Sciatica

pmanton

pmanton

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Jun 7, 2008
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Indian Hills Airpark Salome, AZ
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N1431A
I'm an 83 year old fart. I knew all about sciatica. Take your wallet out of your hip pocket when driving long distances etc. Yeah I knew all about it---until a couple of weeks ago.

I was in misery for 2 weeks. Pain from my right butt to my ankle. Severe enough to make me want to vomit. I found one recliner where I could ease things a bit. I spent two weeks living in that recliner.

I live on an airpark in the boonies, and my Doc is over an hour away---forget that!
I have no idea what triggered it, nor what I need to do to avoid it.

Anyone have a sure cure for avoiding this huge pain in the a** ? It seem to have passed for now.

Paul
Salome, AZ.
 
Serious answer:

Sprouts sells a Turmeric capsule with black pepper extract. A friend advised my wife to take three of those a day.

She HAD been scheduled for a surgery for some back pain issues.
After a week on this supplement, her pain went away close to 100%.
After three weeks, with no pain, she cancelled the surgery.

It's not expensive.
 
Mine, after a lower back injury, wasn't nearly that bad. After prescribing steroids for some immediate relief, my PA offered three options: pain meds, physical therapy, or referral to a neurosurgeon for back surgery. I chose the PT. It was slow (2 sessions a week for 6 weeks), but they also gave me some exercises and stretches to do at home on the off days and after the course of treatment was over. It was about 6 months before I felt "normal," and another 6 months before I felt brave enough to pick up a golf club. YMMV.

Do you have a friend on the airpark who can fly you close to your dr?
 
My daughter bought me a wallet similar to this one, but I'll bet she didn't spend $125. I did have to reduce some of my "junk" but life is SOOOO much better without a wallet in my back pocket.
 
Van Johnston said:
my PA offered three options: pain meds, physical therapy, or referral to a neurosurgeon for back surgery.
Click to expand...

I was also presented with those three options... The "pain meds" was lots of ibuprofen, and it worked to get me through most days. The "PT" was exercises I could do at home: mostly things that targeted the core and lower back muscles to strengthen them. I was told to stop carrying things in a backpack, so I switched to carrying stuff in one of those little rolly mini-grocery-cart thingys that were popular amongst urban hipsters back then. It took a few months of slow-n-steady progress, being mindful about posture and lumbar support, doing my exercises, and slowly stepping down the ibuprofen little by little until I was taking none at all. Never did any surgery for it.
 
You need to see a pain management physician to locate the problem before you can know the solution. Not a neurosurgeon or Ortho doc. Those guys get paid to cut. My doc tries to prevent getting cut on. It works wonders for me. Every 16-18 months I get radio frequency ablation done to the nerves in L4, L5, and S1. Walk in hurting and walk out pain-free. What guys refer to as sciatica may or may not be relieved with RFA but I had it done again about 4 weeks ago and before? My legs hurt and they felt like they weighed 300# each. I hadn't slept more than an hour or two in months. The next day? All that was left was this hip issue that I'll get fixed next week.
 
Yea, get to a personal trainer and get an effective weight program. Hip abductions on a machine do wonders.
 
Inflammation of the nerve can come from anywhere. Mine was from swelling in my knee from, the nerve rubbing against a joint. It started local but spread ankle to knee in under a week. Rest and Tylenol was my answer.

and yeah, I haven’t carried my wallet in my back pocket for a decade. The deciding event was sitting on it during a long drive.
 
OP asks for a “sure cure”. I have the same thing. The only sure cure will be my death.

What everyone here says is true. You need the right diagnosis, pain down one leg isn’t necessarily sciatic nerve compression. Surgery should be the last resort. Flare ups are associated with inflammation. Steroids can help, anti inflammatories, but are not a cure. Same with chiropractic - can provide temporary relief. Therapeutic massage helps with associated muscle tightness. You need to get blood flow to the area. Swelling around the facet from inflammation, and muscle tightness from “guarding”, interfere with that. Spinal joints need to be mobile. I get relief with “Treat Your Own Back” (McKenzie method). Short simple book with easy to follow instructions. Core strengthening and general activity is critical to preserve function. Keep an eye on surgical technology as it becomes less invasive, might be an option but never have surgery unless the problem is easily identified on imaging and the solution is readily understandable, e.g. bone spurs obviously impinging on a nerve and nerve conduction studies demonstrating deterioration.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor YMMV, use at your own risk, ask your doctor if you are healthy enough for sexual activity, may cause anal leakage.
 
The exercise routine seems to be most attractive. The 60 mile drive to any professional help is a real pain. (especially if the sciatica flares up again)
For a start I ordered the book Rushie recommended. This was a real wake up. I was out of business for 2 weeks. My wife is 81, I'm 83 if we were both down, we'd be in trouble.
I still fly, have 2 planes, and am still an active IA. I'm just not ready to bag it. But if I wait too long ------Bah Humbug I wanna be young again.:mad:
 
Physical therapists can help, stay away from chiropractors. Use a Yoga block underneath your pelvis to stretch your hips while laying on your back with your feet flat, and yoga balls (or lacrosse balls) on pressure points on lower back, hip and glute area (especially deep in the sides). A new firm mattress also did wonders for me, as well as sleeping with a knee pillow and sleeping more on my back. Stretch your leg straight back in the air while on your knees and elbows.
 
Bender Aviation said:
stay away from chiropractors.
Click to expand...

Stay away from bad chiropractors. A good one, or better yet an excellent one, can help tremendously. You might need to be in a big city to find a good one; lack of competition in rural communities might mean the only one there doesn’t have to be great. OP is probably an hour’s drive to a chiro anyway so probably not an option for him.
 
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