Low Back Pain radiating to the legs = SCIATICA

[SKANE]

Hi Dr Steve,
Thanks for taking the time to do this. It really is appreciated and I hope you're enjoying all the good karma you are receiving.
I've been running for the past 5 years. I was 40 yrs old when I started. It's been my mid-life crisis. I've completed 5 marathons over the past 4 years but this year I started getting a pain in the back of my left knee after running about 5 miles. On the job last week I was moving some very heavy stuff and the next day I couldn't walk. The pain started in my left butt check and over the past week it's traveled down to my left foot. I am walking with a slight limp, the pain isn't unbearable but it is there. I am guilty of not stretching after runs and my leg muscles are tight. Limber I am not. I've booked an appointment with a sports doctor for the 28th but was wonder if you have any ideas on what I could do in the mean time. Are there any specific stretches that may help to alleviate the pain?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
George

[Dr Steve]

Hi Dr Steve,
Thanks for taking the time to do this. It really is appreciated and I hope you're enjoying all the good karma you are receiving.
I've been running for the past 5 years. I was 40 yrs old when I started. It's been my mid-life crisis. I've completed 5 marathons over the past 4 years but this year I started getting a pain in the back of my left knee after running about 5 miles. On the job last week I was moving some very heavy stuff and the next day I couldn't walk. The pain started in my left butt check and over the past week it's traveled down to my left foot. I am walking with a slight limp, the pain isn't unbearable but it is there. I am guilty of not stretching after runs and my leg muscles are tight. Limber I am not. I've booked an appointment with a sports doctor for the 28th but was wonder if you have any ideas on what I could do in the mean time. Are there any specific stretches that may help to alleviate the pain?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
George

There are, actually, but the main stretch that is going to eventually result in pain relief is stretching out on the MRI table (wow, that "joke" was a stretch itself...yecchh).

If you have a slipped disk, honestly nothing will relieve the pain except taking the pressure off the nerve. Left alone, a lot of disks will resolve spontaneously...problem is it can take years to do so.

What happens is this:

The vertebrae are bony 3-D ovals, stacked on top of each other to make the spine. They're cushioned by a fibrous/jelly disk sandwiched between them. Think about a set of balsawood blocks with a tough jelly between them...push down on the blocks and the jelly comes squishing out between them. That's kind of analagous to what may be going on.

If the disk bloops out and hits a nerve, you'll feel pain WHEREVER THE NERVE GOES. If I take a needlenose pliers and grab the nerve that goes to your big toe, but grab it near your spine, you'll still feel the pain in the big toe. This is the reason sciatica pain runs down the leg...the nerves involved run down the leg.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/images/ency/fullsize/9540.jpg

Some practitioners say that patients may be able to take the pressure off the nerve by laying on the floor with a pillow under the small of your back. This will put them into "lordosis"...if you know anything about yoga, the same thing can be accomplished with "the upward facing dog". Alternating between the up-dog and the down-dog may help. If you decide to try any of these things, if they make you feel worse, STOP IMMEDIATELY and see your doctor.

Since you're limping, I'd see someone as soon as possible. Let us know what they say, and keep us in the loop!


your friend,



Steve

[King Hippos Bandaid]

my bro Randy just had a really bad case of Sciatica today when playing basketball, he cant even move his back, he went to the hospital where they gave him a pain killer shot and some vicatan and told him to wait it out


He has had back pain for over a year ( none as painful as this), I have told him on many occasions (when playing basketball) that he should have seen a doctor

Would seeing a doctor have prevented this, or would have just had happened anyways

I do feel bad for him

But this is mainly a " I told you so" question

[Chigworthy]

I had several occasions in my life where I injured my lower back. Eventually I developed sciatica down my entire left leg. Before I had a laminectomy, I used a Sacro Wedgy to take the pressure of my sciatic nerve. It let me sleep. Now, 2 years post-surgery, I wish I had looked into non surgical means. The vicodin routine got disgusting very quick, and the surgery has left me with greatly reduced flexibility and a gigantic numb spot from my outer thigh to my little toe, which is completely numb. The sciatic pain is almost completely gone, but having strengthened the muscles in my back, as well as hamstrings (very important), I wonder if I could have resolved it with exercise.

[Hepcat22]

I'm just getting over a terrible low back pain that started suddenly last Tuesday. It felt like a softball was being jammed into the left lower part of my back. Then I got chills, fever, and all the other bad symptoms and was at my doctor's office at 8am Wednesday.

My somewhat regular chronic prostatitis had morphed into acute prostatitis. Jeez, the worst I've ever had. Cipro has it on the wain now.

If any of you guys have never had bouts of prostatitis, you probably will sooner or later.

[jonyrotn]

lay on the floor with a pillow under the small of your back. Why? Are you gonna give him your bill?

[Dr Steve]

my bro Randy just had a really bad case of Sciatica today when playing basketball, he cant even move his back, he went to the hospital where they gave him a pain killer shot and some vicatan and told him to wait it out


He has had back pain for over a year ( none as painful as this), I have told him on many occasions (when playing basketball) that he should have seen a doctor

Would seeing a doctor have prevented this, or would have just had happened anyways

I do feel bad for him

But this is mainly a " I told you so" question

no way to tell; I have seen doctors for this, but it still keeps happening on occasion. For me, I can just get out of the shower "wrong" one day and I'm in misery for 2 weeks. In between times, I can lift a volkswagen off the ground, so go figure.

He's seeing a doctor now, though, I hope!

[Dr Steve]

I'm just getting over a terrible low back pain that started suddenly last Tuesday. It felt like a softball was being jammed into the left lower part of my back. Then I got chills, fever, and all the other bad symptoms and was at my doctor's office at 8am Wednesday.

My somewhat regular chronic prostatitis had morphed into acute prostatitis. Jeez, the worst I've ever had. Cipro has it on the wain now.

If any of you guys have never had bouts of prostatitis, you probably will sooner or later.


This is a good point; not all back pain is sciatica. All the more reason to see someone in the medical field if you have a new or unexplained symptom!

[Dr Steve]

Why? Are you gonna give him your bill?

:clap: :clap: :clap:

[King Hippos Bandaid]

no way to tell; I have seen doctors for this, but it still keeps happening on occasion. For me, I can just get out of the shower "wrong" one day and I'm in misery for 2 weeks. In between times, I can lift a volkswagen off the ground, so go figure.

He's seeing a doctor now, though, I hope!

he had an MRI today and will have a doc and someone for Psychical Therapy