I know there are some sufferers here, so hoping for advice.

Seems now my perennially undiagnosed foot condition has cleared up, I’m now suffering from hip pain and a sharp ache down the back of my left leg and into my calf. It’s OK when sitting, but walking makes it worse, and standing still after moving around worse still.

Our first aid officer at school, an ex-nurse, said it sounded like Sciatica.

I will contact GP if it continues, but anyone got any tips for easing the pain, alleviating the symptoms, and avoiding recurrences in future?

That does sound like sciatica. Not much a GP can do apart from refer you to physio if you’re lucky.

Mine comes and go and ranges from a bit of an ache through to full-on disabling pain. Relief comes from a pretty rigorous  stretching / yoga regime.

Cycling definitely helps me when accompanied by lots of hamstring, groin and lower back exercises.

Not much a GP can do

Other than ask some important questions – particularly to rule out things like CES- that would need a rapid intervention.

but anyone got any tips for easing the pain, alleviating the symptoms, and avoiding recurrences in future?

Its best to have a physio actually see you. Typically sciatica is a knock-on effect of something else – posture, flexibility, weakness or strength and its that being addressed that benefits the sciatica symptoms. The treatment for my bad back isn’t of any benefit to yours.

Foam roller and stretches

I’m a bugger as I get it do exercise goes away. Stop exercising comes back. It’s a loop and I know I don’t help myself

✋

Yep.

it can be properly debilitating, like a previous poster said, it comes and goes for me. When I’m having a sciatica month the only thing that touches it is vigorous and consistent stretching.

There’s loads of stretches on you tube, you need to find what works for you. Once you’re on top of the immediate pain then keeping up with the stretching will help keeping it at bay. I don’t because I’m an idiot, your experience may vary.

you have my sympathy OP, it’s horrible and so weird when it comes out of nowhere.

Get the GPto rule out other causes, and then see a good physio to see if they can find the cause and show you how to ease it and prevent it coming back.

You then need to do tne exercises religiously, or you end up back where you started.

As above plus crucially, for me at least, don’t ever sit on sofas again. If we have guests round I’ll sit on ours cross legged. If at others places I’ll tolerate about five minutes before moving. Sofas are the worst and posture is everything!

Yup, sounds exactly like sciatica…

Speak with a good sports physio… Stretches make a small amount of difference, but a decent physio will help to alleviate the symptoms not just manage them…

Mine came back quite badly over Christmas, have had 4x 45min massage/physio sessions working on the interconnecting issues causing my sciatica since the new year, and I’m in a hell of a lot less pain/discomfort than I was… Even managing longer walks now without issue.

Be prepared though… Glute releases are almost guaranteed to be necessary if you’ve got sciatica as you describe it (exactly the same as mine), and it’s about the most pain that someone can subject you to and you not kill them in my experience! I have a high pain threshold by all accounts, but I was screaming my head off when the physio hit the spot with the glute releases!

No pain, no gain though, as they say…

How old are you? It’s surprisingly common for youngish middle-aged men and often tends to improve over time. I had it bad 20y ago, for several months it was quite debilitating and I thought I might really never manage to get properly active again, the (Japanese) doctor was trying to make me have an operation when it suddenly started to improve quite rapidly. Just a distant memory now. I think Mckenzie stretches helped (“treat your own back”) but it took a while.

If you see your GP you can get prescription anti-inflammatory painkillers such as Naproxen, which can make a significant difference.

As I understand it a compressed nerve becomes an irritated nerve, an irritated nerve becomes an inflamed nerve, an inflamed nerve becomes a more compressed nerve, and so on.

Anti-inflammatory painkillers can break the cycle, by reducing the inflammation they allow the  nerve to become less compressed thereby giving it a better chance to heal.

They also provide a powerful placebo effect, as does a visit to the GP. Pretty much all back pain is due to chronic stress.

Everyone’s back gets **** up as we get older, think of the bulging discs, degeneration, etc, like the wrinkles on your face, it is a normal part of the aging process. It usually only becomes a problem when it is combined with stress. You can’t reverse the aging process but you can still live with a worn and aged back without feeling any pain.

IMHO

Expect a long term run around from the GP, trying various pain killers, which probably won’t work, IME. Try to push for getting an MRI scan done, which may well show bulging lumbar discs, which may be touching nerve roots or worse the spinal cord. I have an annular fissure on the L5- S1 disc, touching the left S1 nerve that runs down the rear & outside of the leg, to outside edge of foot & little toes. Some sensation 24/7, worse with standing or walking. Pressure on the sciatic nerves as they pass the piriformis muscle can be another cause.

I have been offered nerve root block injections, possibly stupidly I’ve declined these, trying to manage without.

Physio & stretches help, not greatly for me, but still worth doing. Look up sciatic glides and McKenzie’s back extensions. Bob and Brad on YouTube and others. There’s loads out there.

I have a lot of pain sitting down on padded (i.e.most) chairs, round the coccyx and thighs. Hard chairs, benches or traditional webbing upolstered chairs are generally ok. Had a 2nd MRI in december to investigate, found I’ve got a boney protrusion on rear of coccyx bone, that i can feel the lump in the bum crack. Likely the result of past trauma, no doubt a whack up the bum from cross bar or saddle nose. Bloody mountain bikes eh.

The coccyx problem is likely to be what ended my biking 15 years ago, although mostly been ok until about 16 months ago when a long period working in a tiny office (i.e. just sat for 8hrs a day) triggered the pain again. The GP was useless 15 years ago too, no referral for scans, no suggestions other than painkillers.

Actually I’m quite angry in hindsight, symptoms really should have triggered a likely diagnosis of lower back issues, and advice to at least try physio.

Ernie touches on stress being a factor, which I feel is also a significant factor for me as well. Been there with naproxen too, did SFA for me.

“Expect a long term run around from the GP, trying various pain killers, which probably won’t work, IME. Try to push for getting an MRI scan done, which may well show bulging lumbar discs, which may be touching nerve roots or worse the spinal cord.”

Funny you should say that. My wife has had sciatica for years. Following severe back pain she got a face to face GP appt 11days ago Friday. He sent her to hospital to be seen by the orthopaedics. Admitted that night. MRI scan Monday.  Ortho said it wasn’t related to her arthritic hips. Passed her on to neurology.

A consultant viewed her scan and compared it to previous scan last November.  Upshot was that her symptoms were caused by a two discs that were compressing her spinal cord.  It had got worse in the last few months.  His recomendation was an operation , lumbar decompression, the following day. A 2.5 hour procedure carried out using a microscope, presumably because of the risks of working near the spnal cord.

We were fortunate as he wasn’t based at the hospital but was there for a week doing a series of planned operations in this his speciality.  Anyway the operation seems to have gone well.

All long winded but just to agree with the above comment that sciatica   is worth getting checked out by a GP.

I’ve only had it the once, part of a back injury, and Jesus H Christ it hurt like a total barstard. Not a pain I’d wish on anyone, not even Cougar.

As above, occupational therapy* had me doing stretching exercises, which I suppose did help, though it was the back injury causing the main problem.

* These people would be right at home in a medieval torture chamber 😆

@davosaurusrex Try a Stressles/Ekornes sofa, firm enough that my nan (had an extremely knackered back, little or no walking ability) could sit on one for hours without setting or experiencing pain.

@steveb In the early noughties I had one of these done privately. Best decision ever. Allowed me to climb and strengthen my core and so far no re-occurence. (I’m unable to bridge corners and twist while doing so as it hurts, route choice is all).

All the shade being thrown on GPs and healthcare doesn’t seem particularly helpful to me. The basic problem is that they know from long experience that they can’t really do much about it in the vast majority of cases, and that it will generally improve over time. I was in Japan and had lovely MRI scans etc and … all they vaguely showed is that I had a bulging disk. Shrug. Tell me something I don’t know. If it’s sufficiently serious and persistent then operations are possible but very much a last resort (at least that’s how it was back when mine was bad).

It’s not like a broken leg or meningitis, where treatment is both necessary and effective.

Oh I agree, most back problems sort out themselves out given time. Hence the in the first instance GP sends you away with pain killers to allow time. I’ve had few back spasms over the years that leave you struggling to move, but ease up in a few hours days weeks.

I just wish the 15 years ago the GP had at least mentioned my bum pains might be related to lower back issues, go and try some physio exercises.

I’m not serious enough to warrant decompression surgery, discs are “touching, but not impinging” on nerves. I don’t get crippling spasms or shooting pains, just steady mild “buzz” in leg, and or constant coccyx pain. I’m on 20mg amitriptyline, whether that is doing anything is moot. I take cocodamol or just paracetamol at bedtime occasionally if I can’t sleep, thats all.

Thanks all. Looks like it’s contact the GP but look for a fair amount of self help. Will check out those stretches and see if they help.

“Treat your own back”, Robin McKenzie. I first saw it recommended on here, and have been recommending it ever since.

If it doesn’t go away with stretches, you need to see a GP as it could be something more serious (and not the good kind of serious).

One thing that helped for me is hanging by my hands from a bar and consciously relaxing and letting my back elongate.  the weight of your legs pulls the discs apart