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Sciatica - What should I do?

I started experiencing sciatica pain in my lower back and left leg at the age of 16 which prevented me from doing regular exerise, playing football etc. - very young I'm told to experince this sort of problem. And as a result, after having consulted 2 doctors at the time to try and diagnose the specific problem, I was sent to a hospital for an X-RAY, and to a chiropractor to see exactly if there was any sort of problem.

I was told by both the doctors and chiropractic that the base of my spine was somewhat compounded and the discs were close together which could be causing the pain.

As with all chiropractors, I was given a strict routine of exercises to follow in the hope it would eradicate the problem, but I'm 21 years old now, and although it is often OK, I still experince seriously painful days or weeks where it won't go away and prevents me almost walking, let alone training or doing anything.

Because of my age, I felt I perhaps was'nt taken as seriously as somebody with similar problems if they'd been middle-aged, but I now have no idea what to do. I was disheartened by the lack of help I was given and that the doctors did not recognise the severity of the problem hence why i have not returned.

Do I continue with exercise as best I can and just learn to live with it, or is this something that can be fixed with surgery. I find it difficult to see how any doctor of chiropractic can irradicate pain completely if the discs are compounded. I don't particually wan't to have to do those silly exercises every day for the rest of my life, so what are my options?

6 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I have the exact same problem. I'm a young dancer and have had a really hard time with my career because of it.

    Physical therapy can only help so much. I've done loads of it and really...minimal improvement. The best excercise there is to do for that is to lay on your side, elbow proping you up with your knees at a 90degree angle. Then do sideways hip-ups. It strengthens the supporting muscles around your ilia-sacral joint and keeps it a little more open.

    But honestly the most amazing thing that made me go back to classes was having acupuncture and acupressure sessions with this Korean woman at my local Historic YMCA. I know it sounds cornball and I'm a huge skeptic about the whole energy body healing idea, but it worked.

    This was also the most painful session of my life however. She calmed me down with acupuncture (which I had never had) then began to dig into my middle and upper back with her elbows and hands. Come to think of it, she spent most of her time on my upper back, and very little on my lower back. Something about how our energy transfers from upper to lower really affects our lower backs and sciatic. That night i went home, drank lots of water and slept. The morning after, I woke up to birds chirping like I was in some kind of Disney movie and I could move. I was a little sore from where she worked on me, but the pain in my back was gone and I got my mobility back. It was the most amazing thing.

    Don't be afraid to try new things, but be careful of WHEN you try new things. Make sure you don't have anything really important to do the day after in case it doesn't work as well as you'd planned.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    If you intend to find out about the real nature of sciatica or why sciatica is really frequent and what every one of these pains are attempting to tell to the human body then you need to read this eBook Sciatica SOS from here https://tr.im/NAM2l .

    Glenn Johnson is the writer of Sciatica SOS. He also was plagued by the condition for quite quite a long time in his early 40s. He says he was among the “Early viruses to be diagnosed with sciatica”, and he tried out numerous probable solutions that the doctors presented, but they never offered him sufficient results.

    The eBook Sciatica SOS is distinctive; it moves the excess distance to assist you realize the cause of the issue, what you are able to do to fix it and then gives detail by detail directions to see you achieve the treatment.

    All this is accomplished in a week or less. It is definitely worth a try.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    I've been battling sciatica for close to a decade, after a minor car accident, and I had tried everything the doc threw at me�pills, injections, special mattresses� This guide was extremely eye opening and within one week of the regimen you gave me I can barely feel any discomfort. You have no idea how much of a relief it is to be finally getting rid of a pain I've had to bear for so many years.

    Sciatica Exercise Guide?

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    Yes, I've had sciatica. It was awful. I stayed late at work to finish up some reports. I leaned forward in my chair and felt something like an electric shock that went from my lower back to my knee. (left side) Not really painful just an odd feeling. But, by the next morning I could hardly get out of bed. Fortunately it was the weekend. I didn't go to the doctor or chiropractor because I didn't want anyone messing with my back. I'd heard nightmare stories from friends. For about three months, I slept with a heating pad. I took tylenol to get to sleep. I sat on a strategically placed pillow that I designed and made for myself. I made another one for my car. I bought myself an office chair that was comfortable. My supervisor ordered me the same exact chair for work. (Bless her). When I got to a place where I could get out of bed in the morning and move without thinking about every step, I started walking. I started s l o w. I mean three minutes of walking and moved up to 30 minutes a day over about three months. I essentially walked out my sciatica. It took almost two years for it to disappear--sort of. When I sit too long in one position, I can feel stiffness in my back. No pain thank heavens. The experience made me a believer in take care of your back. I still walk at least five days a week and sometimes more. Then I injured my knee. That's another story but that sciatica was worse. I do remember reading something about the pain pattern of sciatica. If it goes from the lower back to the knee it's not as bad as what you have--lower back to ankle. I'd web search this if I were you because one symptom of a disk problem is sciatic nerve pain clear down passed the knee.

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  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Did you tested Sciatica Self Treatment technique? Try on this website : http://sciatica.naturehomecure.com/ . This could undoubtedly assist person!

  • 1 decade ago

    Get a MRI and then see what that reveals. X-rays will only show bone and gaps between bones, while you need to see if the discs have been damaged, or if they are touching the nerve roots. Best of Luck

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