I was hit with sciatica almost two years ago. It was the worst pain I have ever experienced. It is mostly gone, but it rears its ugly head occasionally. Last year, I discovered water walking at the local very small water park. It was wonderful! I only discovered it in mid-July so I was only able to use it for half the summer but I still lost 15 lbs. However, the last week the water park was open, my sciatica flared up, and wouldn’t relent. The park is now open, and water walking starts next week. I have no idea why. The sciatica is still niggling away, and I am afraid if I buy a pass, the pain will really kick in. I do not want to be on pain killers, but I seem to remember when I first had it, I was told to be still. Any advice?
My husband has it at times, and it can be really awful. He has exercises that his doctor gave him that help keep it at bay. He did have to give up golf, but he’s otherwise very active.
Rebecca
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Yeah, I wouldn’t wish the nerve pain of sciatica on my worst enemy. Well, maybe I would but it’s easily the worst pain I’ve ever had. The ONLY thing that knocked it down so I could function was a course of Prednisone. Epidural kind of helped, but still not totally pain free.
Talk to your doctor, but everything I was told emphasized the need to keep moving. It’s really hard when you’re hurting, I know. My hips are so stiff from trying to protect myself with the sciatica that I’m working hard to actually sit on my horse. BTW, just riding at the walk helps me a lot.
I’m taking the shotgun approach now; I’m doing Pilates, Physical Therapy, losing weight, Epsom salt baths, and just started inversion. I’m taking gabapentin for nerve pain (helps me a lot) and I’ve got a referral for acupuncture. I realize that I likely won’t be able to pinpoint what actually helps but at this point I don’t care.
My Physical therapist specifically mentioned water walking (not the Jesus kind) as a great option too.
Also, I’ve found that having a positive attitude really does help. Again, I know this is hard. A friend recommended a book I haven’t picked up yet; You Are The Placebo.
Hope you find some relief.
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Have you ever tried yoga? I’m not at all a yogi, and I don’t really enjoy it, but when my back has flared up and I’ve had sciatica issues I’ve had really good success with following some of the “yoga for sciatica” type videos on YouTube. They helped me ease some flare ups and doing them regularly helped prevent them. I also found weight training to strengthen my legs and core (including back, not just “abs”) really helps too.
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I’ve had sciatica issues for a while. It depends on what is causing the source of your sciatica pain, mine is muscular, specifically I have issues with my piriformis muscles which is the muscle in your butt that runs over the sciatic nerve. If it’s tight or aggravated, it puts pressure on the nerve and causes that radiating pain. I’ve actually done physical therapy for it and now I strength train at least 1x a week preferably 2-3x and it has helped significantly. I also certain exercises I can do easily at home that don’t take more than a few minutes that help me maintain. Riding puts the piriformis in a position of constant stress, some bodies can handle it, some can’t. Mine can’t. I would start with physical therapy though and go from there. I have found that resting it usually does not help, in fact often makes me feel worse when I stop resting because I’ve let the muscles weaken. It needs some level of daily stretching and intentional use via certain exercises to maintain.
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^ This for me too! I have functional scoliosis which pulls my pelvis out of alignment, combined with a sitting desk job means I often had vicious sciatic flare ups. Travel was always really hard as well. Acupuncture, massage and IMS all helped but only temporarily.
I always hated yoga due to my inflexibility, but I got so sick of being in pain that last year I started a basic 20 minute yoga routine from YouTube to help sciatica/scoliosis, and it changed my life. It was crazy hard to begin with because I’m not at all stretchy, but over time it has been a huge help. Easy to do at home or even when traveling!
I also began weight training a couple of years ago 3-5 times per week and that has made a huge difference. Between the weights and yoga, I haven’t had a flare up in almost a year!
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