwards.

One thing that helped me too was to take a damp towel, put it in the freezer until it starts to stiffen up - remove it and lay down on it, making sure your lower back and buttocks are touching it. It will form to your profile - put it back in the freezer until solid. Use for a few minutes each night.

On the insurance / medical side, this is an area where there are many opinions, however to have a family and not have insurance is IMO, not a good idea. You can let yourself go, but in the case of any medical issues with wife and child, I think it is a disservice to not insure them (maybe they are and I'm unaware) - even if it means picking up a part time job with benefits, it's worth having the insurance especially for a family. I know a lot of self employed people who have gone through bankruptcy because they couldn't afford insurance being self-employed. If you're barely getting by as it is in your business, perhaps tone down the video and pick something up with benefits until things are a bit more secure and debt is paid down. My $.02 for what it's worth and I understand everyone's situation is different.

Hope you can get this under control. It never completely goes away if it's an injury, even with surgery, but it can be controlled.

cheno

Chiropractic isn't a total fraud, but let's just call it "a young art/science."

Several people have told me they went to a chiropractor to fix a problem. For 20 years. Ummm, what part of "doesn't work" don't they get?

For any kind of physical nerve damage especially, I can really recommend Jin Shin Jyutsu. I got major nerve damage in my jaw from a dentist piercing the major nerve that carries all taste and sense of touch from the tongue and mouth. Had to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner through a straw because I couldn't open my mouth more than 1/4". I lost all taste, and I bit my tongue bloody around the clock, and I had a phantom illusion from my tongue tip like when you taste-test a 9V battery, but 24/7.

The two top oral surgeons in L.A. said they couldn't fix it, there was no procedure for it...

Then I heard about a friend of a friend who had been in a motorcycle accident where his leg was run over by a city bus, and when he got to the hospital they wanted to amputate because of extensive nerve damage.

His girl friend was a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner, and she persuaded them to cancel the amputation. 90 days later he was walking again.

So I figured it could help me too, and when I went back to the best of the two surgeons for a post check after having done JSJ for a year (with now full ability to open my mouth, no 9V battery any more, and 100% of my taste restored), his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He knew "this was not possible." I think he believed I had sold my soul to the devil.

JSJ is unusual in that you can go to a trained practitioner for a diagnosis and to get a program that you can in most cases do yourself for free afterwards (there are a few exceptions, but often this is the case).

No needles, no herbs, no manipulation, no BS.

Practitioners (and trainings to become one) are available worldwide.

They used to be all listed at http://www.jinshinjyutsu.com, but the site seems to be down currently.

(Note that there is an offshoot called "Jin Shin Do" that is not the same thing, and from what I hear is not as effective.)

I have had miss fortune of painting some Hugh backdrops for some shoots when I wasn’t involved in the shoot and on one occasion the scaffold collapsed and some metal went through my arm underneath and out my shoulder but the real pain was my back and sciatic nerve. This happened twice
on different occasions as careless people remove pins and clips because they need them on the other side and don’t replace them.
I was in tears often and the only thing that ended the pain was exercise….tummy and lower back

Believe me I had to force myself but slowly it came right no surgery

I will post a pic of one scene that’s still up today 10 years later…thankfully I don’t do this stuff anymore.

Some additional thoughts on this subject based on my experiences...

I too tried chirpractic, as well as acupuncture and ephidural injections prior to the surgeries...The acupuncture didn't help at all...The chiropractic seemed to work some early on, but I soon reached a point with herniated discs (L4/L5) that surgery was the only option that promised any relief. Chiropractors won't even touch me now. Ephidural injections worked for about 3 months, after which they wore off, and I was in worse shape than I was before. I tried ephidurals again prior to the surgery before last (when they did the fusion), but I had a very serious reaction on the table...Almost died. In fact, I never even received a bill from the medical center for that procedure...Guess they thought I was going to sue them or something...

I guess the point I'm making is that, whatever works for you in your situation may not work for others...Every case and situation is different. I just think that it is best to avoid ANY invasive surgery if at all possible...If for no other reason than the possible complications that are attendant with any surgical procedure. And, as state before; once the get started on you it's a never ending process. In my case, if I hadn't had the surgeries I would have been totally disabled...With the surgeries, I am able to work and am not living on government disability. Even with the pain I have to deal with, it's better than the alternative. I just wish I had taken better care early on, in which case I wouldn't be dealing with this aftermath.

Cheers!
JRZ

Acupuncture can help with a lot of problems, but sometimes at a prohibitive cost because you need many treatments.

Also, getting a licensed acupuncturist with at least 10 years clinical experience makes a huge difference, and electroacupuncture does more in 30 minutes than just needles do in an hour.

I prefer Jin Shin Jyutsu because the end result is the same as with acupuncture but you can often do it yourself, so you only have to pay for a few treatments.