I burst in to tears at the pool because swimming with sciatica is so painful

[Mxflamingnoravera]

I have had sciatica for three weeks now. No pain in my back but the back of my knee and calf are agonisingly painful despite tramadol/co-codamol/naproxen (not all at once but I'm tempted). My foot is numb and feels like I'm walking on marbles.

I need to keep moving and I'm a swimmer. Swimming is listed as one of the best therapies for sciatica according to all the websites.
Last week I swam twice and my numb foot became agony to move, I battle through 40 lengths of crawl, but I couldn't put any weight on it in the pool.
Today I went feeling determined that my foot was not going to hurt. And weirdly it didn't. But my calf hurt so much I was crying as I was swimming and at 600 metres I had to stop and have a quiet weep, the pain was excruciating, my body was loving the water but my calf was agony, every single stroke was painful. I stood at the shallow end and cried into my goggles, nobody saw me (at least I don't think they did) but I was in so much pain I had to give in and weep. After 5 or so minutes I regained my composure and pushed on (not using my leg to push off the wall) I got to my usual 40 lengths and thank god there were proper stairs style steps otherwise I could not have got out. I had my sliders by the steps and as soon as they were on the pain subsided.

I grabbed my stuff and sat in a cubicle bawling, when will this pain go away? When will I be able to do the one sport I love without being in agony? Should I stop swimming (dr said no, but was when it was my foot was hurting). I'm crying again now with the memory of the session I had been looking forward to and baca use my leg still hurts. I've had 2x30mg codomol it's made no difference.

I'm at the end of my tether with this, I start a new job next week but I can walk properly, I'm on strong painkillers and there is no sign of any improvement.

For info, I am having two chiro sessions a week, I walk at least 20 mins a day (as a deliberate walk). I have enough painkillers to start a pharmacy.

Do I stop swimming? Do I swim through the pain?

Goodness, as a swimmer and a fellow sciatica sufferer, I really feel for you. Sounds dreadful. I'm really lucky as swimming never affected (just running 😪).

I'm not sure what to advise but has the doctor (presume you have been to Gp as you mention meds) talked about the root cause at all? Sciatica tends to be a symptom of something else - mine is pirifomis nerve being squashed / my mum has it due to spinal stenosis.

No the Dr has not made any attempt to identify the root cause. All I've had is symptom treatment with an assumption that is a herniated disc, but no scan, no physical examination.

Oh no, that sounds awful. You poor thing. I don’t blame you for crying at all!

IME many GPs are fairly rubbish about getting to the root cause of issues like this. I think it’s probably a combination of a lack of time and having huge amounts of general medical knowledge, but not necessarily specialist knowledge about any one thing.

I would suggest seeing a sports physiotherapist or a sports therapist (which is not the same as a sports massage therapist) and seeing if they can get to the root cause of the issue as this will be key to solving it. It may be a question of strengthening certain muscle groups, or stretching, or both. It may be something that sports massage could help - but you really need a diagnosis before you can take that forward. There are lots of possible causes and you need to know which one you have.

I hope you get things sorted.

Can you ask for an MRI scan to see if herniated disc needs surgery? Mine did.
Also gabapentin was only thing that helped mine as it is nerve pain.
So sorry you are suffering, I know how painful it is.

I have tried gabapentin but it terrified me. I felt sick, dizzy, anxious and gave up (likewise, amitryptaline and nortryptaline with stematil too) they take weeks to work and the awfulness of the side effects were so bad I gave up). I certainly couldn't start a new job whilst going through the time it takes to get the desired affect.

I booked a private mRI but the Dr said not to bother because it will just tell me I have sciatica. In hindsight, I should not let her get away with that. If it's no better in three weeks they'll refer for a scan. That'll be 6 weeks of agony. 😢

I'm so sorry, I've had sciatica in the last and there's no pain like it. No advice but lots of sympathy

Is this your first experience of sciatica? Some people have bouts that go away on there own. An MRI will tell you if there are any issues with your spine that might need surgery … but you’ll be waiting a long time for surgery on the NHS. I admire you for continuing to swim, the pain’s awful isn’t it?

Are you sure itself still sciatica? Mine started with sciatica (the shooting pain up and down one leg) but then somehow became a slipped disc.
With private medical insurance I had an MRI then surgery and was immediately pain free.
But I think you've been misadvised about your level of exercise. Rest/ pain killers and gentle exercise is key.

The things that helped me alot were an ice pack not heat on lower spine, daily piraformus stretch (look on you tube) and cycling with a raised handle bar so I was more upright & could move my hips & legs without adding pressure onto lower back. I couldn’t swim and I couldn’t walk both put too much pressure on my lower spine. In that much pain I wouldn’t swim unless backstroke works as the lower spine would be in different position to FC. Good luck finding what you can do to keep moving but with minimal pain. Oh plus Pilates to build core strength to protect/support lower back.

I get sciatica as I have a subluxating SI joint. I have regular maintenance from my osteopath and emergency treatment from them when it pops, which it seems to do in phases.
I do loads of exercise, including lifting heavy weights but I don’t swim because even when I’m pain free and everything is fine swimming sets it off almost instantly.

Maybe take a break? If you were in so much pain you had to stop and cry in the pool then it would probably not have been advisable to carry on doing 40 lengths. Possibly a break might allow your body to rest and recover. And if the pain continues I’d go back and push for more investigation.

Don’t swim, hydrotherapy is helpful, but swimming aggravates the nerve.

I’ve had sciatica for 6 months and the NHS has been worse than useless, I’m now pregnant and in 24/7 white hot agony and had to start a new job, which involves a lot of commuting and standing because of finances I can’t afford to quit and rest.

Insist on an MRI, lie and say you feel numbness in your foot and they will give you one quickly, I wish I’d done this. Insist on physio on the NHS too, and explain you can’t work whilst this is happening and you will lose your home/income. They only take it seriously if you ham it up. My two friends did this and they have had their surgery and physio and I’m still in agony, and it’s likely to get worse (cannot imagine as I’m already in Dante’s 5th circle of hell).

I can send some video exercises if PM me, I’m sorry sciatica is hell. The first time I had it, it went in 8 weeks, this time it’s half a bloody year and it’s just getting worse.

Commiserations @Mxflamingnoravera

You need to push for an MRI, OP, this sounds awful and far worse than typical sciatica.

Your disc could be ruptured.

Mine was and I had surgery to remove it.

Also swap the chiropractor for a private physio, the private specialist I spoke to said it’s not recommended if you have a herniated disk (can’t stand chiropractors personally, often cause more damage than they fix)

If your foot is numb, you could be at the beginnings of lasting nerve damage. Insist on an MRI and/or go private if you can, OP.

Have you tried swimming with a pull buoy. You can isolate your legs, but still swim. A lot of runners I know do this as a workout when injured. Obviously under the medical advice that others have suggested, but worth a go?

Have you tried acupuncture. I literally couldn't lift my foot off the floor, sit on the loo etc and one session sorted it out. I was stunned!

My foot is numb. I've told the dr. They said unless I was incontinent or numb in my bum, vulva etc no MRI until 6 weeks.

I can and do use a pull buoy but to me the whole point of swimming as therapy is to do some kicking. Obvs, I'm not kicking like I would normally, I've forced myself into the medium lane at the pool so that I don't go at the kick too hard, but as crawl is 90% arms it doesn't slow me down much.

I've had some acupuncture, but it made no difference. I've stupidly signed up for a 3 month course of chiro. But I can let that money go if there is something that will actually work. It's direct debit so they'll keep taking it whether I go or not.

I'm also struggling with all the different advice I'm getting, chiro good/chiro bad, osteo goid/osteo bad etc. that's not to get at any of you who are offering suggestions with the best of intentions but I'm in a whirl of what to do for the best.

Surgery terrifies me, but if I need it then I need to get over myself.

I think I'm going to rebook a private MRI and take it from there. I've a week till I start my new job.

I feel your pain. Once you are able, Pilates is great for looking after your back. I like Body Control Pilates. It helps with the swimming too. Hope things settle down soon.

I’d echo after wasting £100s on a chiropractor I had more lasting relief from a proper therapeutic sports massage (isrm registered www.theisrm.com/) and acupuncture from an old GP. She got a needle right in my piraformus area I yelped but it flipping helped to release the muscle spasm around my sciatic nerve. I did have bulging disc too compounding the pain but releasing the locked up muscles around the nerve really helped.

Hi I totally feel your pain. From March 2020 until august 2021 I suffered from excruciating sciatica. After 6 months of trying every painkiller there was I was finally sent for an mri. I had a herniated disc...was prescribed tramadol which, although did help ease the pain, turned me into someone I hardly recognised
On august 27th I had a microdisectomy as my surgeon believed that if it were to heal of its own accord it would have happened by then. I was very dubious but surgery was the best thing for me. After the initial recovery of the op itself I have had no pain. Mine was all in my right leg, especially my calf and ankle but now absolutely pain free. My back is still weak and aches a lot but I have returned to work and can lead a normal life.
Push for an Miri as sciatica is only a symptom, you need to find the root cause and treat it.
In the meantime I found heat and short bursts of activity helped.
Hope you get some answers soon

@Mxflamingnoravera I know it would be a loss but I would strongly recommend not doing chiropractic treatment before you have had an MRI, they could cause damage that may mean surgery that would have not been necessary if your chiropractor hadn’t caused extra damage: see a physio instead, they will be extremely careful to only teach you exercises that won’t cause more damage in the case your MRI shows more severe disk damage than you physically present.

This was on the advice of my private spinal/neuro specialist.

I know you want to swim, but aggravating the nerve will absolutely set your progress back. It’s okay to feel a bit of discomfort during exercises, but that’s it, if it hurts you are making it worse.

I'm going to book an MRI tomorrow. I'll stop the chiro or at least as if they can take a break till my scan is done.

I'm also going to lay off swimming. Tomorrows session is now cancelled.

This. I was the ultimate sceptic but sciatica made me desperate.

I had osteopathy in combination with acupuncture and could walk normally within 3 sessions. It still twangs occasionally - a sign I'm overdoing things.

Stop exercising in the short term as it's obviously making everything much worse.

I found regular ice packs helped calm things down too.