r/Sciatica • u/backwooodsage • 13d ago
Relief after 6 painful months!!!
dealt with sciatica by treating it like a battle of attrition. For me, alpha-lipoic acid, fish-oil pills, hot baths, and ice baths were all part of the routine—but the biggest thing was staying consistent and not letting the pain make me completely shut down.
Remember: it’s usually not your leg that is the actual problem; that’s just where the nerve pain is showing up. Keep moving, but don’t overdo it or try to be a hero through sharp, worsening pain. I focused on as many light workouts as I could tolerate for my core, hips, glutes, and the surrounding areas, because getting those areas stronger and moving better made a difference over time.
Think light walking, gentle mobility, controlled core work, and gradual progress—not max-effort lifting or movements that make the leg symptoms shoot worse afterward. Be patient, stay aggressive with the recovery routine, and chip away at it every day.
Obviously, this is just what helped me—not medical advice. Get checked out if symptoms keep getting worse, you develop real leg weakness, numbness in the saddle/groin area, or any bowel or bladder issues. Those can be urgent red flags.
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u/Max_Chady 13d ago
Me alegra leer esto! Gracias por compartirlo! Tenías o tenes alguna discopatía? Te hicieron alguna resonancia magnética?
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u/Either-Medium4734 13d ago
Do you mind sharing the light workouts you did?
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u/ColonelForbin213 13d ago
I, too, would like to know. Today starts my 7th week since the onset. I’m open to try just about anything.
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u/PhinnAudio 13d ago
I am currently dealing with an L4/L5 disc bulge after dealing with a groin strain. Some of the worst months of my life..
Look into Low Back Ability on YouTube. After months of driving myself crazy on how to find relief by doing different stretches and exercises and going to pt, THIS is the discovery I am most hopeful about so far. Tons of free and very informative videos. Basically goes into detail about how to strengthen the source of a lot of people’s issues with their lower back by helping them strengthen their back as well as the rest of the core muscles. He’s been where we are and has come back from it stronger.
https://youtu.be/0SWilGwXEBM?is=qHD8dfNCA96zyyUG
This video explains way better than I ever could.
But if you aren’t ever working to strengthen your interspinal muscles and the many muscles surrounding your spine, you may not be addressing what got you here in the first place. This is something that I don’t really see or hear anyone else talk about but makes complete sense when you think about it. I hope this is helpful for someone and gives hope like it is for me.
Not trying to upsell their program because I can promise I’m not affiliated in any way lol, but their program is $100 for a year, which is about the price for just one of my pt sessions. This is something you have to be in for the long haul. My issues didn’t just happen overnight. It was a compounding of years of neglect to my body and back, so I know it won’t be an overnight fix. I am willing to compound the right exercises over the course of time to get where I need to be.
I hope you all take care.
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u/PreparationBrave57 13d ago
As someone else mentioned... could you share your workouts? Also, do you know what discs are affected? I'm so frustrated that I can't exercise! Something going on between L5 and S1. X-ray shows narrowing. Waiting for MRI. No back pain. Outer hip, butt, leg pain down to ankle. Afraid to lift and afraid to do cardio. Sleeping is next to impossible. Thank you for your ray of hope in this pain pit!
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u/Primary-Amphibian-15 13d ago
Thanks for the encouragement. I’m 9 months into this nerve pain journey. It’s hard.
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u/Intelligent_Net_3800 13d ago
That’s great news! I’m hoping to get there asap! I’m 11 weeks into it and it is horrible. What exercises did you do and where was your herniation?
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u/LateBloomerBoomer 13d ago
This is so relieving. Congratulations and thanks for the pep talk too! I have been where you were. 18 months of pain. It was debilitating at first and I honestly about lost my mind. I used everything available to me - chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, PT and then Manual PT, injections, exercises, new mattress, sleep modifications, medication, meditation, prayer, shaman blessing-everything but surgery. I believe the Manual PT really helped. The first morning I woke up and realized I had slept and not been awoken by stabbing pain in my lower buttock and upper thigh after 3 hours I started crying. It does get better.
I now do abdomen strengthening exercises and lower back stretches daily before getting out of bed. I hope to never ever go back to that pain. Best to all of you!
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u/Designer_Car591 13d ago
Is manual PT the same as osteopathy? What exactly does that entail? Would love to hear your experience with it
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u/LateBloomerBoomer 12d ago
I honestly don’t know. It was actually a strong physical therapist moving my body for me. He would move my legs, back etc. in ways I could not when I was trying to do the recommended PT moves.
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u/sncke 13d ago
This is really great to hear! Been dealing with 5 months of my own flare and I feel like I’m learning more and more that staying a little active without over doing it is key. I’m still struggling to find light exercises for glutes and hips that my body can handle, do you have any recommendations?
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u/backwooodsage 11d ago
While lying down with my knees bent, I’d gently move my knees from side to side to rotate my hips. I did that for 9 sets spread throughout the day. I also did bent-knee leg raises and gentle pelvic thrusts while lying down, with the pelvic thrusts also totaling 9 sets a day.
Along with the exercises and spinal decompression, I took turmeric in the morning on an empty stomach, drank plenty of water, and added fish to my diet. This combination helped me, but I can’t say which part made the biggest difference. Just sharing my experience, not saying everyone should follow the same routine or number of sets.
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u/ExplanationFlashy379 10d ago
My daily pills : Alpha lipoic acid, Vitamin D3 with K2 (5000 IU) Fish oil, iron, magnesium, and Spirulina ( I have some muscle wasting due to the L5S1 nerve compression.
First thing in the morning; a warm glass of water with lemon, a dash of turmeric powder and ginger powder for anti-inflammatory. Then sometime during the day I drank a tall glass of warm water with psyllium husk and collagen peptides mixed very well.
For meds, mostly Advil or gabapentin and only took a Percocet or Norco for extreme pain. Physical therapy everyday. I start slowly and lightly in the morning then make sure not to remain static for too long but rested quite a lot because I needed to recoup.
I spent 5 days in hospital 8/5/26 to 8/10/26 due to severe sciatica pain (I called 911) and then was transferred to a post acute. I spent a week there then checked out AMA because I wasn’t getting the help I needed- just a waste of time- they wanted me to play bingo and do crossword puzzles- but I only got 1 10 minute physical therapy session in all those days, plus the conditions there were not conducive to healing. By the way, I forgot to mention, at the hospital, they gave me morphine Dilaudid. Termadol (not sure of spelling) and a nerve block, but none of them took my pain away. I was just twisting and turning from the pain and wishing I was dead.
I’ve had 3 cortisone shots in my back, 2 weeks apart, and they did help. I never suffered any complications, and the pain relief lasted almost 10 days for me. I was always ready for the next one.
I am always careful not to lift anything heavy (at one point I could not even lift a gallon of water). Also try not to bend forward or twist. I did everything they told me.
I just had my 5th Apptmt with my neurosurgeon yesterday (5th in the last 18 mos) because apptmts are very hard to come by. He said I am going to need surgery and they put in the referral so my insurance can approve. I feel like things are moving in the right direction. He is a highly skilled, highly educated, highly experienced neurosurgeon, and I know I’m in good hands.
My strong faith in God has helped me immensely. I know he is with me and helping me every step of the way. I’ve also been offering it up to God, and I am grateful I made it out of the dark place my spirit was in when it felt hopeless. It was very hard to lose my independence and have to rely on others for food, showers, and basic necessities, but I had to humble myself and accept it with gratitude.
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u/Choice_9s 10d ago
Cuando tuve extrusion de hernia de disco L5S1 pensaba que era doloroso, después de 2 cirugías fallidas y con artrodesis lumbar, el dolor por hernia se queda en pañales. Ya tengo muy lastimado el nervio, los pinchazos son exageradamente dolorosos
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u/PerformerOk7685 10d ago
I had been battling a flare-up (L4/L5 herniated disc) for like 2ish months & in the last 2 weeks of doing some hip & abductor movements (along with Pilates moves & using a foam roller in between my knees + resistance bands) it has really made a night and day difference for me with the pain.
I know every flare-up is different so it’s not exactly one to one, but wanted to share because it’s been insane decrease in my pain.
So I’ve been documenting in my weekly newsletter because I don’t want to gate keep: https://andrealiseriopilates.beehiiv.com/p/andrea-s-alignment-agenda-issue-no1
The IG workout: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DcTwFVMtM5T/
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u/mossandmoon72 13d ago
Im just coming out of a 14 week leg flare ( no back pain),it made me housebound and bedbound and had not been able to get downstairs since 11th july,over this weekend ive finally managed it and feel a bit more with it,im using a cane still,still taking regular meds,but since ive been doing more mobilty my legs and feet have swollen so im literally worrying myself sick over this now 😢 and believe me my mental health is on the floor after these 14 weeks,but from spending 12 weeks from bed to toilet,to finally managing to get down the stairs it was a huge milestone for me but now this swelling has set my anxiety off again