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Sciatica and Riding?

Archimedes

Archimedes

Fire Watcher
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Location
Is Everything
Moto(s)
Nearly killed me
Name
Lefty2Guns
I know this isn't WebMD, but I have a question for those of you who have suffered from sciatica. Here's the deal. Strained my back, early last week it got worse with pain throught the hip and down my left leg and caused my left leg to get really weak. Didn't go away so I went to the doc, he did some tests, diagnosed sciatica, was very concerned about my inability to flex my left foot up, ordered xrays and an urgent MRI, can't do an MRI due to lots of metal in my body, ordered a CT, they screwed up the appt on Friday so I got to sit all weekend taking cortisone and waiting for a scan on Monday or Tuesday. Pain is a bit better, but leg is still very weak and I lack full motor control of it.

I'm major pissed because I took this week off to do nothing but ride street and dirt, but I can't up shift well enough to feel comfortable riding.

So here's the q. Anybody ever had sciatica so bad that you lost some function in your leg and, if so, did it come back with cortisone, was surgery needed, did it never come back? I'm major depressed tonight. I've had back problems before, but never lost limb function.
 
convert to one of those chopper style hand shifters?

Other than that... well, any meds like flexeril and vicodin/perc/etc will make riding very unsafe.

I've had good results from taking prednisone for that kind of injury. usually a 5 day cycle and it doesn't interfere with riding but does relieve swelling and stiffness. This was from knee injury from motocross. It got better after a couple of weeks off the bike. I wouldn't recommend riding with any joint/back injury since the risk of it not healing properly is too great in the long run, but minor injury and some easy easy riding to cure the depression could be ok. just don't push it.
 
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I was never diagnosed with sciatica, but I was told that my sciatic nerve was being pinched and they sent me to a physical therapist for it. The pain never shot down my leg, but mostly stayed up around my hip and down my hamstring, making me limp or unable to run every once in a while. This lasted for four years. The physical therapist didn't do anything. Then I broke my back and was stuck in a brace for 3 months. My nerve pain went away. Took the brace off, nerve pain came back.
The brace fixed my posture, which temporarily "cured" my pain. Now I wear a back protector every time I ride. I average about 20 minutes of riding a day, and haven't had any pain from my sciatic nerve since then.

Kind of a tangent, but maybe a back protector would help.
 
themattreid said:
I've had good results from taking prednisone for that kind of injury. usually a 5 day cycle and it doesn't interfere with riding but does relieve swelling and stiffness.
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That's what I'm on. Today was day 4 of massive does of prednisone. I have 4 more days of the cycle. It's helping with the stiffness but I'm still weak. I'm hoping the strength comes back soon. I feel like Verbel the gimp from The Usual Suspects.
 
I also use to experience back pain and it would shoot through my right leg. Not sure is Sciatic nerve but some kind of pinch nerve. Friend recommend going to a Chiropractic and then to accupunture for treatment. Fix me right up. So if you haven't try them I strongly recommend. Sux to live in pain.
 
Archimedes said:
That's what I'm on. Today was day 4 of massive does of prednisone. I have 4 more days of the cycle. It's helping with the stiffness but I'm still weak. I'm hoping the strength comes back soon. I feel like Verbel the gimp from The Usual Suspects.
Click to expand...

Like the second post - I always wear a back protector.

Not sure about the sciatic injury but I did have some bad issues with my C5/C6 from yet another motocross accident last year - predisone then as well, and pain killers. Had to stay off the dirtbike for 2 months.

In addition to the predisone, might want to try a back brace to keep things aligned while you sleep, and I know it sounds dumb but a firm mattress really helps, and no down pillows.

I was wary of cortizone injections for my neck so I can't comment on the effectiveness of that. A new, lighter Troy Lee helmet and a neck brace for motocross seems to have solved a lot of the vertebrae impact issues that caused my injury.

Keep your mood up - I actually bought an xbox 360 and a bunch of games so I could play those while I was out of commission. It helped my mood quite a bit.
 
get. it. fixed. now.

in february 2004 i was walking around a local Hot Import Nights show. back then i used to photograph car models semi-professionally.

at some point while walking i felt a sharp pain in my left leg on the outside - like if you step wrong and pull a muscle

i had no medical insurance at the time as i had just lost my job. so i lived with the pain for quite a while. actualy i lived with it until december as it got worse and worse and worse.

i finally started to make enough money to (temporarily) afford medical insurance and had a doctor look at it..

tendinitis he says

BS i says

i get another doctor to look at it. he tells me to lay down on my back flat. he brings my leg up and white hot needles shoot up my leg and i can see colors in my vision. he says 'sciatica, go physical therapy'

i go physical therapy. therapist pushes his knuckles along my spine trying to figure out what is causing the severe leg pain. he finds it - lucky me that hurt like hell - and puts me on the traction pain.

ok. now i have debillitating back pain. come february '05 i can no longer walk, sit or stand due to insane leg and now back pain. my only relief comes from laying down in bed on one side with a pillow shoved between my knees to help keep my spine straight

but wait..there's still MORE Hurdles to jump through!

doctor thinks i should probabaly have surgery, but we cant skip to that step. oh no, this is kaiser after all. first things first - pain management

see a pain management specialist. she wants to give me a epidural. i want to give her the finger. she says 'ok, we'll try a steroid treatment then'

i take the treatment. i get 2 days out of the 13 day treatment where the pain is down enough that i can actually function - but this is not a cure.

next step! MRI

hrm. well i'm a big guy. even if i wasnt fat i have very broad shoulders. they tried to shove me into that little tube several tiems but when my shoulders wouldnt clear they says 'go fremont, u can has open MRI kekeke'

another 2 month wait. now it's april '05.

get MRI, awit two weeks 'oh looky, you have a herniated disc. now we can forward this to a back specialist'

come mid may and i get appointment to see an actual surgeon. he tells me to get up an walk around. he sees taht i'm walking sideways and in a lot of pains. he asks me straight faced:

'how come you are just now seeing me?'

after security calms me down, he says i have two choices - wait it out, a process that can take 3-5 years - or surgery. i says 'fukit, it's been a year already and i cant even work. cut it out'

had surgery in july 2005. was in and out that same day. leg pain was gone instantly, but back pain has lingered to this day. doesnt help that i'm fat but still i have a feeling that physical therapist trashed my back something good.



anyway, if you want real relief get the herniated disc fixed. no amount of ibuprofen or naproxin will ever be enough. even vicodin will make NO DENT in the pain of severe sciatica.
 
Okay JR, that wasn't exactly the pick me up I was looking for :twofinger
but thanks anyway. Seriously, I hear you. I don't have it as bad as you described, but I'm definately not gonna let it lie. My doc sounds like he has no interest in just giving me pain meds either. He's hoping the prednisone will get the swelling down and I'll recover without need for surgery. But he wants the scan to see what's really going on.

Right now it's not really the pain, as that has subsided mostly. It's the weakness in the leg that sucks. And I would never make it 5 years. If I don't get full function back in the leg, quick, I'll put a bullet in my head.
 
if the MRI finds a herniated disc (insist on seeing the scans yourself, it's extremely obviuos that the little jelly bean is not where it's supposed to be) go for the micro surgery

if it finds nothing, naproxin is like ibuprofen x500. both are anti-inflammatory but naproxin actually works without having to take 4 at a time
 
My wife is going through the same exact thing. SHe went through Physical therapy, Ibuprofen, oral steroids. 1 week ago she had her first steroid injection at the point of the bulged disc (not herniated). She is doing much better. She will go in for a second shot one month later. Most people we talk to say they had two shots, then never had the problem again.

The way they explained it to us was like this:

When a disk is compressed after becoming weak, the fluid inside is forced outside. The body treats this fluid as a foreign substance, which causes inflamation, which causes the pressure on the nerve.

As you know, steroids are basically a high powered anti-inflamatory.

The oral steroids are tried first because not all disk buldges are as severe. Plus there is a slight risk of sticking a needle into your spine or even surgery. The problem is oral steroids spread through the whole body. I myself never cared for them because it was like she was on PMS to the second power.

The Injection is more centralized, focusing all of its energy on that specific area. It took her about a week, but at least she is walking now. I mean, she had full motion and everything, it was just way too painful to do anything except lay down.
 
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since my accident last year I often loose all feeling in my right leg, have to physically place my right foot in a forward position. Acupuncture and yoga. :thumbup

It hurts like bloody hell but I start each morning by aligning feet and stretching.The pinch is caused by muscles attempting to take the place of skeletal function. If you can get the little guys that support the spine loose symptoms will disappear.
 

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Sciatica is a bitch. It kept me off my bike for 4 months, flat on my back, and drugged to get through work. The bottom of my foot was numb, the pain on the back of my leg was agonizing, and I had to walk with a cane.
I took the anti-inflammatory meds, rested, and got back to riding. Mine was caused by a torn Piriformis muscle coupled with a compressed disk. Once the muscle stopped spasming, and began to heal, the pain began to lessen. It was awesome when I could finally feel my foot again!
If I overstress my back, I still get some numbness, and I still have to deal with the back pain. I can ride without too many problems, and (oddly enough) riding in the forward position actually helps... I don't think I could ride a cruiser, it would kill my back! Good thing I love teh sprotbiles!
Hang in there, it'll get better! :)
 
Had the same Sciatica problem and herniated disc for years. The only thing that worked for me is to hit the gym and do some research into core training. We're not talking about sit ups here, we are talking all the rectus abdominus and muscles that support the lower back and stabilize your upper body. There are dozens of exercises that take a little bit of practice and instruction to learn. I had to address bad posture issues too, because your skeletal system is like an Alexander Caulder mobile and when one part is out of wack it throws off other counterbalancing components (hip bone connected to the thigh bone, thigh bone conected to the, etc. just like that old song). For me it I suffered for ten years or so and tried a lot of solutions that were all were just bandaids. Then I started developing my core muscles with a trainer friend and it fixed my shit posture and I never had the sciatica pain again. I still have a herniated disc but the muscles in my lower back and core support the upper half of my body and hold me in correct posture when riding. Now I can ride down to LA for 10 hours no problem. Hope this helps. Anything you can do to avoid an invasive procedure is worth it as far as I am concerned.
 
I've had sciatica, including foot numbness, etc. It was excruciatingly painful, but in my case I got better without surgery. While it's very seductive to see surgery as the answer - and it's certainly worth a try when nothing else works - comparing the results of patients who have surgery with those who don't shows that surgery is not unambiguously more effective. YMMV.

Time, physical therapy, ice, NSAID's and painkillers did the trick for me. Also, lots of walking seemed to help bring the strength back to my left foot. The other odd effect is that when my pain was really bad, my bike was the place I was most comfortable. I had a K100RT at the time. It was a pretty flexible motor, so I could minimize shifting. The most awkward thing was getting on and off it.

Good luck!
 
Archimedes said:
I know this isn't WebMD, but I have a question for those of you who have suffered from sciatica. Here's the deal. Strained my back, early last week it got worse with pain throught the hip and down my left leg and caused my left leg to get really weak. Didn't go away so I went to the doc, he did some tests, diagnosed sciatica, was very concerned about my inability to flex my left foot up, ordered xrays and an urgent MRI, can't do an MRI due to lots of metal in my body, ordered a CT, they screwed up the appt on Friday so I got to sit all weekend taking cortisone and waiting for a scan on Monday or Tuesday. Pain is a bit better, but leg is still very weak and I lack full motor control of it.

I'm major pissed because I took this week off to do nothing but ride street and dirt, but I can't up shift well enough to feel comfortable riding.

So here's the q. Anybody ever had sciatica so bad that you lost some function in your leg and, if so, did it come back with cortisone, was surgery needed, did it never come back? I'm major depressed tonight. I've had back problems before, but never lost limb function.
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Me ... I herniated a disc between S1-L5 that sat on the sciatic nerve. For the next year, I was in either numb or had agonizing nerve pain shoot down my left leg. That fucked up kind too where you can't rub it out 'cause the pain is inside the leg ... kinda felt like someone was rubbing a metal wire alongside my leg bones. Went to the doctor, had an MRI and finally had surgery to remove the herniated disc material. I remember being pain free the minute I woke up which hadn't happened in a year prior. They didn't even try to give me cortosone.

After the surgery (almost 2 years now) I still have some loss of function in my left leg and numbness in mah buttocks area (yeah, nice!) ... but I can walk, ride, fuck, work so I'm okay with it.

Good luck - hopefully you haven't completely damaged the nerve and your functunality will return with time and PT.
 
flying_hun said:
I've had sciatica, including foot numbness, etc. It was excruciatingly painful, but in my case I got better without surgery. While it's very seductive to see surgery as the answer - and it's certainly worth a try when nothing else works - comparing the results of patients who have surgery with those who don't shows that surgery is not unambiguously more effective. YMMV.

Time, physical therapy, ice, NSAID's and painkillers did the trick for me. Also, lots of walking seemed to help bring the strength back to my left foot. The other odd effect is that when my pain was really bad, my bike was the place I was most comfortable. I had a K100RT at the time. It was a pretty flexible motor, so I could minimize shifting. The most awkward thing was getting on and off it.

Good luck!
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Hai Kurt! :wave

The first six months after herniation I lived in an apartment (leaving my ex husband) and I had to walk the dog every day ... then I moved back into the house and we had a doggie door so not as much walking ... that next five month period was the worst.

And since you're in pain, you don't want to move but letting yourself get stiff seems to make it worse. So if you can ... keep moving as much as you can. :)

Also, my bike was very comfortable to sit on both before and after the surgery. :dunno
 
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