One morning, at the gym, I was going about my regular weight lifting routine and got in the squat rack to perform a squat exercise I had done a thousand times (like Captain America, I do not skip leg day). I did not have an excess of weight on the bar and I was feeling particularly good that morning. The first and second sets were great and I was feelin’ good! On the third set however, I felt a slight twinge in my lower right back but it was nothing terrible. I continued on my happy weight-lifting way, finished my workout, and went to work. Later that day, while in the car, I started to get a very weird pain in my lower back that radiated around my front side. When I tried to get out of the car, I thought someone was shooting my leg of with a lightning bolt. I literally could not stand up straight. I would send shooting pains all the way to my toes. I could not sit for long periods of time, stand for long periods of time, work for long periods of time, or rest for long periods of time. In short…I was miserable!
I went to the doctor and I found out I had sciatica (I bet Captain America never had to deal with that!). I learned what it would take to treat this ailment and the process that would proceed from that time forward to help me get back to what I loved doing. I was offered a combination of therapies that helped me get back to my baseline before I had to deal with sciatica. No one thing was going to help me get better; I needed a combination of things that included doing work on my part to help the process along.
And that, friends, is my take home point. Overcoming sciatica is a PROCESS. There is not a fix all, but as pain practitioners we will use everything in our toolbox to help you on your journey to feeling better. There were times I would be doing my stretches for the 4th or 5th time in a day and I would ask myself if the things I was doing and medication I was taking were making a difference. I really wondered some days, because it felt like I was not making progress. But guess what? Those things were helping and little by little I recovered.Now you might find me crushing leg day 2 or 3 times a week.
We can help with your sciatic nerve pain! Come see us in any of our three locations in Layton, North Ogden, and Providence. For more information on all things sciatica click the link below.