Sciatica

[Bassinkorea]

I have been suffering with Sciatic paint for the past 12 years. In that time I have had it really bad 4 times with the latest one just coming to an end as I type this.
For the rest of the time I can always feel it there, just waiting for my sit down in the wrong position, or to twist my lower back in just the right (wrong) way.

The only way I can get any relief from the pain of the serious attacks is acupunture. 2 or 3 days of treatment and I'm usually able to walk around in reasonable manner and able to get dressed in under 20 minutes  LOL

[Mike Cork]

Member name "Judge" here also uses acupuncture and highly recommends it. Unfortunately it's expensive and insurances aren't fully on board with it yet around here. The concept of dry needling is working it's way into covered physical therapy so maybe it won't be long before it's fully covered.

How long does it last for you BK? That's a deal for me, a lot of drops, injections, and physical therapies help but don't last long at all.

[Bassinkorea]

It's really cheap over here, just a few dollors per session, and worth every penny.

It usually lasts no more than one week if I get in early with the acupuncture. However, this last episode has lasted 3 weeks. It came on as I was loading the boat on the trailer on 20 November.  I consulted the company nurse and she acupunture would not work and she recommended a hospital close by. I had x-rays, pain killer injections and several days of pills. That didn't work. I finally went to the acupuncture clinic on Monday and Tuesday of this week and already I am feeling 80% better.

[D.W. Verts]

One of my daughters has been taking laser treatments the last couple of weeks and she says that they're working.

[Mike Cork]

Your company nurse can do acupuncture? It's definitely not that widely available over here, and probably why it's expensive.


D.W., your daughter, is she having laser treatments done to a lumbar disk to reduce pressure on a nerve?

[Bassinkorea]

One of my daughters has been taking laser treatments the last couple of weeks and she says that they're working.

That is interesting.
Is the lazer treatment supposed to fix the issue, or just relieve the pain each time it flares up?

[FloridaFishinFool]

I have had sciatic nerve pinching in my lower back leading to pain in left leg at times after heavy lifting.

I use an inversion table. No invasive surgery. No doctors. No nothing but hanging upside down for awhile and the pain magically goes away once the gravity caused pressure is reversed.

Regular use can actually grow new disc tissue between the bones and make the person slightly taller. The new growth of disc tissue can eventually keep the bones far enough apart so the sciatic nerve pressure goes away over time.

I am partially on my way now and doing much better. Not one penny spent on doctors. But money well spent on inversion table!

[big g]

On and off I have had sciatic pain for 30 years.  I have gone to chiropractors, acupuncture, two surgeries (20 years apart), physical therapy, massages, cymo- papain injections into the disks, steroid injections in the disk.

You will know when its time for surgery because just going to the bathroom is near impossible.  I did have some relief from chiropractors, but one treatment sent me from there, to a neurosurgeon.  Acupuncture did nothing for me after months of treatment.  I have been pretty much pain free for about 7 years after intense physical therapy.  I didn't think it would work, but it did. 
Every case is different, so just because one person was helped, doesn't mean you will be helped.  Good luck, and I feel bad for anyone suffering through these difficult times.  God bless, it can be terrible, but sometimes it just goes away.

[coldfront]

I have had sciatic nerve pinching in my lower back leading to pain in left leg at times after heavy lifting.

I use an inversion table. No invasive surgery. No doctors. No nothing but hanging upside down for awhile and the pain magically goes away once the gravity caused pressure is reversed.

Regular use can actually grow new disc tissue between the bones and make the person slightly taller. The new growth of disc tissue can eventually keep the bones far enough apart so the sciatic nerve pressure goes away over time.

I am partially on my way now and doing much better. Not one penny spent on doctors. But money well spent on inversion table!

gravity table here too.  doesn't seem to take too much for me.  maybe just a minute upside down each week.  won't be without one ever again.

[Donald Garner]

I'm a big fan of acupuncture.  A couple years ago my lower back was bothering me.  My VA doctor suggested Acupuncture treatment.  She set me up for (14) 1 hour appointments with a local clinic in Killeen.  She told me if my back started bothering me again to give her a call and she'd set the appointments back up.  The VA paid for the entire treatment.  I didn't have to pay anything.

The doctor who did the treatments told me that most lower back pain was the cause of neck and shoulder pain.  So during my treatments I had 15 needles set across my lower back and 6 - 8 needles in and round the back of my lower neck area.

I'm really careful about moving around, getting up and especially lifting. 

[Bassinkorea]

Thanks for all your input to my thread guys.
I may have to look into the upsidedown hanging bed thing. I have seen them in the gyms over here (electronic type), and a few in the local parks fixed into the ground.

[coldfront]

Thanks for all your input to my thread guys.
I may have to look into the upsidedown hanging bed thing. I have seen them in the gyms over here (electronic type), and a few in the local parks fixed into the ground.

relatively inexpensive.

the other thing?  if you're still carrying your wallet in a back pocket, that's okay.  just don't sit on it.
have learned that through the past 4 years of flying every week.

[Bassinkorea]

relatively inexpensive.

I had a quick search and saw a couple in the $200 price range. I'm sure I could find one cheaper. If it helps, then it'll be worth it.

the other thing?  if you're still carrying your wallet in a back pocket, that's okay.  just don't sit on it.
have learned that through the past 4 years of flying every week.

I never carry anything of any thickness or value in my back pockets (come from a place where pick-pockets are common).

[FloridaFishinFool]

Not all inversion tables are the same. Some are well made and sturdy while others are cheap and flimsy and made like a lawn chair recliner with cheap metal frames that are weaker and not as sturdy, and have only cross weave to lay on.

Some of us guys at close to 200 pounds and up need the sturdy inversion tables. So if you invest in one, get a good one.

I got lucky and found mine at a garage sale more than 20 years ago for $75.00. As I pulled into the yard of the sale, this inversion table was standing upright out in the yard between some pine trees with golden beams of sun shining down on it from heaven through a break in the clouds and the chrome steel sparkled and glowed as if god almighty was telling me here it is! Come get it! And I did.

I gave the lady my only $20 I had in my pocket and drove as fast as I could to the ATM to get the rest. Now she's mine!

A medical grade, solid chromed steel inversion table. This one will outlive me. Best $75.00 I ever spent.

At the time I was going to see a chiropractor costing thousands and all he was doing was professional back cracking at best. No real stretching of spine. So I researched it myself and found the inversion table therapy. Once I got the inversion table no more doctors doing nothing!

I keep mine at the ready on back patio... if it is ever in the way, it folds up in seconds and can be moved. Some of them will slide under a bed for storage.

If you were to buy an inversion table of this quality, today it could run as high as a thousand dollars. New, this one at the time was over $500.00.

The nice thing about inversion tables is that as soon as you turn upside down and reverse the effects of gravity on the spine, the pain goes away instantly because now gravity is pulling the bone apart, stretching the spine and taking the gravity caused pressure off the nerves coming off the spinal column. Amazing instant relief! And it will re-align any vertebrae out of alignment.

The trick to using these inversion tables is to learn to relax as you turn upside down. At first people tense up and it won't work like that. You gotta just let go and completely relax and let gravity do its thing. I have gotten to the point where I can fall asleep upside down and just hang like a bat.

Another issue is some people once upside down have trouble righting themself because they did not balance themself on the machine properly. So once upside down their center of gravity shifted and now they become too heavy below the rotation point and can not right themselves or get off the machine without calling for help.

So make sure you have someone else around you. Make sure you have your phone handy if alone to call for help if need be. And learn to balance yourself on the machine to the point where all it takes to move the machine up and down is by raising your arms only. Just moving your arms will change the balance enough to operate machine.

One last detail, is that at first most people do not want to go completely upside down. So the nice thing about inversion tables is that you can use a rope to limit how far upside down you can go. Even a 45 degree slant will help, but completely upside down is really the only way to go.

Why pay doctors to stretch the spine and align it if it can be done at home for free once you own an inversion table???

[Oldfart9999]

I was diagnosed with stenosis in my lower back along with degenerative disc disease 13 years ago, about 2 months ago my right hip became extremely sore, had a difficult time walking. I was able to get a referral to  one of my Orthopedic Doctors and after x-rays and a couple of tests, it was determined it wasn't the hip, it was the lower back, off to the therapist and she thinks it came from the stenosis, with her help and some exercises I do at home it's under control and back to the middle of my lower back and getting better. For me the therapy works.
Rodney

[Bassinkorea]

Thanks for the in-depth write up FFF, appreciate it, for sure makes me want to get one of these now. And it's a nice looking table you got there.

Glad you are feeling better Rodney