I haven't been diagnosed but the symptoms present like it (according to the interwebz). It really bothered me on Wednesday after driving 1 1/2 hour to my "hunting cabin" and riding a lawn mower for 2 hours and then the return trip home.

That's 3 hours in my 4x4 pickup and 2 hours on a riding mower. Worst case scenario. But it has been (for a couple, three weeks?) bothering me.

I've taken motrin and am more diligent about my core/stretching exercises, but I'm just curious what the Sig Forum braintrust does about it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Biker_dude,

quote:

but I'm just curious what the Ruger braintrust does about it.

I learned from a physical therapist that the cobra yoga pose really helps with lower back pain/sciatica. It worked for me.

I've dealt with a couple bouts over the years.

Nearly every cop gets it at one time or another, to one extent or another, due to all the extra weight on the belt combined with long periods of standing and sitting.

Stretching often helps. Topicals like ben gay/icy hot/biofreeze can help mask it by introducing extra noise in the nerves in that area. Painkillers like tylenol/advil/etc. generally don't work, since it's nerve pain. (There are specifically nerve pain Rxs that can be used for more serious cases, but they tend to have funky side effects.)

It may go away with time and stretching. Or it may be a symptom of a deeper issue like spinal compression or a bulging disc that can need surgery to correct.

I'd start with your primary care doctor, who will probably refer you to a physical therapist as the next step. If that doesn't help it's likely off to a spine/nerve specialist next.

Don't sit on your wallet. Read on line about stretches. Piriformus stretch helps a lot. Caution, stretches are not intended to break bones ir tear yourself. It's hold the stretches for a length of time, then repeat. Piriformus can get done with a towel. Can do it standing.

Yep...sciatica got so bad I couldn't walk to get the mail from the box. Saw a sports medicine doc. MRI showed ruptured disc at L4-L5. Off to neurosurgeon who said surgery could fix it, but he didn't think it was bad enough to chance it. Did PT 3 days a week for 6 weeks. Helped some but could still feel it. Traction on an inversion table solved the problem. Best $125.00 I ever spent. That was recommended on this board by member L90814. Not this specific model but an inversion table in general. The neurologist said it was worth a try. Still use it if I feel my lower back tightening up. No pain since though.

link

Go see a specialist and find out what the cause is.

It may be a disc issue, it may be piriformis syndrome, or something else.

I thought I had the former for 30 years, as all the "symptoms" aligned.

Constant pain that at times felt as if someone was slowly trying to pull my leg off.

Any "wrong way" lifting or pulling things "backwards", like pulling a lawnmower back up an incline or through really thick grass, carrying anything with any appreciable weight in front of me, sitting, driving, etc, often caused flair ups.

Then I had a really bad spell over several days that when it first "hit" me, I could not get in any position that relived the pain and it was both excruciating and completely debilitating.

I flopped around on the floor like a fish for about two hours until I finally managed to put the ball of my fist in my left buttock hollow (hip socket) and was able to get some lessoning of the pain, so I lay there like that for about an hour, then went to my computer and found "piriformis syndrome" where it recommended a tennis ball in that area to help stop the spasm.

Found out mine was not a disc, and thinking it was I never adjusted for the actual cause and I spent more time in pain for many years because of it.

(yeah, I have a thing about avoiding doctors...)

What I realized was the inflammation causes the muscle around the nerve bundle to constrict, causing pain, and the pain causes muscle "splinting" and puts more pressure on the nerves in a feedback loop.

One I found out the posture thing that worked for me, and how to sleep correct position, it resolved after a few months and I have had very little issues with it since for about 6 years with no meds, no PT.

So, don't avoid the Doctor like my hypocrite self.

Call the man, find out what it is and get it under control.

I am very grateful that mine is not a disc or degenerative vertebrae issue. Eve if it took as long as it did for me to realize what it was.

(knowing people that have had to deal with "bad parts")

Driving for awhile sets it off. Starts as a pain in my butt. Later starts to run down my leg. When it's bad a break every half hour to stop and walk a bit helps.

As previously stated, don't do wallet in your rear pocket. If I am going on a long drive, I visit the chiropractor the day before to get loosened up.

I had a degenerated disc at L4-5, I’m afraid it took surgery to correct it. Mine had progressed though and I was experiencing numbness too.

Yep, at least a little problem all the time, moving or bending the wrong way can fire it up. I've got some stretches that help.

Nothing worse for me than putting weight straight up and down on my spine. Using a wheel barrow will screw things up for days. It's never a problem while I'm doing the work but the next day can be awful. I have to take it easy, do some stretches and things will get back to tolerable after a couple days or more. So far.

Yes. It varies so greatly between individuals as to what you experience. You will need to find the cause.

I have been dealing with it for about 6 years. Mine started with severe pain in my left buttocks and lower back. An MRI showed it was an impinged nerve in my lower spine at the L5-S1. I went through getting referred to pain management. At least with my insurance you first had to exhaust your PCP, then physical therapy, then X-rays, then MRI, and then to pain management where they did epidural injections into my spine.

That went on for a while and the pain changed to my right buttocks. A new MRI showed the original impingement cleared, but now I had a new one at the same spot on the other side. So then spine injections on that side until the day I was in burning ungodly pain all the way from my spine to my buttocks, down my right leg, and down to my toes. I suffered in hell for 12 hours before it let up.

That ended up causing permanent nerve damage to my right leg I still have today. I had surgery to my back, but to this day I am literally numb from my right calf to my toes yet also have pain in that same area and feel like I have quarters taped to the bottom of my right foot. My neurosurgeon said the nerves may or may not heal. Mine did not. I didn’t have the lower back or buttocks pain anymore though so I stopped pain management.

After about a a year and a half all of the pain returned on my right side. I got another MRI and now it is the disc above the last one; now it is my L4-L5. I went to a different pain management and they have done what is called ablations, which is they burn the nerves in your spine. Of course first you have to again go through the other spinal injections again to see if they work. It has cut my pain in about half so I still have pain and it is all my right leg, lower back, and right buttocks. I still have the numbness in my right calf and foot, pain in my toes, and pain if anything touches anywhere on the back of my right leg. I also get unbelievably horrific cramps extremely easy only in my right calf, which is all nerve related. If you look at my right calf, all day long the muscles are uncontrollably twitching which looks super weird but is why I get the Charlie horses there. The nerves are just going crazy due to being impinged and despite being burned. I can’t do another surgery since it is the disc above the last one so I am just having to deal with it and get another ablation when it gets back to being too bad.

My work doesn’t care. I still have to pass all of our annual physical fitness standards, do ground combat training, etc which all put me in severe pain for a while. It sucks and I hope you don’t end up having it like me. I have tried so many nerve pain drugs, but I did not like them. My pain is a combination of degenerative spinal issues, bad facet joints, and the impingement of the nerves in my spine. Trifecta.

I thought I had sciatica, but it turned out to be tendonitis. I think it's best to check with your PCP.

I had it really bad all through my 20s. MRI showed a disk herniation at L5S1 that was putting pressure on the nerve. It would come and go...never really went away altogether but would be manageable and then flare up really bad with no warning.

One Sunday I stayed home from church with a sick kid and I sneezed. I ended up on the floor and was still there when my wife got home. After a few hours I managed to crawl to my bed and lay there for three days. That was the worst one, but I missed work a couple of other times over it, too.

I did the chiropractor thing for a few years, which was a total waste of money. I bought an inversion table, which took up a lot of space in the house, but did little to help. I got put on muscle relaxers, which helped a little, and sent to PT where they put me in traction and taught me some stretches. Those helped more than anything, but still didn't solve it.

What finally cured me was a combination of the stretches and getting in shape. I was working IT at the time and was basically a desk-sitting 6'5" 275lb blob. My buddy got me convinced to try the cop thing, and I decided I wanted to switch careers, but I had to get in shape to get into the academy. I started running, doing pushups and situps, and eating better. I lost about 80lbs and my core got stronger.

I still get the occasional flare up if I do something really stupid to aggravate it...usually in the winter when my Vitamin D levels are lower and the body is more susceptible to inflammation. But the continuous, ever-present pain is gone and has been for almost 10 years.

If it's a real sciatica issue, then I can share my experience.

I had it bad and quite periodically. When I swing my leg to walk, the pain would shoot up my butt cheek. I used to go to a chiropractor to get relief which did work. But the pain would return and I'd go see the chiropractor again.

I think she got tired of taking my money. She said I need to stretch. I asked what she meant. She had me cross my right leg over my left with the ankle on the knee. She then told me to try to touch my nose to my knee. I bent and I was a stretched out hand from touching my knee. I meant I could touch my nose with my thumb and stretch wide my fingers so that my pinkie touched my knee. She had me repeat it for the other leg. I probably moved my nose from a sitting straight position to maybe a couple of inches closer to my knee. Probably two stretched out hands away.

I go back to the office, told a coworker about it and challenged her to do the same. She had her nose right up to her knee.

The chiropractor told me to stretch, I lay in bed then I cross my legs the same way. Then I was to slowly pull the knee toward my nose until I can feel the sciatica being stretched a little as I feel the pain and hold it for a few seconds. Relax and repeat so many times. Do it for the other knee.

Ever since I did the stretching, the pain went away and I've not had it since and that was in the early 90s.

Maybe when I think about it like twice a year, I remember the stretching exercise and I see if I can feel that sciatica stretch.

I've had two bouts with sciatica. I would not wish this pain on my worst enemy. It sucks!

This last time my doctor gave me steroids and 800mg prescription for ibuprofen. I found some stretches that seemed to help....a little.

Inversion table using a slight incline that allows me to vary tension by rolling my shoulders. Session lasting for only a song or two as my timer. Works wonderfully for me on an as needed basis. YMMV

I have a bad back with some sciatic issues. The chiropractor helps but he said to work on the core.

Situps and leg lifts for me. Not saying its a cure but a strong core does strengthen/help the back.

I have bouts of pain, sometimes to the point I can’t walk or stand straight. YouTube has great videos on stretching especially your hamstrings. All it takes is about 15 minutes a day. An MRI can also pin point issues.

Mine’s disc related. Flares up occasionally. I carry a walking stick in my daily driver but haven’t needed it for maybe three or four years, better to have and not need vs. need and not have.

Had it bad in the 90's. Every morning I'd wake up in pain always reaching out for a railing to lean on that was not there. Putting on my shoes and socks was agony. I couldn't drive all the way to work without stopping and getting out of the car and screaming.
Went to several doctors one said might be this or could be that. The other said basically the same thing.One said maybe it might require surgery down the road. Both wanted to do more testing that I could not afford.
Went to the chiropractor they gave me a list of stretching exercises and massage treatments heat treatment cold treatment and electro treatments. Went on like that for a couple of months without much results. Then the chiropractor asked me if I would be interested in acupuncture. I told him I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it would help get rid of this pain.
One treatment for $35.00 and the pain was gone.
The pain has never come back.I couldn't be happier the misery and agony are no more