Sciatica relief--on here for traffic

[ScreamLikeYouMeanIt]

Just this really. Does anyone have any tips amon hiw to subside sciatic pain. My lower back has been twinging all afternoon and now I'm unable to sleep with a dull ache pain over the front of my hip and down the back of my thigh. I'm wriggling around in bed trying the stretch it out (much to annoyance of DH) but nothing relieves it. Any tips?

My partner had a herniated disc, in the majority of cases they do not perform surgery. She has recurrent back problems which transpired to be exacerbated by the fact she has a spinal deformity from birth (only took 39 years to figure that one out)

OP depending on your reasons for the pain and also general fitness level you may find benefit in doing a dead hang from whatever convenient thing you can hang from.

Put your hands straight above your head, try and keep as much of your body even and straight as possible and hang from your hands for a comfortable period of time. Keep your shoulders engaged (look up pull up technique for an explanation of that, you don't want to injure more of you) Depending on how that feels/confidence you can add in a tiny bit of hip rotation if the pain allows. try and relax as much of your body as you can. Repeat this a few times if you feel able.

You don't even really need to lift your feet right off the floor tbh, any transfer of weight from your feet/lower spine will be beneficial

A lot of the time the pain is caused by some form of spinal compression

In the longer term any exercise that strengthens your core muscles will help with recurrence of symptoms and with your body being able to deal better with any future attacks as the front part of your core will help support you better and relieve the work your back is doing to a degree. Also light stretches that encourage your spine to open rather than compress

Sorry if I've totally over estimated your fitness level!

my partner has suffered with back pain for years and we've tried a load of different things over the years. This has generally proven to be most effective short term relief and has never been advised against by any of the specialists she has seen

Good luck with it

Thank you all. Ibruprofen seemed to help a little and did manage to sleep until DH woke me getting ready for work just before 7 (thank goodness I had a lazy day planned for us all). I agree sciatic pain is a symptom. For me it's bulging disc in my lower spine that's causing it, but I think tight muscles might agrivate as warmth and deep tissue massage have helped in the past. Agree that a brisk walk also has done wonders when I was in constant agony from sitting (last year). Will look into pilates classes though to help the ongoing twinges. to all of you who are suffering from this pain in the arse (literally at times!) condition. You've all been so helpful.

easyandy101 that's really helpful, thank you. I'm generally reasonably fit and quite strong, although I have noticed my flexibility drastically reduce in the last 12 months which could really be improved on. Do you mean dead hang as in hanging upside down from a bar like we did as kids? It sounds like it'll really help but not sure id ever be confident enough to do that nowadays! Or do you mean bending over at the waist and letting myself hang down?

Unless it’s a severe injury what fixed my back pain was osteo then a derby physio , I will do those exercises for the rest of my
Life!

And losing 3 stone

Derby ? Decent

Dead hang: hanging from say a chin up bar by your hands. The lowest part of a chin up.

Being upside down like you describe can be done with an inversion table. A friend of mine had one and said it really helped. It's the same concept as a dead hang as you are using your body weight to stretch your spine into a more open position.

Dead hang is cheaper though

My partner also took up climbing by the way and has found it's really helped with frequency of attack, she hasn't had a major incident in nearly 3 years and the problems she had had have self resolved in a day or 2 rather than a week like before

I could have written this post!

I am in agony with Sciatica. Was prescribed Naproxen with Esomeprazole cover. The Naproxen totally eased the pain, but unfortunately has given me such a severe gastritis that have ended up in hospital. Once the Naproxen was stopped the pain returned in my leg. I'm on Gabapentin, with minimal effect and a lot of drowsiness. it is grim! exercise helps mine, but once I sit or drive it flares up.

I've shared my bed with a large beanbag for years now. If I lie on my back, I can put it under my knees which really helps. Or lying on my side as a PP has suggested, the affected leg on top then sort of hook that over the beanbag. Bigger, and more adjustable than pillows. Plus the cats like snuggling up against it on cold days!

Frequent stretches, prescription painkillers, heat on lower back & cold across the sacrum, and keeping changing position regularly all help.

Mine is one of the problems I have from a mixture of facet joint arthritis, one permanently misplaced vertebra, 2 bulging discs, and one leg shorter than the other which leads to the pelvis being misaligned.

Gabapentin combined with cocodamol with tramadol at night to give me some sleep. Either standing or lying flat were the only possible positions. Sitting was unbearable. Driving was impossible due to pain and involuntary spasms down my left leg.
Ultimately partial removal of the disc was the overnight solution to properly relieving the pain and getting me back to a normal life.

Mine was a disc, for a whole year I had maybe two hours sleep in every 24, physio didn’t work because of pain, after 6 months I couldn’t lie down and spent my nights in the lounge, I lost two stones because of the morphine causing vomiting and food tasted different. The consultant said it was one of the worst sciatica cases he had seen and I have very little disc left. I walked with a stick for over a year! My other discs prolapse a bit on and off and I know I will have to have another op at some point. It affects my life because I can only walk and cycle for exercise, no impact exercise is allowed , I can’t lift too heavy things either. Co codamol 30/500 is the only thing to touch it! I am following for any other suggestions! I get sick of the sciatica and the back pain!!!!!

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/woman-sciatica-back-pain-cannbis-oil-54-cured-brenda-davidson-orkney-a8022766.html

This can be bought in health shops, maybe worth a try?

Yeah mine was a 15mm herniation and I got cauda equina. But the thermacare wraps honestly kept me sane. I was on morphine at that point

I've found that the best thing for me (other than good old co-codamol!) is alternating hot & cold packs on the main source of the pain - my chiropractor told me that the expanding & contracting helps to release the sciatic nerve if it's trapped - it does seem to work!!

Oh yes agree with PPs about stretches and osteopath. I had about three sessions with mine with two week intervals and it helped so much. Sciatica is now mostly gone altho still have some numbness and yesterday it felt like I was getting a flare up but seems to have eased offf again now. I’ve been struggling with a bad lower back for a few years and before I got sciatica in March, my back was the worst it had ever been. I’d gone to the doctor on the Friday and been signed off for it until Tuesday and the osteopath appointment was originally for that. Then over the course of the next day the pain migrated until it was all down my left leg and I’d have given anything to have the back pain back, the sciatica was so much worse, and so much harder to find a comfortable and pain free position.

If it's your psoas and piriformis causing the trouble look up on YouTube and there are good exercises that might give some relief, stretching them out.

I got given diazepam as my piriformis was in spasm, it was amazing.

... just read your post that it's a disc, take advice before doing any stretches I would say!

Naproxen, amitryptaline, tennis ball, physio/osteopath.

Also if you take naproxen make sure you take lansoprazole or omeprazole as well.

I lie flat on the floor, no pillow. It seems to let everything drop back into place. Doing a bridge (lie on floor on back, push hips up) helps too.

You poor thing. It's horrid! I found a tens machine gave me some relief x

Try a tens machine for pain management - MRI and operation only permanent fix if disc related though - my dh is just recovering from a discectomy and is pain free for the first time in years

A really good Pilates instructor is the bomb. It's really helped mine.

I had sciatica with both pregnancies.
I was told never to stand or sit with both feet level. So when sitting, raise one foot on a thick book. When standing (if you can), for example open a kitchen cupboard and put your foot into it. You'll find out which side is best. It did help me.

I suffered for years, utterly horrible, mine was a prolapsed disc. I had an epidural, physio, lots of drugs until January this year when I woke up and my right leg had stopped working. Straight to hospital and within 24 hours had surgery for a herniated disc, consultant said I was a sneeze away from incontinence! It was the best thing that could of happened to me, not had any pain or sciatica since :)