Sciatica

Has anyone suffered from this before? If so, how did you manage to relive the pain?

I'm currently suffering with this after probably over doing it on a bike ride on Thursday. Been to the Dr's and he's basically said take Ibuprofen and Paracetamol with Codeine to help the pain, but it feels like neither of these are touching the sides. I'm getting pain from the back all the way down to my ankle, which can make getting in out of a car an awkward experience, as well as just trying to sit on the sofa.

Having this doesn't help as I'm doing the RideLondon-100 in August and having this is stopping me from training

Sounds like you need a bit rest & recovery after your bike ride. It's maybe worth visiting a sports physio if it does not subside. They'll get to the problem quickly and offer solutions and advice and which will put your mind at rest as well.

Beggars, I've suffered from this in the past but being married to a Physio I can get it treated whenever it flares up.

I have a regular exercise regime that I have to do after I've been on the bike or been running.

Not saying it'll work for you but it won't hurt trying one particular exercise.....

Lie on your front and place your hands flat on the floor beside you (like when doing a press up) and push yourself up. Legs should remain on the floor. Once your arms are locked, breath out. Your spine should be nicely curved from the base up to your shoulders. Hold this for 3 or 4 seconds and lower yourself back to the floor. Do this 10 times every couple of hours.

I look a right berk doing it in the office but who cares! It works for me.

The ibuprofen can take a while to have an effect, keep taking them.

Yep agree with bezzer. Stretching and light excersise along with rest. But not to much sitting in one position.

Good luck with it as i know its awfull.

I can sympathise with you... It can be very painful and it certainly was for me. I found nothing that the doctors offered helped with the pain.

I was off work for 2 and a bit months. At that time I was driving for a living doing around 1500 miles a week and the pain just be came too much to be climbing in and out a van all day.

Hopefully the pain will ease off for you

Cheers guys.

I'd never heard of the word until Sunday, when someone mentioned it in passing, so I have been looking on Google and it's seems there are a lot of people that suffer with this, some good, some really bad. I'm going to try some stretches and see if that starts to help ease the pain, in fact, something is going to need to help otherwise I might be a bit screwed in 12 days time as I'll be flying to Sharm-El-Sheikh and that's a 6hr flight

I had Sciatica in my feet and it was really bad

Sciatica in your feet ??

Yes! It's cos ma shoes are to small! You see all my shoes are size 9 and you scia-tica 10 (see-I-take-a 10)

beggers your sister is HOT!!

where did that come from Proccy ???

I suffer from this especially in cold weather. I find going to the gym regularly helps. Alot of core excercise too.

When it gets real bad I sleep on a hard floor and take a couple co codamols

Sports massages work as does sitting in a jacuzzi for a little while.

I went to the physio about a variety of back problems including sciatica and I was also told to work on my core. That combined with losing a couple of stone and I haven't had any issues since.

I sympathise with you - its bloody awful. Hopefully you'll be fit in time for ridelondon - I need to get my body ready for LEJOG this year!

I suffer from sciatica from time to time and it drives me nuts - I feel your pain! The weird tingling/aching all the way down my leg from buttock to foot. Horrible!
One bizarre thing I found that would trigger or exacerbate it was driving long distances with my wallet in my back pocket. This was all the more galling for the fact that my wallet was bloody useless at its more conventional purpose.

I stopped keeping my wallet in my back pocket for exactly that reason.

Now I keep forgetting it...

Have you tried a new seat and a different cycling position?

I suffer from sciatica and back issuse in general from time to time and in all honesty what seemed to trigger mine was deteriorating fitness levels

when I became inactive for longish periods it would get noticeably more unpleasant until my whole back would seize up for a couple of days where i would not be able to straighten up!

I started Running a while ago (not done it for a few years now)and that really helped eradicate any pain and also whenever I renovated my house's (on my third now) and started all the building work plumbing plastering etc. i never once suffered any pain at all!

Physio's have said its the inner core muscles that need strengthening for me!

Strangely I also stopped carrying Two wallets in my back pocket my personal one and a work one, now just the personal one that only has Moths inside! that really made a noticeable difference too!

Ibuprofen and perseverance I'm afraid until it eases
Hope you get better soon!

I'm guessing it might be that she was tagged on FaceBook under my name and Proccy has only just seen her. He obviously didn't watch her when she was on TV

Funnily enough, I was going to be ordering a new seat, but since this started I having been ringing around the local bike shops to see if I can get a bike fitting, just to make sure everything is okay.

I've looked online last night and have started doing a few stretches (as well as the one Bezzer suggested) to see if I can help ease the pain. I think I'm going to try and get a sports massage and acupuncture done this weekend!

I was going to suggest acupuncture earlier but for a strange reason decided against it.

I've had this treatment several times and can't rate it highly enough especially as it involves no chemicals. It was at a Chinese Traditional Medicine clinic which seemed to have a ring of authenticity about it ....

I suffered a horrible bout of it in 2011, and it stayed with me for months. When I walked a few yards, it felt like my hip was dislocated. Nothing helped. All I could do was stop sitting in uncomfortable chairs or positions, and continue to be reasonably active. Gradually it went away of its own accord.

There's a lot of pseudoscience around, and if someone's condition improved after a while they will tend to attribute that to whatever they happened to be doing to fix it.

If you do think that some sort of therapy is worth trying, though, you then face the problem of working out where the actual injury is. The sciatic nerve gets affected from top to bottom, so it's difficult to trace.

Dont think i have sciatica, but i do get hellish spasms in.my lower back. I am currently mid spasm, and take alot of ibuprofen and use my lifting belt for support as i end up with a kink in my back that makes me stand at about 20 degrees off the verticle. It makes my hips hurt, especially my flexer muscle.
I stretch out 5 times a day for 10 minutes a go and have to stop all exercise. Its a nightmare!!

Half a day in the garden cutting the bloody grass today and sciatica is back...
Ibuprofen and keep moving is the best plan.

I had really bad sciatica last Christmas. I could barely walk for three months and I was on a cocktail of painkillers including tramadol and something like ibuprofen but stronger, and valium to help me sleep. I was referred for physiotherapy and had some exercises to do three times a day. I was also encouraged to walk as much as I could. Eventually it got better and then I had to come off all the drugs really gradually. I never knew such pain existed, so I really do sympathise. I hope you will soon be on the road to recovery.

Is it classified, then?

There is a whole ladder of these, next up is diclofenac and so on...

I like the ones that warn you they are addictive after 3 days!

Why not warn you they are addictive right on day one?

Well, I saw a physo and he was an odd chap, did some rubbing, said my hamstrings were tight and then used ultrasound on me to 'stimulate' the muscles, I then went back for a 2nd session and got a heat lamp used on me for about 5 - 10 mins and some more rubbing, then the day of my flight, it was worse. Paracetamol and ibuprofen just wasn't doing anything, so saw a chemist in Egypt and I'm on something called ketoprofen which has done something. I've probably got about 10 days worth left, so may go back to the doctors and get something like this on prescription.

Ketoprofen is a painkiller and anti inflametory drug.

Also used on horses!

I was prescribed Ketoprofen for my back. I had to stop taking it as it gave me a really bad stomach

Either way, it's working for me and I feel very little pain

Fixed that for you...

Naproxen is the anti-inflammatory I was on. It's a nuisance because you have to take it with food, four times a day - I was living on banana sandwiches just to line my stomach.

Naproxen is truly horrible stuff, I have to double my dose of omeprazole to control the side effects. It's really my last resort tablet for when tramadol has no effect on my back pain.

Well, I tweaked it yesterday by changing the bedsheets out of all things, didn't really notice it, until I sat down and tried to get up, I could only walk 2 - 3 steps before the pain was too much, so tried to sit down again, well, that wasn't any fun either, as whatever position I sat in caused me a whole bunch of pain. Quick call to 111 and I had an out of hours appointment at the local hospital 80 minutes later, now on a cocktail of Dihydrocodeine and Dicolofenac with Metoclopramide for if I feel sick

Mate you need to see someone. I have tried reflexoligy before and it worked well.

But for years now when my back is to bad to work or even move i book in to a physio for some serious treatment over a fair few weeks.
Would your GP not refer you to one?

I did see someone and what he did was all a bit too 70's in his treatment for me (ultrasound and a heat lamp) no real massaging or bending of the body. The GP would take 8 weeks to get me to see an osteopath, so I'm looking more at sport injuries related places now.

I suffered for years with sciatica, I got prescribed every pain killer under the sun, some worked but the pain always came back. The breakthrough was seeing a physiotherapist who explained what was happening and how to stop it. In my case and most others it's caused by a disc pressing on the nerve, the disc protrudes because the spine gets compressed from bending forward. He explained how to correct my posture to release the pressure on the disc. I sounds daft but you need to go for a 20 min walk 3 times a day looking like an utter tool. Head up shoulders back and hips as far forward as they will comfortably go. Two weeks of walking like mr bean and the pain disappeared. If it ever comes back a day or two of being conscious of my posture and it goes away.

Like this you mean James hahahaha
This is one of the funniest YT vids I have seen...

I'm on holiday and up for looking like this away from the folks at home

Well, I'm on the mend after seeing an Osteopath twice. He's given me a bunch of exercises to do, along with my daily stretching routine. He also noticed that my left foot was weaker than my right foot and did some tests with the bending of my toes, thankfully, the strength is starting to recover in my left foot. I've also been out on the push bike the past week and amazingly, all pain disappears when I'm in the saddle, go figure that one out!

Good to hear.

Does that mean you might still be doing Ride London beggers?

Good news, Begbie, it's horrible to have constant pain like that.

I hope so, did a 35 mile ride yesterday (my furthest to date) from Shalford to Reigate and back

Am I the only one that read that as 'regurgitate and back'?

Yes?

I'll get my coat, then...

I thought I might update this, I'm pretty much 95% now. I've stopped seeing the Osteopath about 3 weeks ago as strength in my left foot has pretty much returned to full strength, apart from when trying to hold it over a set amount of time. I still get the occasional twinge, but I have become a lot better at how I bend down to pick things up, still haven't attempted to do any car maintenance / washing yet.

Been out on the push bike a lot and even met up with Emjay and DaveG (who frankly, put me to shame with hill climbing) and I'm pretty much ready for the 100 miles this Sunday around London and Surrey considering I've only been back on the bike 6 weeks, with last Saturday I covered 64 miles in 4 hours.

That is excellent news! I really hope your recovery continues for that last 5%. Good luck with the ride this weekend!