Anyone else suffering from this? If so, what are you doing to fix it and is it working. I’ve had this for a month and thought it was tendonitis. Saw doctor yesterday and was diagnosed as Sciatica. Hurts like hell when I wake up, but after a good walk, I get some relief.
Everyone is different, but when I was dealing with sciatica (from a herniated disk in my lower back), the book,
Treat Your Own Back by Robin McKenzie helped me to become pain free. It took about 8 months, and I continue to do some of the exercises for prevention.
Greg Stamer
I’m not much of a paddler but I have lived with sciatica for over 50 years. For most people , it is a temporary condition and can be improved with exercise and a bit of caution, like not lifting boats over your head or getting in interesting positions in bed.
Speaking of beds, you need one that is very supportive, not mushy.
Ice is your friend; heat not so much.
Most GP give you pain killers and a set of exercises.
Find an old book by Robin McKinsey called Treat Your Own Back.
I had a chiropractor who kept me going for 10 years.
If it persists, you need to find an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in backs.
Send me a message if you want to talk.
@string said:
I’m not much of a paddler but I have lived with sciatica for over 50 years. For most people , it is a temporary condition and can be improved with exercise and a bit of caution, like not lifting boats over your head or getting in interesting positions in bed.
Speaking of beds, you need one that is very supportive, not mushy.
Ice is your friend; heat not so much.
Most GP give you pain killers and a set of exercises.
Find an old book by Robin McKinsey called Treat Your Own Back.
I had a chiropractor who kept me going for 10 years.
If it persists, you need to find an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in backs.
Send me a message if you want to talk.
P.S. Walking is one of the best back exercises. After my first surgery, the Doc had me work up to four 15 minute miles a day.I hope you never have the first one.
Walking makes it subside for me. Doctor suspects that my wallet in my back pocket is the culprit. I’ve noticed some pain in my left butt while driving, subsides when i take the wallet out. Left leg hurts when I’m inactive.
I’ve had my wallet in my front pocket for years.
Nothing in my back pockets for years, except for flashlights clipped to the top, which I don’t sit on. Wallet in front for decades, since my first sciatic problems in the early 80s.
I could barely walk quite often on and off for about 5 years.
Not sure why it subsided, but I’m glad it did.
Chiropractic sometimes helped short term. Sometimes had no effect.
The exercises in the book that String and Greg referred to just seemed to cause me more pain.
For about a decade, I was doing about an hour to 3 hours a day of exercise and stretching just to be able to work and 8 hour day.
A local yoga instructor offers a yoga therapy class that meets once a week and everyone gets their own specialize routine to deal with their particular issues. That really helped when I had acute neck problems several years ago. She changes your routine anytime your symptoms change. Not many places offer this very helpful program.
You might try paddling your canoe more and sometimes sitting and sometimes kneeling.
I wish you well.
@Andy_Szymczak said:
Anyone else suffering from this? If so, what are you doing to fix it and is it working. I’ve had this for a month and thought it was tendonitis. Saw doctor yesterday and was diagnosed as Sciatica. Hurts like hell when I wake up, but after a good walk, I get some relief.
Mine was bad enough that I could not sit down for six weeks. Core exercises were/are the solution for me. You can just google core exercises and find a few to try or get the book that 2 people recommended. The key is establishing an exercise routine…you can always modify the routine. For me I think one of the key exercises is “clamshells”. Lay on your side in a fetal position and put some sort of resistance band around your knees, and raise one knee 15 times, then the other. Do three sets. I also do cardio exercises at the YMCA using their machines…I think it’s like walking but maybe even more beneficial since it may add more strength to muscles that help keep your sciatic nerve where it belongs.
In some sense you are lucky in that you are healthy enough to start core exercises. Don’t just take pain killers…I only took pain killers when necessary to help me get to the Y and exercise.
The Cobra was the best exercise for my back.
Yep, a wallet in your back pocket will twist your spine. I just stopped carrying a wallet…I give all the money to my wife. One thing you never want to do is reach behind you and lift something out of the back seat in a car when you are in the front. That move could land you in the hospital.
Andy, there are also stretches that may help you a lot. You need to experiment since everyone is different and as one of my PT’s told me “not all stretches are good for everyone so if one hurts you - don’t do it!” One stretch I used to do to help survive business trips was to lay on your back in a doorway and put one leg straight up on the door jam. It’s a serious hamstring stretch. You can get much of the same effect by standing up and putting one leg on a low table and leaning forward while keeping your leg straight. You will feel the stretch. You might experiment with a couple stretches and see if you wake up with less pain.
@TomL said:
Yep, a wallet in your back pocket will twist your spine. I just stopped carrying a wallet…I give all the money to my wife. One thing you never want to do is reach behind you and lift something out of the back seat in a car when you are in the front. That move could land you in the hospital.Andy, there are also stretches that may help you a lot. You need to experiment since everyone is different and as one of my PT’s told me “not all stretches are good for everyone so if one hurts you - don’t do it!” One stretch I used to do to help survive business trips was to lay on your back in a doorway and put one leg straight up on the door jam. It’s a serious hamstring stretch. You can get much of the same effect by standing up and putting one leg on a low table and leaning forward while keeping your leg straight. You will feel the stretch. You might experiment with a couple stretches and see if you wake up with less pain.
I’d still be in that doorway!
String, Cobra is also what worked best for me. I also used an inversion bench that helped initially, but the exercises in McKenzie’s book had the most effect: https://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/mckenzie-therapy-mechanical-low-back-pain
Lower back/hip/down upper leg/around to front/along shin and then the top of foot. Been there done that.
Had a soft mattress for years and it caused lower back pain. I was doing yoga, core exercises, and getting nowhere. Changed to a firmer mattress (Sleep Number than I can adjust the firmness) and my problems are almost gone.
@TreeA10 said:
Had a soft mattress for years and it caused lower back pain. I was doing yoga, core exercises, and getting nowhere. Changed to a firmer mattress (Sleep Number than I can adjust the firmness) and my problems are almost gone.
We like our Sleep Number mattress.
back about a dozen years ago I had the problem off and on occasionally. It was so bad in mid-2007 that after sitting in a car I had to practically craw out, holding on to the door to support me for a minute or so before I could walk while all hunched over like an old man. After about a dozen or so steps it felt a little better. I went to see a PT (a nice young lady named “Buffy”). She gave me some floor exercise to do with rolled up pillows.
At about the same time, in the fall of 2007 I was invited to paddle in the 440 mile Yukon River quest the next June. But team paddle training had to begin immediately. Buffy said that it probably would not hurt if I started out easy.
It wasn’t bad, so I paddled a few hundred miles in training that fall. And it all felt better the more times I paddled.
End of story, I paddled in the Yukon in the 2008 season ( for the first of what was to be 4 more years of racing on that river). I have been free of back pain ever since. So I credit proper hard canoeing technique for a continued pain free back.
Also try body massage. Our Chiro, who is also a Sports Kinesiologist graduated from MSU, recommended we try massage in compliment with her manipulations. It is a great combination for us.
Exercises that work for you, in my case stretching like yoga and low impact stuff like walking and core exercises. And for me monthly chiro and massage. I got tired of hurting all the time. This regimen has fixed and kept away both lower and upper back issues, after l went thru a year of more frequent work to get things initially corrected.
At a certain age in your life, not hurting usually costs time and/or money. Because of all the fun you had before that. But l am happy to put that in compared to having a dire disease.
Good posture and sitting up straight are key elements for me. The plank is great for core strength. Don’t bend over to pick up stuff squat instead.
Suffering from symptoms for 18 months now. The initial pain episode was about 2 months, but lingering neuropathy right foot and some flairs continue. Physical therapy for 6 months was probably beneficial, stretching, nerve glide movements. . I have had back problems for 40 years, but this was my first taste of sciatica. At least I’m not pissing my pants. My PT is a paddler and actually recommended NO paddling until it was cleared. I just changed seats and stretch a lot more.