Currently off work with back pain due to sciatica, anyone else suffer fom it and what helps you get over it ??
Am supossed to be riding D2D at the weekend , but at the moment i can hardly walk , let alone ride my bike

i slipped a disc about five and half years ago. pain like you wouldn't (maybe you would) believe.
I found riding actually the most comfy i got but only on road as i had reduced mobility and getting on and off was difficult.
i ended up going and seeing a fab physio terrorist at the white house in sheffield and she put me straight, literally! i have then done pilates every morning and evening since and it's been pretty good the odd twinge now and again but much more stable.

Sciatica is a symptom of an underlying cause. In my case it was a slipped disc but it can be other problems. So you need to find out what's causing the sciatica and get that root cause treated.

GP should be your first route. Took an MRI to confirm my slipped disc diagnosis.

GP should be your first route

off to the GP`s later ….

If it's Sciatica I would recommend physio, regular stretching and exercises to improve core body strength. The physio would give all the details.

It can take a long time to go away. 😥

Mine was due to a weak core (and a heavy gut 🙁 ) Still – plenty of gentle strengthening and continued core work (swimming and circuits) and it's been fine, touch wood, for a couple of years now. Physio drop in centre sorted me.

It's due to a prolapsed disc. You will not make the D2D ride if you have sciatica! It is caused by a bulging disc pushing on the sciatic nerve. Rest and do not over stretch!

A year ago I went through similar, it does get better, almost a full feeling of recovery but it takes time. If you go back to early it'll last longer. Slow rides when you feel up to it, not when things are acute!

I'm not sure if everyone above had sciatica, a session at a drop in centre would not cure a prolapsed disc – maybe you had something other than sciatica, as nickhart say's, it is horrendous! I couldn't even put a pair of socks on in the morning, the pain was so intense, and it would just set it off again for the day. Kneeling at the table to eat, because I couldn't sit etc etc.

Getting back to the point, it does slowly recover, six weeks is the time you should see some improvement however small. Then you will be on the road to recovery, just don't do anything silly in the meantime!

I suffered on and off for a year or so,tried Gp told me to rest up for two weeks :roll:,tried physio which cured it for a short time but pain just kept creeping back eventually went to a chiropractor,4 or 5 sessions later pain had gone,he showed me some stretches and core exercises.Been pain free for a couple of years now,i go to see him every 3 months and he straightens me out!

Whilst I bow in admiration to Woodsmans remote diagnosis skills…………………..
Sciatica is inflammation of the sciatic nerve. This gives symptoms in the distribution of the area it supplies, almost always including the outside of the calf/ankle. Back &/or thigh pain, however severe, is not diagnostic of sciatica, it is possible to have sciatica with no back pain at all. Nerve root impingement by a disc is a common, but not the only, cause (others vary in seriousness from muscle tension to malignancy). It varies in severity from something which will respond well to conservative treatment (stretching/ exercises etc.) to a surgical emergency.
It seems unlikely that your condition would be helped by a long distance race……but if you are seriously thinking of giving it a go I would see someone beforehand (a decent osteopath/ physio/ chiropractor) to make sure it is safe to do so.

Back from the GPs and all they said was rest and take more painkillers !! , which wasnt too helpful really…
I`ve booked to see chiropractor for thursday afternoonn to see what he says about me riding ?
really want to ride and not let the whole team down…

Thanks to all for the replys

Tony

Doc will tell you to take painkillers as most cases clear up in 6 weeks. The missus prolapsed a disc and her sciatica cleared up in 4 weeks. Mine too over 2 years and I still get twinges 4 years on.

I tried physio, chiro, epidural injections all to no avail. I was at the stage of asking about surgery but the consultant told me that was an absolute last resort and that the pain *would* subside with time. It did.

Pilates helps. Moving around helps.

I wouldnt ride D2D. The inflamation needs to be given time to calm down.

Get yourself to a physio – a local one diagnosed MrsJ's misaligned hip (thought she'd been in a car accident!).

There is a book called something like – how to look after your back, which has some stretches in that really help to control it.

You need to get the underlying cause diagnosed though.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0958269203/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=471057153&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1900360764&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0G4Q5WB7QQKVKJCP01GN

The book is excellent

Oh, no way should you ride D2D if you value your health 🙂

this works for me:
http://store.tptherapy.com/Trigger_Point_Quadballer_p/tpt-tpq.htm

Agree with nick1c, sciatica has more than one cause and there are various ways of dealing with it.

Personally physio didnt help me, however a chiropracter did. Either way, it didnt seem to want to go away on its own (even with 5 months of physio…). Best to see a professional and get it looked at properly.

Have to say a bike race doesnt sound like a particularly good idea with that ailment, but then Im just a wimp ;o)

Hope you get it sorted ok!

It can be caused by a number of things, not necessarily disc issues. Mine is caused by over tight muscles. A tight IT band means a tight piriformis which squeezes the sciatic nerve and gives that pain/tingly/dead feeling down the leg. If/when I do the stretching and strengthening I should do it's OK. When I don't it flares up but I've certainly still ridden (and raced) that way. Many cyclists have tight IT bands. As ever, you can't really give advice over the internet other than to see a good GP.

I was just diagnosed (this morning) with a massive sequestered disc, this means I have a piece of my disc loose in the spinal column squashing my nerves.

The consultant has of course left the choice up to me but told me that in my place he would take the surgical option immediately and that the risk of the piece if disc doing me some nastiness is far higher than the risk of the surgery.

So I guess I will be going under the knife in the next couple of weeks 😯

I rode through the back pain and sciatica for quite a while, even riding downhill courses in the Alps this summer – so my suggestion is don't ride D2D, find out the underlying problem first….

Two years ago I had an attack of sciatica and was diagnosed with a prolapsed disk. I had the disk trimmed after a long course of physio didnt work.
The back pain and sciatica continued and in June 09 I had to have the disc removed and the joint fused. I'm now recovering but am still to get on the bike.
My only real advice before sugery is get more than one opinion as the approaches to treatment differ so much.

Good luck

nick1c – scarcasm, the poorest form of wit! Why bother, it seems that was your most important point.

Woodsman – I treat people with bad backs for a living. My point was that many (?most) people don't know what sciatica is & that it has a variety of causes and therefore potential treatments. Diagnosis over the internet with an inadequate history is at best speculative & potentially dangerous.

I did take it that you were a chiro or osteo, and I didn't ask what you did btw! My prolasped disc (undaignosed) was damaged further by such treatment.

My point exactly is that, 'most people don't know what sciatica is' as you say. And that piriformis syndrome and other ailments give sciatica symptoms but, aren't sciatica.

The best advice is to hold back and take it easy, which is what I gave, based on my own personal experience. If the OP had wanted professional medical advice he wouldn't have been posting on an MTB forum! One would assume, and he has seeked medical advice.

Sciatica has one cause and one cure.

The cause – something stopping the nerve sliding like it should.
The cure – sorting the thing thats stopping the nerve slide like it should.

I get it from tight glutes, hip flexors and riding/office work-sitting down too much.

I stretch every day which sorts it but if I forget for a week etc it comes on and cramps my calf on tough climbs or sprints.

I had what I thought was Sciatica but it was another problem off a muscle in my lower back in spasm. This transferred into another muscle that altered the layout around my lower back and leg. (Piriformis and Quadratis Lumborum?)
The chiropractor sorted it after 3-4 sessions.
I now regularly stretch and so far I've been fine (2 years).

Piriformis syndrome-me too and my chiro really helped sort it out.

I hope the original poster isn't suffering from a slipped disc though.

Just got back from chiro and feel so much better, its not as serious as a slipped disks etc
Piriformis syndrome as above ,the chiro prodded and pushed here and there and i feel alot better ….. £40 well spent me thinks
sciatica entrapment was his verdict

Thanks for all the replys

Piriformis eh, I sometimes wonder if I have that – more hope that I have that. It's where the sciatic nerve takes a more unusual route through the glutes, than normal. I suppose an MRI scan would reveal all.

Glad you've not got disc probs stumpy – a real mofo!