The acupuncturist I had was female. She had had sciatica when she was thrown off her horse. She said it was like childbirth. Thank God I'm a man!

well I have had 2 kids...

twas easy !!!

My wife suffers with terrible back pain that also goes down her leg. Seen the specialist and it is not sciatica. She is on really strong pain killers etc. Had physio and acupuncture. I have had to help her dress and is not nice to see your wife reduced to an old person. Doctor and physio say moving about and trying to get on with things helps, laying about is generally no good because you just seize up. She is waiting to go to a pain management clinic!

I would seriously think about going elsewhere for a second opinion. Pain that shoots down the leg IS sciatica. There is no other possible diagnosis. I was told by the chiropractor, and the hospital that it was not sciatica. Only when I had an MRI scan did the hospital change their opinion.

My brother has the same problem. All the doctors and the back pain specialists told him it was not sciatica. He paid to have an MRI scan. The result was, he has a protruding disc that is pressing on the sciatica nerve. He is now waiting to have an operation.

Sciatica
 

I suffered from this for years ; and the only thing that cured it was a Chiropractor ,
not the first , not the second but the third guy I went to sorted me out and gave me some exercises to do if I felt any twinges.
Now I get very infrequent twinges only.

So.. Word of mouth recommendations for a good Chiropractor and stretching .. The ones I do are based on a Cat's stretch as it gets up after waking.. works for me.

when i visited a chiropractor (4yrs ago) i could hardly walk in the pain was so bad, in my back and my leg. he put me through the pain barrier and then some with stretching moves, finally finishing with a heat lamp on my lower back.

each time i came out i genuinly felt a lot better: more supple and the pain was virtually gone. i saw him for about six sessions and now follow a stretching routine if i feel any twinges.

again can't stress the use of a heatlamp enough. i use it for 20mins after said routine and it seems to keep the pain away for a fortnight or so at least.

as i stated in an earlier thread, i bought an orthopedic bed/matress also and this is a godsend. at least i get a good nights sleep nowadays.

I am possibly the least flexible teenager there is, cant even straighten my legs out totally...

My back is a killer usually, especially since riding the ER5.

Will give your tips a go, maybe it'll help!

sorry to hear so many people suffer with said symptoms. this sort of pain is def no laughing matter at all.
i was advised heat will help reduce swelling in damaged muscles etc but possibly not in all cases.

I was about to say the same. I'm surprised/slightly amazed its not sciatica (not that kind of Dr tho so just opinion, not 2nd opinion!). I also suffer about once every couple of years. One time it was so bad I could just about manage to drive to work and then get the blokes who worked for me at that time to tie my shoelaces. Humiliating for both parties :(

The funny thing is each time before it happens I just feel a slight pressure in the back, a sort of crunchy poke :shock: and then thats it, next day screwed (or not due to a bad back :lol: ). And the first time it happened bad I instantly remembered I had felt that odd feeling once before. Lifting and empty cardboard box out of the car boot when I was 20! So that must be when I first skewiffed the disc.

One thing has really helped (and I must get back to this) is back muscle strenghthening exercises. Like the stomach muscles in most of us they are just not strong in your normal deskbound male. And like the effect of strong stomach muscles in holding in that paunch the same thing appears true for the back. Worked for me anyway, but take it easy to start.

Btw I am not practising what I preach here :( :lol:

I am writing to report a miraculous recovery from my back pain. The
miracle happened during a business trip to Poland. I was very
apprehensive about going ahead with this trip given my condition but
I am glad I did. The conference was in an area of Poland
http://www.ift.uni.wroc.pl/karp42/#Loc renown as a health spa and,
in particular, my hotel http://www.geovita.pl/en/ladek/zdjecia.php
had an excellent physiotherapy department so I decided to make use
of these facilities. Namely, I started every day by having hot mud
put on my lower back and thigh, then I was placed inside a magnet :shock: ,
and a couple of hours later I had a massage session. Had 4 days
of physiotherapy in total which completely cured me. My recovery
made an impression on other participants of the conference and
towards the end of the conference the physiotherapy department
became rather crowded.

Physiotherapy in Poland is very cheap. A 20-minute massage session
(this is the most expensive procedure) costs £3.50 and the guy who
does it is a real pro. Flights to Poland are also very cheap: I paid
£37 for my Ryanair flight Stansted-Wroclaw-Stansted but it was
possible to buy an even cheaper ticket (£25) only in this case the
dates and times would have been less convenient for me.

I've seen all these TV programs about people going abroad for
medical treatment ("dental holidays", "cosmetic surgery holidays", etc)
but never thought that I would find myself doing this. It is really worth it.