Recovery From Sciatica

Recovery From Sciatica


Posted under Injury , Bob Strauss

NOTE : Before reading this article, remember that and back or nerve problems such as this must be attended by the correct medical attention and advice. one should always take the advice of the doctors above and beyond any information contained in this article or any others.

You hear about old people complaining of sciatic nerve problems. They usually complain ov lower back pain with pain radiating down one or both legs. It can be crippling and incapacitating. Many powerlifters have retired from it or just turned into bench pressers. I indeed almost retired over it. Here we will explore sciatica, its causes and different treatments. I will outline my own experiences so you may benefit from them.

What is sciatica? Some call it a pain in the A$$. It is pain in the lower back and buttocks that radiate down one or both legs. It can be crippling at times. It is caused by a disc or other tissue that presses against the sciatic and other nerves that transmit messages to the legs. The symptoms range from tingling down one or both legs to extreme pain in the lower back all the way down to the legs. As we get older time, stress, and of course powerlifting take its toll. Discs flatten and bulge putting more pressure on nerves to cause pain or numbness. Sometimes an injury like a slipped disc or vertebral injury can cause this to suddenly appear, but most often one will have often have symptoms for some time. The symptoms may include but not be limited to tingling or loss of feeling in one or both feet or legs, low back pain, firery pain in the buttocks or hamstrings. Often cramping is a symptom. Your first symptoms may be as insignificant as the feeling of soreness in the hamstrings, but if this doesn’t go away , it could be sciatica.

My Experience

I will cite my own experience here as it will shed some light on the subject. I am a typical long backed individual. I also keep my back very flat and tight when I lift. This tends to concentrate more force on the extreme lower back . Now I also have short arms and deadlifting adds to this as well as the fact I’m heavy for my frame. When I lifted in my mid 30’s in the late 80’s I felt occasionally a fiery feeling in my hamstrings and wondered what that was. Soreness or sciatica ??? I didn’t lift for 9 years and came back in 1998 at age 45. As I was preparing for a meet in late 1998, I had a real stabbing pain on the side of my left leg. I thought it was a pulled muscle and thought nothing of it. Soon after I joined a martial arts program and did a lot of moving and stretching and did this for over a year. During this time I had no symptoms at all. Shortly after I quit I started having some burning in my hamstrings. Everything was manageable until the summer of 2002 when I was training for the 2002 AAU Worlds. in the summer of 2002, doing 405 for 20 squats and for rep goodmornings, and noticed a tingling in my left foot and burning in my hamstrings. I knew what it was but kept up the pace anyway as I wanted to squat over 600. When I got back in gear, the extreme shooting pain ran through my left outer leg. The doc thought it was a tibial band but when I experimented I found out that I had no leg pain when I used a regular lifting belt not a power belt. As the meet approached my lower back became more tender and I had a lot of tingling in my left leg. I also felt less power on that side. I hoped the leg would not go out on me at the worlds. At the meet I chose 507 as my opener as it is 8 to 10 rep weight for me when things are ok. As I got to the bottom of the squat I felt a dull clunk in my lower back and lost all feeling in my left leg. I pushed up on it mostly on one leg but had to even out to finish the lift. It was then that the pain hit in the entire left leg. I did finish the lift and get credit for it and finish the meet, but the pain was incredible. It was a searing pain from my lower back down my left leg and into my foot. Even the bottom of my foot felt like it was on fire. I could hardly walk

I immediately went to a chiropractor and got x-rayed and adjusted. He saw that the L-5 disc was compressed. He also checked my reflexes and found that nerve transmission was hampered in my left leg. Then I got shock treatments . This continued for several weeks. For the next few months when I squatted I felt weak in the left leg and had trouble squatting over 315 due to balance problems. Then I knew I had to re-learn how to squat evenly. At the same time I had to strengthen myself to prevent more injuries and also give myself time to recover.

About four month out I still walked with a slight limp but I found out that I could at least box squat. I could box squat and used a 10″ box to strengthen all joints and give me flexability. The wide squat also put less pressure on that area. I still did not have all the feeling in my left foot but I was on my way back. For deadlifts I chose the stiffleg and used a thumbless grip and that worked my back and grip at the same time without overloading the lower back. By 8 months out I was up to 365 for 5 reps on the 10″ box and repping 350 with a wide stance.for 10. Two months before the AAU worlds I went back to a regular stance and did soon did 405 for 10 easy without any belt or wraps. Then in light gear I did 500 and 460 for 7 and it felt good. At the meet I only did a very easy 501 squat bet felt good for 550 and a 463 deadlift was easy so I felt most of the way recovered.

Important steps to Recovery

First , I did a lot less squatting , good mornings and other exercises that placed a lot of vertical loading on my spine. Exercises like goodmornings and regular deadlifts that placed a lot of stress on my lower back. so were moderated. I also went to squatting every other week to let swelling go down. Now since one leg had poor function I went to box squatting. To help with flexability, I used a 10″ box. This also taught me how to squat again putting equal weight on each leg. Now the most important thing was to build up my front and sides. One cant grow new discs , but can grow stronger ab muscles. You can grow ab muscles a lot quicker than you can strengthen your back. By building up a strong front you can help support your back , especially as you recover. Flexibility is essential as when the body is more flexible, the loads are transformed better over the entire body. Hip and ankle flexibility are most important for both squatting and deadlifting as the forces are now not centered on the lower back but the hips as well.

Review of Sciatica

I am no doctor, just happen to have had quite a few visits to them though. Pressure on the sciatic nerve is usually caused by the bulging and flattening of the disc between the L-5 and S-1 vetrabrae The disc then places pressure on nerves which in turn causes pain or numbness down one or both legs and the buttocks. The L-5 S-1 area serves as the joint or hinge so therefor is prone to having disc problems. The pressures of prolonged lifting , improper training, and lack of flexibility all take their toll. With proper training routines, rest, and professional care one can come back from sciatica.