Surprise Sciatica Treatment that worked

Having never heard of Sciatica I was unfortunate enough to discover it  in my early 20's and it wasn't out of a dictionary.

Being a bit of a fitness fanatic, in the my prime of life, I thought I was unstoppable until I found myself suddenly, crippled and in a lot of pain.

Sciatica, what is it?
It was an aching lower back pain, shooting from the hip, down my left and into my calf. Unable to straighten my leg or put much weight on it, even walking was slow and painful. The local Doctor prescribed bed rest, signed me off work for 2 weeks and that's all. The 2 weeks past passed slowly and I was worse not better.

Back Seizure

In my recovering weeks getting out of bed became a challenge. I had to roll out landing on all fours and then pull myself up to a standing position.
Sitting down proved to be the worse. To stand up from sitting would take about 10 to 15 minutes to straighten up. The lower back and pelvis would seize up. The longer I sat down  the longer it would take to stand. Straightening up too quickly would produce high levels of pain bursting in my hip, radiating out in all directions.

The weeks passed without improvement and it was time to be proactive and start finding a Sciatica Treatment, the local Doctor was still prescribing bed rest.

First thoughts for back pain were chiropractic, so I started a course of expensive treatments with a very good practice and their manipulations helped but did not cure. I would still recommend chiropractic sessions for many back disorders but with sciatica it didn't work for me.

Three months in and next I tried Acupuncture. The idea of being a pin cushion was a bit scary but by now I was willing to try anything.

It didn't hurt at all, a slight tingle and some of the pain eased for while and was even enjoyable.

Acupuncture for sciatica was not a cure for me although I know now it works for many other health issues and you can even apply a non-invasive acupuncture at home with a pen sized device that you can carry around and use when you need it.

After another appointment with a Doctor the idea of a device that delivers small electrical impulses through the skin to stimulate pain relief was suggested. This device, called a TENS machine, it was outside of the National Health System at that time as it was considered an alternative medicine and was only available at independent clinics so off I went to find one.

After several treatments I was allowed to hire the machine to use at home. The convenience of this self help cure that blocks the pain signals sent to the brain and stimulates the body to produce its own pain relieving chemicals, called endorphins, at any time was terrific and gave me the freedom to get pain relief when I needed it. Tens or Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation systems are also available in pocket sized pain relief pens so they are now even more convenient.

Lying on my back for months, doing nothing after living a very active life was frustrating to say the least. One day staring up from the bed I saw my chin up bar in the doorway. I had been in too much pain to do any chin ups or any of the other exercises I use to do regularly but I'd had enough so I roll out and grabbed my Chin up bar in both hands as tightly as I could and pulled my chin up, or tried. Over the next few days just to get my strength back in my hands I just hung there doing little raises for 5 seconds, then 10, 20, 30 etc. getting stronger as the days past.

The next weekend I went to the cinema to enjoy a film with a friend. In the back of my mind I knew that when it came time to leave there would be no rushing out with the crowd for me, but a series of slow painful manoeuvres to straighten up after my back & pelvis had seized up after sitting down for two and half hours. I pushed this thought out of my mind to enjoy good company and a good movie. The credits rolled and lights came up. The film was one of those feel good action movies; feeling positive with the rush of the film I got up, walked down the isle towards the exit and then stopped dead. I looked down, looked back at my stunned friend and smiled and smiled as my eyes welled up with the realisation that I just got up and walked. I couldn't believe it, after months of Chronic Sciatica I was cured

Walking without pain and able to get up as though I had never had Sciatica was amazing; so what happened? Hanging from the chin up bar had put my back under traction. The weight of my own body stretched the spine, allowing the discs to slightly pull apart, providing a gap big enough for the trapped nerve to ease out, back into it's proper position and presto the body returned to it's wonderful normal self. Free of pain and freedom to move, all thanks to a Chin-up Bar.

Greg The Doctor?

I am no doctor, this is just the true story of an episode in my life, my personal observations and theories about how I cured Chronic Sciatica.

Hopefully if after reading this it may give you some ideas about various remedies to try should you be unlucky enough to be suffering from that awful pain that shoots from your hip, down the legs into the calf caused by Sciatica.

P.S. How did I get Sciatica?

I believe it was getting slammed into a Go-kart seat as I hammered it round a sharp corner on a race track. Have I GoKarted since? Absolutely, it's great fun; you should never let fear run your life, it's for enjoying.

If you have the symptoms of sciatica and losing control of your bowels, incontinence etc. see a doctor immediately. These are the signs of Cauda Equina syndrome it is a rare but serious condition. More information about Cauda equina can be found on many web sites including the NHS site.