Sciatica implies a specific disc/nerve in the spine but other discs can cause similar leg problems. That's why they take the MRI to see which discs are bulging/herniated. Just take it slow and easy until you get that sorted out even if you are feeling better. They can slip back in place relieving the pain but will easily slip back out again. The surgery to correct this actually takes the surgical equivalent of toenail clippers to the problematic disc so it doesn't protrude so much and hit the corresponding bundle of nerves. If your leg(s) go numb... call an ambulance. That's nerve damage and can take years to recover from... if at all.

Could also be piriformis related - people often get it mixed up with sciatica. 

Let's face it... backs are arseholes. It all went to heck as soon as we started walking upright.

That's why monkeys are far superior in the grand scheme of things.

I gotta look into the inversion table. You got one, Craig?

Still trying to schedule an MRI. They won't schedule me until I can identify the make, model and location of each of the three stents I have in my heart. I have a team of crack medical records staff working on it. They said 4-5 days. So I might have a plan in another week or so. OTOH, I might just get lucky and wake up tomorrow feeling all better.

Three stents? You've really lived haven't you?

And inversion tables are good for maintenance but get the injury sorted out first.

I mentioned TENS therapy earlier in the thread. That's those little electrodes the stick to your back and it send wacky feeling jolts into the muscles. It confuses the neuro pathways (or whatever) into not sending the intense pain signals to your brain all the time. It's been in use for a very long time and works quite well. They have also finally accepted acupuncture as an approved nerve treatment but I found it's not quite as effective... and the first time I had it done it made me have to poop.

Awkward!!

but I didn't poop... at least not on the table. lol

bitflipper


I gotta look into the inversion table. You got one, Craig?

Still trying to schedule an MRI. They won't schedule me until I can identify the make, model and location of each of the three stents I have in my heart. I have a team of crack medical records staff working on it. They said 4-5 days. So I might have a plan in another week or so. OTOH, I might just get lucky and wake up tomorrow feeling all better.

I do have one Bit. I use it. I've come home limping and 15 minutes later walked away not limping. I came home so kinked one day I could barely kick the clutch on the way home. I got on the inversion table, eased it back to 45 degrees, about five minutes into it, my lower back made a sound I could not re-create. Snap , crackle and pop. Several things happen on the inversion table. Your spine and the muscles there elongate, the blood flows into your spine and brain, your discs inflate when the joints elongate, the muscles totally re-adjust what tension they are in. That last part is the kicker and the reason for 15 minutes. Any longer than that and you may begin to have strange dreams from the blood flowing to your brain.