Sciatica - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

INSIDIOUS · #16 03-03-2020, 12:35 PM

I wasn't on abut pushing it. about being part of the bimmer crowd !!! I regret to have not been clear enough

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Not smart, I will freely admit. It's a struggle sometimes to come to grips with how dumb I've been at times. I console myself with the thought that some people seemingly are unable to consider that they have been wrong/dumb. Regret can be toxic, you can wallow in it, OTOH there is the point of view that inability to feel regret is one sign of sociopathy.

I ran across this lady, Kathy Shulz in a Youtube vid of her Ted Talk: 'Don't Regret Regret:'

https://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_don_t_regret_regret?language=en

Kuan · #17 03-03-2020, 12:44 PM

I started doing this years ago for IT band tightness along with the IT band itself, but I've noticed it also works for sciatic pressure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ2eBL5KyNw

cmac2012 · #18 03-03-2020, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwnate1

It's maybe how you approach pushing the car .

In general physical exercize is good for you even as you age out , you just have to be smart about it .

As the old saw goes : ' work smarter not harder ' .

I have multiple spinal injuries, fusions and so on plus damaged sciatic nerve yet I push my vehicles a little bit every day because of my too tight parking situation .

I'm looking forward to trying the stretching .

On the flat is not a big deal. In this little parking lot, the place I wanted to push it to was a tiny bit uphill, and it doesn’t take much incline when you’re pushing the car to make it really hard. I don’t think that one episode ruined my life, but it didn’t help.

I was pretty hard on my body as a young man, played basketball on many a concrete court. The Salvation Army youth club job I had for my CO service Had a concrete court covered with linoleum tiles. And I played on way too many playgrounds with either concrete or asphalt. Beats the bloody hell out of your cartilage, but since you’re young and tough you don’t really notice it that much. Back in the 60s and 70s, it was not uncommon for an NBA player who was still pretty good to have weak knees from too much play on concrete as a kid. Concrete courts were pretty common back when.

If I am really lucky, this whole episode will resolve through much yoga, and it will have been a wake up call for me that pays dividends.

dieselgirl85300D · #19 03-03-2020, 04:14 PM

Dont rule out a good soak in epsoms salt then a good stretching and a few advil.
Heat and ice alternating are great when u get a flare up of inflamation.
All are easy and worth a try

vwnate1 · #20 03-03-2020, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuan

I started doing this years ago for IT band tightness along with the IT band itself, but I've noticed it also works for sciatic pressure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ2eBL5KyNw

I appreciate the video and her comments, don't over do it and so on .

CMAC, I wasn't into sports but the similarities are great , all beat up now .

I ride (still) Motocycles too and that doesn't help things either .

I'll be mellow when I'm dead .

cmac2012 · #21 03-04-2020, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuan

I started doing this years ago for IT band tightness along with the IT band itself, but I've noticed it also works for sciatic pressure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ2eBL5KyNw

We have a Kuan sighting Ladies and Germs!

That looks good. That's the main stretch my PCP gave me to do, except without the foam roller component. I'll look for one of those.

The really excellent news for me is I'm finally seeing some relief. The yoga and ice are apparently reaping some improvement.

cmac2012 · #22 03-04-2020, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieselgirl85300D

Dont rule out a good soak in epsoms salt then a good stretching and a few advil.
Heat and ice alternating are great when u get a flare up of inflamation.
All are easy and worth a try

I've been neglecting that. My 24 Hour Fitness outlet is only 2 miles away and has an excellent jacuzzi. Not to mention a nice swimming pool right next to it. Don't think chlorine is as useful as epsom salts in therapeutic terms but oh well.

I read where one benefit of epsom salts is that it can introduce more magnesium into your life, apparently it's often lacking in our diet. A friend recommended magnesium supplements for nerve pain issues. I got some - 400 mg tabs, horse tablet size, recommended dosage is 3 a day. I'm doing that along with a hot tub every night. Could well be part of my improvement.

Swimming like normal is tough with this pain but I found I can do the elementary backstroke while letting the right leg just sort of drag along. It's one of my favorite strokes, not the backstroke you see in Olympic competition, the arms go out sideways and then down to the hips, the legs do the same sort of frog kick as in the breaststroke, the latter while you bring the arms back up.

Kuan · #23 03-05-2020, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

We have a Kuan sighting Ladies and Germs!

dieselgirl85300D · #24 03-07-2020, 02:10 AM

Also check to add in potassium.
Grapes and coconut water have a good amount. Of course all your leafy greens too.
Potassium will soften up super hard muscles. Has helped me quite a bit

cmac2012 · #25 03-07-2020, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mxfrank

Since we'e all tinkerers, it's helpful to think about the mechanics of this problem. Your spine is composed of many bones, separated by flexible "disks". Each bone has a name and number depending on it's location: the cervical bones at the neck, the thoracic bones in the middle, the lumbar bones in the lower back, and the sacrum at the pelvis. So when your problem is correctly diagnosed, the specific joint will be identified, like L5/S1, being the joint at the top of your pelvis. The disks are like inner tubes: they have a tough skin and a spongy interior. The spinal cord runs through the center of the tube. Strain can cause the skin to weaken and then the disk bulges. It can touch the spinal cord or the nerves that radiate from the cord, and that causes pain or worse, loss of nerve function. If the tube tears, the spongy insides can extrude into the spinal column and cause more complicated problems.

If the damage isn't too bad, stretching exercises or chiropractic manipulation can push the bulging material away from the spinal cord, and you have relief, maybe permanent, maybe temporary. Sometimes the bulged area will shift by itself by natural process, or relaxation. And sometimes, the pressure on your nerves simply can't be relieved without surgery.

Surgery shouldn't be undertaken lightly. Although it's a pretty common surgery these days, a surgeon going around your spinal cord with a cutting tool can easily do permanent damage. So you only want to do this as a last resort. Some of the things that would move you to surgery: chronic pain that can't be relieved by any conservative therapy. Weakness, numbness, or tingling indicating nerve damage. Pain that doesn't change, regardless of your position. Surgery can be very successful, but can also be disastrous, so don't be naive. Surgery can be done by a neurosurgeon or an orthopedic surgeon, but you want to check out your provider as best you can.

You should speak to a neurologist before considering surgery, not a GP, PCP, or orthopedic doctor. The neurologist is equipped to evaluate the extent of nerve damage and will order the correct radiologic studies. The neurologist will refer you to a surgeon if it's warranted.

All good stuff to consider. My PCP is pretty good, pretty sure she would insist that I see a neurologist first. I phoned her office and her assistant got back to me saying they had just started physical therapy at the clinic and was I interested in checking it out. I'm going to give it a go, I can always add in more yoga later. For now my improvement is ongoing. Really great to be able to use my right leg mostly normally again. But I'm not out of the woods yet. I still wake up with weird cramping pain that won't go away like I can usually get cramping pain to go away.

I had arthoscopic rotator cuff surgery in 8/'16 and it worked out very well. But I don't want to get surgery-happy, cutting near the spine is indeed another matter as you point out.

I had an encounter years ago - '77 - with a young man who had experienced nerve damage during surgery. I was in the UW hospital for 10 days after a severe break of my left fib and tib - had a fasciotomy to relieve swelling and a tibial nail inserted. Towards the end of my stay I got a new roommate, around 19 or 20 IIRC, I forget what the surgery was that incurred the damage, he referred to it as they accidentally 'nicked a nerve,' Something to do with his bladder, he no longer had the ability to send the signal to his bladder to let the pee go. He had to cath himself several times a day (!?). His stay at that time was for experimentation into what pharmaceuticals might allow him to regain control of that. What did I know but privately I wasn't opimistic on that score.

I have yet to cath myself once, I'm not sure it's been done to me during anesthesia even, maybe it's not as annoying as I think it would be, but dang, it's hard to imagine needing to do that from age 20 on - every time you need to pee. I forget what it was like back then, I know now that if I'm way full I have hard time holding it back but I'm not sure it works that way when you're younger.

At any rate, that episode comes to mind now and then and I think 'count your blessings.'

cmac2012 · #26 03-07-2020, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieselgirl85300D

Also check to add in potassium.
Grapes and coconut water have a good amount. Of course all your leafy greens too.
Potassium will soften up super hard muscles. Has helped me quite a bit

Great advice. And I like both grapes and coconut water.

gmog220d · #27 03-08-2020, 11:12 AM

Found this a while back, while looking for information on sciatica:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrp1b7FnSqs

These two stretches work great for me.

BWhitmore · #28 03-08-2020, 11:20 AM

You might ask your physician to refer you to a good physical therapist with 1 hour sessions twice a week. I hade sciatic nerve pain in my left leg for about a year several years ago. After 6 months of physical therapy the pain disappeared and has not returned thankfully.

cmac2012 · #29 03-10-2020, 05:43 PM

Good to hear. The pain is diminishing but flares up on some days. All in all getting better. Not out of the woods yet, a few days ago I had to sit down for some figure 4 stretches on my walk back to my vehicle (about a block), the pain in the hamstring was severe. Much better the next day. But then a few days later bad again.

PT, yoga it is.