$*@%!%& Sciatica !!!!!!

[JeanneB]

[QUOTE=juby2be;5838511]
Has anyone ever worked on your piriformis muscle which runs deep to your glutes? That helps a LOT on my clients who suffer from sciatica.

I too was suffering from back pain to the point that only a boiling hot tub would relieve the pain. Sitting was the worse !!! I was a frequent visitor to the chiro and orthopedic offices. Naproxene made me swollen.
It took my two years to figure out that my piriformis muscles were tight impinging on my sciatic nerve. I seriously cried when having a deep tissue massage done to my butt area. An attempt by the masseuse to touch my heel to my butt while i laid prone made my back torque. She said my thigh muscles were tight pulling on my lower back .
After reading the trigger point therapy workbook I figured out that my hamstrings, and vastus lateralis muscles {front thighs} were so tight pulling on my hips thus the back pain.
Google ham string exericses.
I found that stretching and massaging my tight muscles made a huge difference.
If I am lazy and skip my daily stretching I am a mess in just a few days.
I also bought a moist heating pad to penetrate my fat tush in order to appease the pain and piriformis swelling.

I so understand your pain.
I had several months of sleepless nights thinking how in the world do people tolerate this.
As much as it hurts being inactive makes it worse

[onelove]

Sonesta, where did you find the brace you talked about? That may help because the ice is working so much better than the heat.

To everyone else who suggested the piriformis muscle, I honestly can’t stand massages unless it is from an SO, which I currently don’t have :no: so even though it would probably help tremendously, I hate people touching me, especially when I know there might be pain. (Did I mention I threw my oral surgeon against the wall during a root canal? :uhoh:True story, unfortunately. :rolleyes:)

Really, I do blame this on not riding like I should be. It seems to keep my sciatica in check. Does it do that for anyone else?

[kaluha2]

YIKES!! Stop with the heat. That is the single worse thing you can do for sciatic nerve which is an inflammation. You want to keep icing the small of your back to the point it goes numb. You must take the inflammation down and heat will only aggraviate it. I almost put myself in traction using heat for this problem.

Ice it, ice it, and ice it again!!

[deserthorses5]

TIME…lots of TIME. It took me 2 YEARS to be able to move again from my injury.

[Pasde2]

[QUOTE=onelove;5840189]

To everyone else who suggested the piriformis muscle, I honestly can’t stand massages unless it is from an SO, which I currently don’t have :no: so even though it would probably help tremendously, I hate people touching me, especially when I know there might be pain. [/QUOTE]

My massage therapist, years ago, recommended a gadget that is ideal for people who are trying to recover from sciatic issues without the help of massage or acupuncture. It’s quite splendid. Years later, I bought one for a student who had a bad case of sciatica and also had strong, non-negotiable “Do NOT touch me!” issues. She found it extremely helpful (she was 60-something and it made the difference between being unable to sit and walk comfortably (never mind ride) and being able to go out and ride her horse every day.

It’s a DIY version of something that masseurs and osteopaths can do for their clients: Supporting the sacrum so that the pelvis can shift into a “neutral” position and allow the lower back muscles to stretch and relax. When they aren’t in spasm, and can soften and lengthen, you lose the pain that comes from tight muscles pushing on the nerve.

I used to take one with me on trips, just in case, and was often glad that I had it with me.

We referred to it as “The sacred wedgie” because it was so effective, but I think it was actually called something like "SacroWedgy (or as two words, Sacro Wedgy). Last I knew, you could get them everywhere including Amazon.com, they’re probably around $30 by now but the effect is quite amazing, and for a non-invasive, DIY way to get some real, long-term help… I would very much recommend this.

It’s available in male and female versions because the sacrum designs and angles are a bit different.

BTW, it comes with an extra pad so that you can add a bit of height to it (don’t begin with the extra height though!), but if that pad goes walkabout, a paperback book will also serve. You’ll need to experiment to find out which book is best (Mine was a paperback edition of “Out of Africa” YMMV!).

I wish I had known about this many MANY years ago before my father had excruciatingly painful surgery for his sciatica - I really think that if he’d had a Sacro Wedgy he could have avoided the surgery AND the painful aftermath.

And no, I don’t own stock in the company, but I wish I did!