I have an appt with my doc to check this out but wondered if anyone has experience with back of the thigh and calf pain upon riding. Nothing at night, no low back pain but a severe dull ache for about an hour after getting out of bed
Both legs or one? Sciatica? In case your Doc sends you for x-rays, know that
x-rays don’t show disc problems, MRIs do. Feel better!
Just one leg. It’s a dull pain, not an electric shooting down the leg. I’m worried it’s a disc…
Trying to bump this…hoping for some responses
The nerves that innervate the back of the thigh and calf exit the spine at the sacral level…S1 and S2. Cantering can get me there, especially if horse is tense and not giving me a good place to sit. I have arthritis in my sacrum. Left > right. Getting old…:p.
Susan
Oh yes…that’s part of it. I’m almost 70 with lots of equestrian crashes behind me. Had am MRI today…probably disc issues
I have compressed discs and arthritis in my lower back and when I was in my 30’s. I had an inflammation episode that left me thinking I would be in a wheelchair by the time I reached 40. Shortly after, my husband and I bought a small sporting goods store in an historical gold rush town (and where we could trail ride our horses right from home). Because we sold running shoes, I had to wear the latest in really good brands. I also sold Sorbothane shoe inserts. I wore these products for the next 10 years. Between the shock absorption in the shoes and the excellant shock absorption in the shoe inserts, I have no problems now 30+ years later and continue to ride and drag hay bales around. I sold the shoe inserts to people with all kinds of problems and I swear it was a miracle product. I should have bought stock in the stuff. I reccommend it all the time. There are products for horses too. I got a large pad of Sorbothane and made myself some stirrup pads to futher add to the shock absorption. Read up on shock absorption. It helps to save the joints and that means less pain.
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Thanks I will explore that. My MRI showed degenerative disks…
I am missing a disc at L4-L5. When I present seminars and spend the last 2-3 hours of my day standing up to present, my right leg will go numb. An orthopedist confirmed what I suspected: that at the end of the day gravity wins and in this instance gravity was pulling my spine down onto my sciatic nerve. (Fortunately for me, I was only dealing with numbness and not pain.) The surgeon immediately wanted to perform a spinal fusion but that was definitely not my first choice, so I went for physical therapy and I bought an inversion table. (The table can be very affordable when found on Craigslist.) Since gravity was my issue, I decided to let gravity undo the damage it was causing. Now, if my leg starts to go numb or gives me a dull ached, I hang myself upside down (not quite perpendicular, but more of a 45 degree angle) and stay like that for 10 to 15 minutes. This usually relieves the pressure on the sciatic nerve and the problem is solved. Sometimes I have to do this 2 or 3 days in a row for a complete elimination of symptoms.
That’s pretty interesting. Might be something to investigate. I know a friend that has one I might try
