Injury - Experience of recovery.

yop

Hi
I am looking for personal experiences only on recovery times for a slightly slipped disc with sciatica.
Was diagnosed last week and put on recovery program.

Progress is very slow but I am gone from having no power in my right leg to a numbness with pain.

As I said I don't want medical advice of "you have this condition" etc, as it will close the thread.

I am just looking to see if anyone on here had sciatica or a slipped disc and what their recovery time was.

Thank

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donothoponpop

yop wrote: »

Hi
I am looking for personal experiences only on recovery times for a slightly slipped disc with sciatica.
Was diagnosed last week and put on recovery program.

Progress is very slow but I am gone from having no power in my right leg to a numbness with pain.

As I said I don't want medical advice of "you have this condition" etc, as it will close the thread.

I am just looking to see if anyone on here had sciatica or a slipped disc and what their recovery time was.

Thank

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3+ years for mine. I was overweight and had a weak core, along with Lumbar spinal stenosis which caused a slight disc herniation ("slip") to hit nerves. Swimming helped, chiro allieviated, losing weight and working on support muscles eventually got rid of it. Best advice I ever got was from an Aussie Chiro in Wicklow, who advised me to do two stretches each side every morning. Still do them first thing on waking.
1) lying on my back, pull the knee to chest, and hold for 15. Repeat other side.
2) Lying on the back, pull the heel into groin, and gently lower knee until level with floor.

Best of luck, sciatica is horrible, hope you get over it soon!

time lord

I was your way on and off for years. Fit as a fiddle. When sciatica hit it just got worse. Aged 40 now. Just out week and a half after micro disectomy from Hermitage in Lucan.
Making appropiate recovery but sciatica disappeared immediately aftery surgery. It was a nightmare pain to have but all over now touch wood. Surgeon very happy with surgery and me too :D:D:D:D:D:D

Woodgate

Hi

My dad has a similar problem he had a touch of sciatica last year but over the past 6 months he has gotten very bad, the diagnosis from two different consultants is "spinal stenosis", he is 72 in a couple of weeks and was very active before this, whereas now he can barely walk and is in a bad way, he's in VHI and we are waiting for a call for him to get an injection in the back that might help. But while we wait I am really worried about him, he can barely walk (really hunched/stooped when doing so) and has cramps in his legs and his feet are paining him. He is a strong man who never ever complained about anything in his life but this is very hard on him and I know it's probably worse than it appears to me. I have done a bit of googling and seen info about excercises to help but the problem is he is so bad he would be unable to do them, my worry is that he canot do any excercise or even walk very far so that cant be good for his health let alone the spinal stenosis. Can anyone recommend maybe a physio or someone like that who might be able to help loosen him up to aleviate the pain & cramps or even some alternative'ish therapy that has worked for them.

Any help appreciated.

Woody.

ger664

donothoponpop wrote: »

1) lying on my back, pull the knee to chest, and hold for 15. Repeat other side.

Have been suffering from low back pain as well recently awaiting results of MRI.

I find a variation of this works really well for me, its more a mobilisation then a stretch.

Bring knee to the chest, knee flexed @ right angles, place palm on the knee and push upwards while at the same time drive knee towards the chest.

maloner

Had a discectomy about 4 or 5 years back. I had leg pain as far as my calf, no tingling or pins and needles or weakness.

When the doc went in he found loads of stenosis (extra bone growth around facet joints as I understand it - like a build up of limescale in a hose is how I picture it) which he removed during the op. This stenosis made the recovery much longer than it should have been.

I was in hospital for a week and was bed ridden for 4 weeks or so and swimming and walking helped after that, along with the knees to chest (1 knee at a time!) exercise and knees to either side helped a lot too. When I stopped doing them the pain would come back after a few days, start the exercises, pain goes down after a few days...

I can't really remember how long before I was back on the bike in any serious way, but it was probably 6 months.

No problems now, although I'm told the stenosis will come back in due course, so in the mean time regular pilates classes in NAC (well worth it IMO - teacher knows her stuff and you leave the class with your core burning from the work out).

Seres

Sciatica is the bain of my life at the moment , started to get it bout 2 year ago and it seems to be getting worse . Im pretty disillusioned by the whole thing at the moment as its cause is open to debate by the professionals. I have tried lots of different stretching/core work/massage/needling/osteopath to improve it but it has not gotten rid of it . I cant really get any enjoyment out of running at the moment with it so ive resorted to the bike to vent ....
So in terms of recovery time , 2 yrs and counting ..... Best of luck !

SureWhyNot!

After Dublin 2010 - 4 months of virtually no activity, but weekly physio treatment, followed by 10 months of slowly building back the running, plenty of cycling, and making sure to build in 3 weeks recovery after any race... started back the consistent serious training in December 2011 now back up to 70+ miles a week in the last 2 months and with a daily ritual of activation exercises for my back. On the positive side, have new Pb's at 10 mile and half marathon in the last two months. Could the new found respect for core work be paying off?

kennyb3

Seres wrote: »

Sciatica is the bain of my life at the moment , started to get it bout 2 year ago and it seems to be getting worse . Im pretty disillusioned by the whole thing at the moment as its cause is open to debate by the professionals. I have tried lots of different stretching/core work/massage/needling/osteopath to improve it but it has not gotten rid of it . I cant really get any enjoyment out of running at the moment with it so ive resorted to the bike to vent ....
So in terms of recovery time , 2 yrs and counting ..... Best of luck !

Have you considered either a) the epidural injection or b) surgery. 2 years is a long time. Have you had it confirmed by MRI?

Seres

kennyb3 wrote: »

Have you considered either a) the epidural injection or b) surgery. 2 years is a long time. Have you had it confirmed by MRI?

ive had an MRI but it showed up minmal wear and tear . Different physios seem to be at odds as to the effect of this wear and tear on my ongoing injury ?!
I have taken the epidural before in labour , will that not numb my whole lower body ?

kennyb3

Seres wrote: »

ive had an MRI but it showed up minmal wear and tear . Different physios seem to be at odds as to the effect of this wear and tear on my ongoing injury ?!
I have taken the epidural before in labour , will that not numb my whole lower body ?

I would go higher than a physio tbh - i know your down the country but have a look at the sports physicians in the SSC. They will know a lot more and probably review your MRI again. I think they are as expert as you ll get in this area. Its worth a shot for €130.

I dont know to be honest but for while my hamstring pain was so chronic i thought it might be sciatica and did some digging. The injection seems to be the second last resort with surgery being the last.

Seres

kennyb3 wrote: »

I would go higher than a physio tbh - i know your down the country but have a look at the sports physicians in the SSC. They will know a lot more and probably review your MRI again. I think they are as expert as you ll get in this area. Its worth a shot for €130.

I dont know to be honest but for while my hamstring pain was so chronic i thought it might be sciatica and did some digging. The injection seems to be the second last resort with surgery being the last.

Thanks Kenny , have an appointment on Monday with Falvey from SSC so unless he has something different to say .........

kennyb3

Seres wrote: »

Thanks Kenny , have an appointment on Monday with Falvey from SSC so unless he has something different to say .........

Ha ha im in with him myself on monday evening!

Seres

kennyb3 wrote: »

Ha ha im in with him myself on monday evening!

Have you been up with him before ? how dyou find him ? had to wait a month for the appointment !!

kennyb3

Seres wrote: »

Have you been up with him before ? how dyou find him ? had to wait a month for the appointment !!

No first appointment - he's been away with the 6 nations team. I know a few people who i trust who have been to him and they all recommended him. My Gf's sister also works there and suggested going to him. Make sure to bring your MRI with you if you can.

Seres

kennyb3 wrote: »

No first appointment - he's been away with the 6 nations team. I know a few people who i trust who have been to him and they all recommended him. My Gf's sister also works there and suggested going to him. Make sure to bring your MRI with you if you can.

ya his secreatry said bring the disk with the MRI Photos , what time you in ? Im in for 3.30

kennyb3

Seres wrote: »

ya his secreatry said bring the disk with the MRI Photos , what time you in ? Im in for 3.30

Ah not till 5.30. anyway best of luck and hope you get sorted