Sciatic nerve injury from deadlifts

[articulomortis]

I messed this up in October from over-doing deadlifts and have been in moderate pain since.



With this I can't work legs, abs, squat, or deadlift. I have some money saved up but I don't have insurance. I took a month off of lifting in Nov and it didn't help me at all. I've been doing these stretches from youtube, but I think I over-did one and hurt it more. I also ice it multiple times daily. I don't want to see a doctor because it'll probably put me in the hole. Does anyone have any tips for conquering sciatica?

[davidkap]

fuuuuuu

that sucks man.

can't offer any advice.

good luck

[articulomortis]

Sitting down even hurts. FML.

[vitalcerebral]

Inflammation, cramping, something pushing on the sciatic nerve, who knows? Back injuries and the resulting pain are rarely straight forward, hell in some cases the pain is even psychosomatic.

What happened when you over did it on deadlifts?

Do any muscles feel tight around your hips, glutes, lower back etc?

What stretches are you doing?

What does your posture look like?

[articulomortis]

Inflammation, cramping, something pushing on the sciatic nerve, who knows? Back injuries and the resulting pain are rarely straight forward, hell in some cases the pain is even psychosomatic.

What happened when you over did it on deadlifts?
I think to much weight and caused my form to suck.

Do any muscles feel tight around your hips, glutes, lower back etc?
No it's just that and sometimes runs along my leg.
What stretches are you doing?
Similar to leg raises, or wrapping my other leg around it and pulling it towards my chest.
What does your posture look like?
Probably bad

asdf

[mrvnplcs1008]

Had the same problem awhile back. Was also out a few months and without insurance. It really depends on how bad the damage is to the nerve. There are several stretches that helped relieve my pain.
Stretch out your hamstrings, as far as comfortable. Gradually increase the tension and duration of the stretch. If you have a few bucks, your community health center can write you a script for some meds too. That's basically all I did. Stretch, meds, ice and heat.
Knowing the anatomy and physiology of that area should help to find out what stretches to choose. There is also the interwebs.

[articulomortis]

Had the same problem awhile back. Was also out a few months and without insurance. It really depends on how bad the damage is to the nerve. There are several stretches that helped relieve my pain.
Stretch out your hamstrings, as far as comfortable. Gradually increase the tension and duration of the stretch. If you have a few bucks, your community health center can write you a script for some meds too. That's basically all I did. Stretch, meds, ice and heat.
Knowing the anatomy and physiology of that area should help to find out what stretches to choose. There is also the interwebs.

How long did you wait before squat and deadlifting again ?

[vitalcerebral]

What happened when you over did it on deadlifts?
I think to much weight and caused my form to suck.

Do any muscles feel tight around your hips, glutes, lower back etc?
No it's just that and sometimes runs along my leg.
What stretches are you doing?
Similar to leg raises, or wrapping my other leg around it and pulling it towards my chest.
What does your posture look like?
Probably bad

There is no guarantee that what you even describing is bona fide sciatica.

Your symptoms are vague, the lack of muscle tightness would suggest that is not due cramping by muscles in the hips or lower back, so we may be able to that rule out. Everything else though is potentially on the cards.

Other than that I do not know what else I can add other than see your doctor simply because even if you are doing 'corrective' exercises it may not be addressing the real cause.

[mrvnplcs1008]

How long did you wait before squat and deadlifting again ?

About 3-4 months. Took about a month to walk right instead of shuffle. I took those months off of working out completely. When I did start again, I started off with just bodyweight stuff. Again it depends on the severity of your injury. You could be back in 4-6 weeks.

[articulomortis]

There is no guarantee that what you even describing is bona fide sciatica.

Your symptoms are vague, the lack of muscle tightness would suggest that is not due cramping by muscles in the hips or lower back, so we may be able to that rule out. Everything else though is potentially on the cards.

Other than that I do not know what else I can add other than see your doctor simply because even if you are doing 'corrective' exercises it may not be addressing the real cause.

No, there is tightness. Especially when I get out of bed in the morning. Thats the worst.

[vitalcerebral]

No, there is tightness. Especially when I get out of bed in the morning. Thats the worst.

And where is this tightness?

[articulomortis]

It's like around my leftside glutes, and sometimes down my leg. Kinda like the picture.

[vitalcerebral]

It's like around my leftside glutes, and sometimes down my leg. Kinda like the picture.

Ok, well that is cramping. What you are describing sounds very like Piriformis syndrome. If you can get that muscle to stop cramping the pain in your leg may go away.

You need to make your hips mobile, you need to stretch that muscle specifically (google piriformis stretch), you need to flush that area with blood. If possible I recommend light deep squatting, even if it is just bodyweight.

[articulomortis]

Ok, well that is cramping. What you are describing sounds very like Piriformis syndrome. If you can get that muscle to stop cramping the pain in your leg may go away.

You need to make you hips mobile, you need to stretch that muscle specifically (google piriformis stretch), you need to flush that area with blood.

Thanks alot. I'll google it when I get home from work. Repped +++

[mrvnplcs1008]

Piriformis sydrome is sometimes, if not all times, correlated with the sciatic nerve.

[vitalcerebral]

Thanks alot. I'll google it when I get home from work. Repped +++

I hope it works out for you. Look at your posture when/if you get this fixed, I am willing to bet you have posture problems to boot.

[articulomortis]

Hmm. So it seems like I should continue stretching, but also deep massage the area. Found some specific exercises can't wait to try out.

[vitalcerebral]

Hmm. So it seems like I should continue stretching, but also deep massage the area.

yes some recommend a tennis ball to do this. Your bodyweight against the tennis ball is used to apply the pressure.

[XXX666]

stretch your hamstrings in the morning and before bed
do ab exercises for upper and lower abs in the morning and before bed

this is what i did each time i have had inflamation which pinched my sciatic nerve

[I.K9009]

it may be pseudosciatica caused by muscle strain/facet joint issues which is what I had. My tightness went away after a week of resting but the random pain in my thigh or foot continued. I'm almost back to 100% (injury happened in mid december, most likely from bad form picking up free weights).

I've been doing very mild stretching and spending a looot of time in the hot tub over the past month. Saw an ortho and he told me I can get back in the gym and ease into exercising and try to stay away from anything that doesn't have a back-rest for now. Also told me to avoid impact cardio for a little longer.

I'm actually not even going to do that and just wait until feb 5th when I'm back from a trip.

I can tell you I am going to do a lot of stretching before workouts now (kind of neglected it before) and be very careful about free weights.