You really do learn to live with it. When the days are good, get after it but when the days are not so good, work/live accordingly.
Much of what is called sciatica is because the piriformis muscle is pinching that nerve. The pigeon stretch in yoga is specifically to stretch the piriformis. I went to bone crackers and took drugs for years because of "sciatica". The yoga program I use emphasizes working those muscles and the piriformis. I do the pigeon stretch every morning...among others. I don't have back pain. Have not for years. …..just say'n.
Briefly....speaking from 40+ years experience (first of 4 surgeries in 1977) on some of the items mentioned. Sleep...if you are able to sleep through the night without being awakened by pain, you back is not that bad. Classic symptom. Yoga...be very cautious. Many yoga poses are hell on the spine. Wife (also with back pain) does it but should give it up. Makes things worse. If you can do yoga, your back is not that bad. Hydration....has never been an issue for me. But have found gatorade to help a little with several different pains. Aforementioned wife has a little electrolyte supplement that helps (she hates gatorade) Cheap too. Numb leg....A good indication of serious disk trouble. Keep an eye on this. A good doc will do the classic reflex test on the knee and can tell a lot just from that. I haven't had reflex in my knees in 20 years. (Bet Sav hasn't either) Surgery....Too much too say here. But, avoid it if you can. Ruptured disks never heal, and after surgery they're not healed, just less painful. Afraid that's too concise, but maybe it will help someone.
l think doing yoga is better than wasting away doing nothing at all. Yoga is low impact exercise. There are no jarring or impactful movements. You do have to be cautious. Don’t over do it. Start slow, just like anything. Part of the reason docs kept telling me that I needed sleep, is because I couldn’t sleep due to constant back pain. I had a high mechanism injury. That’s when I started stretching and doing yoga - because I was desperate to get some sleep. It helped greatly. Not at first, but after a couple months of maintaining a routine. I can tell you that there is no way I’d still be fighting fires for a living if I hadn’t started a yoga routine. If you don’t use it, you lose it.
Yup core strength and stretching is key. I had a back minor back surgery in 04 for a piece of bone pinching a nerve. After a couple years they said i needed a fusion in L3,4,5 and S1. I said no way not unless i cant walk. So i was desperate and saw the teeter hang up guy on tv. The inversion table is life changing, my back used to go out for months. Disability many times. Since inversion if my back goes out its better within a few days to a week. Best $200 dollars i ever spent. You see how much wood i process, 11 cords scrounged, bucked, split and delivered in 2.5 weeks and working full time. The thing is amazing. It allows better blood flow, oxygen, stretches your spine from being compressed all day. Highly recommended!!!!!
I had a failed back surgery in 2005 after 20 years or so of off and on issues that got much worse suddenly. Worst decision I ever made. The drugs to treat the added pain so I could try to work had me in diverticulitis surgery 4 years later and that took me out of work permanently. I lost 15” of my large intestine and ended up with centralized neuropathic pain and Lupus. It was the Tylenol and ibuprofen that destroyed my insides as much as the prescription opiods. It’s been several years since my last pill of any kind and I’m gaining ground all the time, with a few setbacks of course when I overdo it. Now I have a huge mass of scar tissue in my lower back that locks my sciatic nerves in a vise when I’m trying to move in any direction. But moving is the best thing for me. It took awhile to figure that out and to learn to live with the pain. Now I have several herniated discs and bone spurs in my neck they want to operate on but no f*&$ing way! Not unless I can’t move otherwise. Statistics show that spine surgery fails well over 50% of the time and if you’ve had one failure you’re more prone to another. I’ve learned a lot of things that help me and I’m able to do much more now but I really have to take a lot of breaks and listen to my body. It always takes a few days at least to recover from any kind of physical work like shoveling a little snow or cutting and splitting wood, but at least I CAN do it now and that’s a huge improvement. What works for me is plenty of hydration, topical pain relievers that I make myself as well as arnica montana, a plant based diet, and a refusing to stop moving. Whenever I stop moving for a few hours I stiffen up and it’s harder to get going again. It’s much better to just keep moving through the pain, just not strenuously. Pilates is awesome for this and much safer than yoga if you don’t know what you’re doing and I don’t. The wrong spinal manipulation could leave me permanently unable to move so I avoid chiropractic care. My doctor is a DO and did manipulation on me until I had back surgery. After my first MRI I was told it should be avoided at all cost. PT was tried but just made things worse. YMMV but all 3 of the therapists I worked with knew right off it wasn’t for me. Everyone is different but I can say the best thing I’ve done is changing my diet. Once I learned that clogged arteries are the root cause of not only back pain but ED, atherosclerosis, etc, and saturated fat is the cause of clogged arteries, it was a no brainer. A CT scan 3 years ago showed that 6 years eating plant based reduced the 70% aorta blockage to 15%. Slowly but surely I can feel the improvement in my body, especially my feet and hands. The allodynia and hyperalgesia aren’t as bad as they used to be. I can usually take a shower now without crying at least. The burning pain is horrific at times but even that is getting better. I’ll be 62 in a couple months and I feel better than I did at 50 and I’m expecting to be better at 70. At 50 I never thought I’d see 60 and the doctors agreed. It’s been worth it just to prove them wrong. Good luck to you tim117
I have a very friend who’s dad had a stroke in 1984 which left him partially disabled. Out of fear of the same thing happening to him he switched to a plant based diet in 1985 & never looked back. He will be 63 in August & is probably the most nimble, flexible person I know age 25 or over. He has done a lot of research & feels that O blood types are the only ones who can eat meat without serious consequences. I eat a mostly plant based diet myself but at 58 I’m no where near as flexible as he is. I think you have got the right idea sir. Do you know what blood type you are? I find all of this quite fascinating. Thank you all for the interesting information!
Here’s a little information if you’re interested, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I know how incredulous this sounds, I started out there myself. But I had pursued every answer “conventional medicine” had to offer and decided I’d rather open my mind up to something different than just be stubborn about it and die. It took a few years to change completely and the better I ate the better I felt so I kept going. I’m so glad I did. 7 Ways Animal Protein is Damaging Your Health | Forks Over Knives
Thank you for sharing that story. It’s very inspiring and fortunately I hear more like it all the time. As far as the blood type diet goes, I’ve researched it as well. Here’s a reputable source for some good information. Blood-type diet debunked again I have no idea what blood type I am to be honest.
I should point out that my surgeon has recommended these devices also. He says that chiros and PTs don't talk about this because it will put them out of business. Should also mention re yoga, that a few of the stretches I do every day are also yoga positions. Probably used in Pilates too. (My daughter is a very experienced yoga instructor, else I wouldn't know)
Did you go fully upside down? I made that mistake years ago on my brother’s I.T..... got my own and started at the suggested 20%... much better. Of course when I forget to use the thing, life and bad ergonomics remind me quick enough.
No way, couldn't even come close. I was already in bad shape at the time so it was basically a torture table at that point to me...probably be better if used everyday as maintenance.
Agreed. I tried getting on mine right before my back went completely out this past holiday season and knew right then it was too late.
