Its horrible and can take months to go away, and can reoccur. MRI showed a disk protrusion pressing on the nerve. Consultant said next time he will inject a nerve root block, and if it carries on surgery. I have just got back on the bike after a 4 year rest, mostly because I was worried that excessive mountain biking (if there is such a thing) caused it…. Getting a timely diagnosis/treatment can be difficult depending on your postcode.

Thanks for the advice again. Over the weekend I’ll contact a person I haven’t seen for a few years. I heard she does acupuncture. Might be worth a try. I have just read the whole sciatica driving me mad thread. Got worried as I had trouble peeing and it did say call 999. Everything is still working though. Really hope I get seen by this musculoskeletal physio soon.

Feel your pain, I’m still with hospital drugs etc. As mentioned it’s a postcode lottery I have received excellent care, spinal fitness classes MRIs
My discs are f*ed but have chosen not to go down operation route.

All I would say is nag your GP and nag some more, once you’ve been referred nag them. Treatment is there just ask for it.
I’m not sure I’d go down any alternative route until you know what’s going on. Pay for an MRI at least then you’ll have a better idea.

Have you been given any medication?

Sorry to hear of your situation OP and all the other posters on here, I had sciatica and sacroiliac issues for 15 or so years about 20 years ago. Very uncomfortable and depression inducing condition.

I found two approaches that have worked and kept me pretty much condition free, with only the occasional flare up that now goes within 24 hours, they have and are working for me, whether they work for you or anyone else is down to the individual.

Firstly, get yourself a fit ball and work on your core muscle strength, I would do a daily 20 minute exercise routine and kept that going for quite a few years. I could be still doing it, but laziness sets in I guess once the pain goes away.

Secondly and possibly more importantly, look at the causes for your dis-ease to manifest itself as lower back issues, I.e. the metaphysical aspect. Typically lower back issues are to do with how well supported you feel in a financial sense, how you earn your living and your relationship with money and how important financial secirity is for you. Changing my attitude and existing beliefs worke in tandem with the core muscle exercises and as I commented, sciatica is now thankfully a thing of the past and my work is physical with lots of opportunity for problems.

Find your own way, personally, any pre-existing condition of prolapsed or herniated disc’s are not the true cause, our attitude and approach to life is, invest your energy into sorting that rather than physically invasive methods.

I had similar lower back & sciatica problems for a few years (and spent a small fortune on various treatments over the years). Eventually got that bad that my leg started giving way when I got really bad jolts of pain. I moaned to my GP (after getting the sticking plaster approach of loads of painkillers) and got an MRI scan and referral to a decent physio who is also a Pilates instructor. MRI scan confirmed physios initial thoughts – natural wear & tear and ageing causing discs to get squashed and press on nerve.

The physio came up with a good treatment plan that initially involved acupuncture and other stuff like laser treatment and manipulation, then once out of the initial treatment phase, i started on Pilates type strengthening exercises. My physio explained that I would never get rid of the cause of my sciatica problem, but with regular core strength training, it could be managed. The physio said why most people struggle with persistent sciatica is that they have weak core muscles and either never see someone who will advise them to strengthen their core, or they do, but then don’t keep doing the excercises regularly enough. Physio also told me not to expect a magic overnight cure (as apparently most people do), as it can take a few weeks of regular exercise to really get the core muscles and posture sorted out.

I started going to the physios Pilates class once a week and doing another two 30-40 minute sessions per week. I’d guess it took about 6 weeks to really start noticing a difference, but after that, the sciatica really settled down. After 3 months of sticking at the exercises, I wasn’t getting any pain. So, since then, I’ve been doing Pilates at home (with a DVD) for 30-45 minutes two or three times a week. The only time I’ve had twinges from my back is when I’ve not done any Pilates for a week or two – restart the Pilates exercises and the twinges stop within a few days.

Based on my experience of trying various treatments, I’d recommend trying to find a physio who also has APPI training to teach Pilates classes (Australian Physio & Pilates institute). I’ve done courses with non APPI instructors, but nothing comes close to the APPI instructor led classes – possibly cos most are also qualified physiotherapists!

Can’t stress enough though, if you’re given exercises and don’t start seeing an improvement within a few days, stick with them, as in my experience they do work. (Fwiw, an orthopaedic surgeon and two physios independently told me that almost all sciatica problems can be cured with by getting and maintaining good core strength)

Good luck with it!

Bowglie – that mirrors my experience. Not identical but the salient bits are consistent.
Mixed fitness exercise also helps me – bit of road riding, bit of MTB, bit of running. Swimming I find aggravates it. But others will find this to be different I guess.

You have my sympathy 🙁
I had crippling Sciatica and SI joint pain at the tail(arf) end of last year. It was horrible. I thought it was something that only happened to ‘old’ people and pregnant women. I’m 35.

Only things that helped in the first instance were codeine and Diazepam for the really bad bits and to help me sleep. However, that gave me the trippiest dreams I’ve ever experienced.

I was willing to try anything at this point, partly as I was desperate, and partly as I’m open minded and believe in the body’s ability to heal itself (but often needing a kickstart from the mental side of things). Lots of people also swore by them.
After about 4 weeks (3 weeks off work) I went to a chiropractor. Over the next 5/6 weeks I went to them twice a week.

Biggest waste of money ever. I went open minded and I was repeatedly cracked and wrenched. On many occasions I actually came away feeling worse.
After throwing the best part of £300 at them I just gave up. My back was starting to improve, but coincidentally, some research revealed that the lack of any conclusive evidence to the efficacy of Chiropractic techniques is often due to the fact that the control groups improved on their own at the same rate….
Since then I swear my joints crack even more than they did before.

What has definitely helped though is a combination of Yoga/Pilates at home. Side planks, crunches, pull ups, press ups, combined with stretches that both work on my core and increase my mobility have helped hugely.
To be honest I stopped them about a month ago after doing them since the start of the year and I’ve anecdotally noticed recurrences of the discomfort. I need to get back to doing them.

On the plus side, I did manage to watch some really good stuff on Netflix.

Sympathise OP & reading with interest. My left lower back has gone a few times over the years, probably as a result of doing a forestry job in my 20’s and early 30’s. Unbelievably painful when it goes, can’t walk. Dose of painkillers and gentle exercising usually gets it back to normal but like others you forget to do the stretches when you feel ok. I once sneezed when shaving and that put it out.

2 years ago I busted by left foot and recently had an arthroscopy on it which seems to have worked on the foot, but the awkward walking over 2 years now gives me almost constant pain in the same left lower back/bum/groin area with shooting pains down the leg. Doc has given me Naproxen and am on a waiting list for physio. In the meantime trying to do exercises recommended by him but I think I might be overdoing it as no improvement. I can still ride my bike, just getting on and off is the problem. I have a small insurance policy so could get a few private sessions of physio whist waiting for NHS (not sure if I need osteopath, chiro, sports physio or what) but am a bit wary going on what others have said above.

Very frustrating pill popping but I guess you get there in the end.

Also suffered with sciatic pain for about 30 years & I guess that the cause can vary a fair bit; with me it’s generally a very tight periforma – stretching/yoga/pilates helps massively & it’s usually when I’ve been neglecting it that it returns.

My experience with chiropractors has actually been very good.

Again – today a pretty tough spin session + Pilates + weights and no issues. Try to run and I’m ****.

Well it’s gone again. Was starting to feel like I was better although still was getting light Sciatica now and again. Always had the nagging fear of it going to go wrong again. Had to cancel a trip to bike park wales and just bought a new fork 🙁

Put up some shelves this week and my back was killing me. Was hoping it was just muscle but now now I’m back to limping around again.

Starting to think about lumbar fusion but will see what the physiotherapist says. Hope I won’t have to wait too long. Guess I’m stuck with it for the rest of my life.

I must have missed this thread first time around in the spring, but for what it’s worth, my experience was that surgery at the local pain clinic was the answer. Having prolapsed a disc (might have been L3) several years ago, and spent months in pain, plus much of that time unable to sit properly, it got to the point where I was sick of it not going away by itself. And of wearing the knees out of trousers kneeling at a desk. Made a nuisance of myself to my GP, who referred me to consultant at pain clinic, two courses of steroid injections into the offending area under local anaesthetic and it’s been ok now for 7 years. Bloody hope it stays that way, because it was proper shit while I had it. Luckily am in a work health scheme, which would have speeded things up a bit. But if you get an MRI result which finds a prolapse, that may well be worth asking about.

I was asking for an MRI for months. They wouldn’t give one unless I was in danger of ending up permanently disabled. The doctor said on Saturday I might get one this time. How does the steroid injection work?

you could try asking your doc to prescribe amytriptyline. it won’t work overnight but will reduce the length of time you suffer symptoms and it will give you a good nights sleep. it’s worked for me twice

I was asking for an MRI for months. They wouldn’t give one unless I was in danger of ending up permanently disabled

Have you tried over exaggerating your experience? Ie tell them you arent sleeping, pain is a 11/10, unable to work, feeling depressed etc, etc I guess they might do some light screening to keep the timewasters out maybe?

I think I would have only got an MRI if I had cauda equina syndrome. The doctor said I should get one this time as it’s happened again.
I’m off to borrow some crutches today.

mudmonster How does the steroid injection work?

Can’t remember the medical details off the top of my head; I’ll try to find some of the paperwork when I’m at home later. If we kept it, of course. I have just tracked down an old email from the time, based on an MRI scan which diagnosed a “significant disc prolapse at L5/S1 on the left side”
I do recall that the first course of steroid injection was only semi-successful, and I had to ring the surgeon and ask him to repeat the treatment, which was much more effective the second time around.

Great thank you 🙂

@mudmonster

I posted 8 months ago, your GP sounds sh 1t – sorry to say…

Has your GP referred you anywhere ? If not you really need to see a different doctor and quickly.

My GP has been great, I know its post code lottery to some extent, there are two waiting lists within the trust, one with a two week turn around (me) or the usual 3 months… over the last year ive had 2 mri’s and a care package of medication, and lots of physio, so far i’ve been pain free since June, and they don’t discharge the minute you feel better.

Your GP needs to be proactive…there is no way you or your GP can possibly know what is going on inside you without an MRI

(within our trust its not the GP that can ask for an MRI its the physio)

or pay for an MRI !

I’ve just called my doctors to find out when my visit to the musculoskeletal Physio is. It’s on the 18th, very happy I don’t have to wait until after xmas.

If they refuse an MRI this time I’ll just pay.

Can’t really stand up today without huge pain, crutches are a big help.

Think it’s time to go back to full suspension now.

I know how painful it can be at times, I found that an Osteopath helped me loads when I had a few slipped discs and reduced the pain to manageable levels but in the end I still needed surgery.
It took a long time for me to get the surgery I needed, and first they tried to give me a steroid injection, but that didn’t help much, and the effects were short lived.
I eventually got the proper surgery, which was not nearly as bad as I was expecting, as I foolishly googled the surgery and as always only found the bad stories. The surgery was not nearly as painful as I was expecting, and the start of the recovery went a lot quicker than I was expecting, although the whole process took longer than I thought it would. Several years down the line though and I’m a lot better, and it’s only when I do silly things that I get any pain which usually goes away within a week.
Top Tip I found online at the time to get things moving quicker: say you have woken up a found you have wet the bed a few times, that really got my doctor moving things forward.

I had a discectomy a couple of years ago after cortisone and general pissing around for a few months. It improved to about 80% over a year then went backwards after a bit of overenthusiastic falling over skiing. That helped (perversely) and within 6 weeks it was almost 100%.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago and lugging 25kg bags of sand. Oh my ferkin God for I am a stupid twit.

Luckily it proved to be just muscle spasm rather than disc again. MRI confirmed and Osteopath fiddled. I’m back to near 100%. I had a wobble a month ago with extreme sciatica having thought it a good idea to go running…

Keep mythering, second opinioning and escalating until you get sense. If you have BUPA, use it. If you don’t and can fund it, do so. Earliest treatment is best route to recovery. For me dicking around with cortisone was a waste of time and I’d skip this step if a similar situation occurred again.

Good luck. It really is awful.

Keep mythering, second opinioning and escalating until you get sense.

Meaning until you find a medical opinion that tells you want you think you want to hear.
Some fantastic recommendations on here to fake symptoms in order to get the treatment you believe you need rather than the ones your symptoms actually require.

Really don’t know what to do. A mate insists that it’s ‘tms’, he read a book by John E Sarno and it worked for him. He had pain moving around his body though. My girlfriend is reading the book and now says I’ve got ms as well.
I’m extremely frustrated, can’t even put up shelves without seriously injuring myself.

Sorry OP, I’ve just looked, and we’ve obviously cleared the paperwork up (ie binned it). It was 7 years ago mind, and was mostly the bills that the hospital charged at the time; it was done under a private medical plan. Don’t recall much detail in there about the treatment as such. Might be worth googling ‘steroid injection nerve block’, the first hit I got produced https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/injections/selective-nerve-root-blocks-snrb-and-facet-joint-injections which sounds familiar. Good luck, I’m certain I don’t want it back.

imnotverygood – Member
Keep mythering, second opinioning and escalating until you get sense.

Meaning until you find a medical opinion that tells you want you think you want to hear

Yeah that’ll be it. Have much experience in this area?

It is a horrible time. Constant pain and you just don’t know what to do with yourself to alleviate it. Drugs don’t help and the stronger ones are massively habit forming. It is really difficult see a way out of it so your comments are not particularly helpful.

Back to the OP. Cortisone (aka steroid nerve block) may work for you but it only provides temporary relief to give the nerve(s) a chance to recover and in my case, was very very painful to apply and it had zero affect. I’ve had cortisone a couple of other times for other injuries and it hasn’t worked there either. I’d skip it if offered again.

BTW, in my last bout a few weeks ago, my GPS asked me what I wanted to do. I elected for treatment under BUPA (needs GP referral) and an MRI on NHS. I had a scan from GP appointment to sitting in the machine within SIX DAYS! Yes six days on the NHS. Fantastic. By following up and mythering and being a PIA and not being passive.

@mudmonster

Youve been given loads of good advice, you seem to be ignoring it, even if you have an appt on the 18th Dec you probably wont get an MRI till next year…cough and pay for an MRI

If you have all these symptoms and your GP is still ignoring your needs – its telling you something, change GP !

Also using crutches could be causing you more damage, has anyone medical told you to use them ???

As I said 8 months ago DO NOT GO TO AN OSTEOPATH at this stage.

Ive been where you are as have many posters, and your thought process can get messed up with the pain, do you work ? Is your job physical ? do you drive ? what can you change right now ?

where do you live in the UK research private MRI locations

https://www.privatehealth.co.uk/conditions-and-treatments/mri-scan/costs/

Book an appointment with a good private physio in the meantime. They almost certainly will be able to do some treatment which relieve the worst of the symptoms, even if it doesn’t treat the cause. Physio has sorted my back out so much over the past few years. Buy one less bike part and sort your back out, so you can ride your bike again. 5 years on (with two disc prolapses) I can largely self treat (after adjusting my lifestyle) with occasional massage top ups from a physio who knows what they are doing.

Pick up the phone to a physio this morning. You’ll probably get an appt within the week.

And as I said above, next time before you start biking again, make sure to sort out your core strength! (I’m assuming you didn’t bother).

I’m currently lugging concrete blocks around a house refurb, so need to heed my own advice as well.

^^^ absolutely what wonny j said

Its not some hippy thing….core strength is absolutely critical for back care

If you have all these symptoms and your GP is still ignoring your needs – its telling you something, change GP !

I seem to see a different one every time I go to the medical centre. Back in March the first few told me to take painkillers and go away. Third one finally referred me to physio.

Also using crutches could be causing you more damage, has anyone medical told you to use them ???

I will call the doctor to find out.

As I said 8 months ago DO NOT GO TO AN OSTEOPATH at this stage.

One mate won’t stop going on about seeing an Osteopath. Lots of people are telling me to go to different places. I did take this advice and have not seen one. I will take the advice of the musceloskeletal physio. Pilates helped the last time even though lots of friends said I was wasting my money there.

Ive been where you are as have many posters, and your thought process can get messed up with the pain, do you work ? Is your job physical ? do you drive ? what can you change right now ?

Was working a cycle messenger until March when it happened the first time. Eight years of carrying heavy stuff on my back was probably the cause. I don’t think I could safely drive right now to be honest. Will do the gentle exercises I’ve been given and just hope. Cheapest private MRI I found was a place on Upper Wimpole St I think.

And as I said above, next time before you start biking again, make sure to sort out your core strength! (I’m assuming you didn’t bother).

I have been doing them, obviously not enough though 🙁

Buy one less bike part and sort your back out

Are you serious? 😉

Hey Mudmonster,

Sorry to hear your back is playing up (again). I know it is massively debilitating, i had it years ago (for over a year) and was offered surgery which i declined. I took up pilates, changed bike position and riding style etc, and just tried to keep active without winding up my back too much. I am now pain free…

I also come at this from a different perspective to many others as i trained as physio, and am now a researcher in back pain (and pain in general). I have been out of the UK so am not fully up to date with the recommendations but am pretty sure the Aus and UK advice is similar.

You only need an MRI if it is medically indicated (e.g. suspicion of cauda equina, other insidious symptoms) where the exposure to radiation is outweighed by the benefit the diagnostic test can give. Your front line clinician should be well versed in when to (and when not) to send someone for imaging. I know it seems as though having the scan would give you the all clear for your back. However, the majority of backs will show some changes to discs, joint spaces etc. The great majority of these people with altered structure don’t (and haven’t had) significant back pain – so changes in structural composition do not allow us to predict whether anyone actually has (or will develop) pain.

Also, there is fairly strong evidence that MRI should not be used as a first line assessment as it can actually increase your likelihood of developing long term pain. This is thought to be in part due to the influence it has on your emotional / affective systems (essentially increasing fear and anxiety related to your current pain) which can increase the likelihood of pain persisting – via, in part an increased sensitivity in the nervous system.

The best advice at the moment, is talk to your GP (and keep in regular contact – every coupe of weeks for monitoring) and seek access to a healthcare provider that can support your rehab – both things that i believe you have done. Try to keep moving as much as you can (without flaring up your back), we always say motion is lotion! The other thing is to try to be comfortable with the time course of recovery, backs can take a while to recover (up to 3 months), and not get too frustrated or worried because it hasn’t got better as quickly as you’d like.

Keep in mind that the spine is very strong, and is very well engineered for its job. Sometimes things do go amiss with it (what your GP should be screening for) but in general it will sort itself out in time, if there are no confounding issues.

For all of those who have low back pain, a great read is Explain Pain by Lorimer Mosely and David Butler. I would look up his videos on youtube – he is a great speaker, a great physio and one of the top pain scientists around.

Also check out the advice from the CSP

http://www.csp.org.uk/your-health/healthy-living/public-information-leaflets/back-pain-myth-busters

or if you like the australian viewpoint – info from the ACI

https://www.aci.health.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/363450/ALBP-ConsumerInfo.pdf

Cheers, and hope it sorts itself out soon.
Marp

Physio made mine.Worse.

2 sessions of Reiki sorted it.

Just thought I’d add a few words of encouragement. I had 3 herniated discs 13 years ago which kept me off the bike for about 9 months, absolute agony. It would take me literally 5 mins just to manoeuvre myself into the car for example.

My GP advised me that an orthopaedic surgeon would recommend surgery, but advised me to do nothing, and it would get better by itself. I took his advice and over time the body does recover. Now it’s something that’s there all the time, but it;s bearable, and I live with it. So long as I don’t try to lift anything too heavy, I’m OK, and no problems riding the bike.

Obviously this is just my experience, but it’s important not to despair, recovery is very slow.

Definitely recommend Pilates or exercises that develop core strength.

Thanks for great advice. Just got a phone call saying I can see a physio tonight.

You only need an MRI if it is medically indicated (e.g. suspicion of cauda equina, other insidious symptoms) where the exposure to radiation is outweighed by the benefit the diagnostic test can give.

Just want to point out that MRI machines don’t use ionizing radiation to produce the images, its magnetic resonance imaging, you are thinking of CT Scans that use x-rays to produce the images.

Just want to point out that MRI machines don’t use ionizing radiation to produce the images, its magnetic resonance imaging, you are thinking of CT Scans that use x-rays to produce the images.

I did wonder when I read that. Already had 3 x-rays on my back in Poland and 2 on my head with a wisdom tooth extraction. Don’t need any more radiation this year.

imnotverygood – Member
Keep mythering, second opinioning and escalating until you get sense.

Meaning until you find a medical opinion that tells you want you think you want to hear

Yeah that’ll be it. Have much experience in this area?

It is a horrible time. Constant pain and you just don’t know what to do with yourself to alleviate it. Drugs don’t help and the stronger ones are massively habit forming. It is really difficult see a way out of it so your comments are not particularly helpful.
Wife is a spinal surgeon. I appreciate its painful. I know enough that as a patient you need to appreciate that advice from some bloke on the internet is not actually what the OP needs. Especially from ex-patients who now believe themselves to be experts & who think that lying to get what they want helps in any way. I just happen to think that evidence based treatment is the way to go.