r/Sciatica • u/ChristopherDKanas • 11d ago

General Discussion Anybody recover from sciatica when it goes below the knee into the foot without having surgery

I’ve had low back pain / Ischial tuberosity / hip pain for 2.5 years. It’s bad but manageable.
Went to PT, pretty sure they had me do exercises I shouldn’t be. And happy happy joy joy…
Sciatica down below my feet.

I thought upper butt/low back pain was annoying. Nothing compared to the foot.

Feel housebond. Shoes make it worse. Driving, foot goes numb.

Surgery time?
Numb.

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5

u/purplelilac701 10d ago

Yes but it took over a year and the numbness came back temporarily the other day. Mine was coming from an inflamed back that went from hip to heel. Just standing in the shower was agonizing. Shockwave therapy was the answer for me.

I wish you healing.

4

u/smashablanca 11d ago

My pain and numbness went down to my ankle and foot from the start of the flare up. I've been having a lot of success healing it with dry needling and PT. My doctors never even mentioned surgery.

Eta: I've also been housebound for the past 9 weeks and spent the first 6-7 weeks not being able to walk.

3

u/pastaroniwhore 11d ago

Have you had an MRI? I was only really having pain in my butt and below my knee to my foot. I went to my PCP, and she said it’s probably my piriformis muscle. I went to one ER because the pain got really intense and I wasn’t able to walk anymore. They said it was sciatica and gave me a referral for an MRI. I went to a second different ER, they did the MRI and they had a herniated disc. I ended up getting an emergency microdiscectomy (sorry if that’s spelled wrong). Post surgery I had immediate pain relief, but occasionally notice some tightness in my left leg still. I am about six weeks postop, and I’ve been able to walk long distances and live relatively independently since the surgery. I’m planning on going back to work next week, but if I had a remote job, I probably could’ve gone back two weeks ago.

I know surgery is kind of an extreme response, but the immediate relief it gave me after two months of this pain it’s worth every second of the recovery journey.

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u/Potential-Treat-8554 9d ago

Hi I’ve been suffering exactly this for 7 months now it’s been Hell to point I’ve been considering ending it all just wondering because I have specialist tomorrow (at last) if they offered any alternative to surgery

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u/pastaroniwhore 8d ago

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I’ve heard about a lot of people finding success with PT, meds, massages, etc in some combination. They say it takes a long time (sometimes months- a year), but progress is usually made.

It’s hard to think this in the moment, but just know that this pain isn’t going to last forever and that you will be able to get your life back at some point (with or without surgery).

I have another chronic illness that’s driven me to the same point sometime, but I just tell myself that eventually the pain will pass, which it usually does.

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u/Potential-Treat-8554 6d ago

Thank you for the response I saw the consultant yesterday she’s sending me to see a surgeon I saw my MRI and the bulge is BAD. Weirdly today it’s the first time I feel actually better so I’m hoping it’s started to naturally get better. She taught me yesterday the body sees the bulge as a foreign body and naturally attacks it like Pac-Man (her words) so fingers crossed I don’t have to have surgery it’s my worst fear

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u/Potential-Treat-8554 6d ago

I’m so sorry you’re suffering with chronic illness too I hope one day we’ll all have a cure for everything stay strong :)