Managing Sciatica Back pain – My Experience
Eight months ago, I was diagnosed with Sciatica (Back pain). I was finding it difficult to sit or walk continuously. I had pain in my right leg which seemed to travel upwards towards my stomach. I went through the physiotherapy treatment, took medicines for 30-days which included pain killers, and have been continuing the exercises given by them since.
However, after a couple of months, the pain came back again – my knees started to ache whenever I sat or walked for more than 20-minutes. In the late evenings or nights, I even experienced back pain, especially on the days I had to go out, etc.
Since I work from a laptop, I did some research on Amazon.in and found this orthopedic seat cushion. That enables me to sit and work longer – maybe for 20-25 minutes per session, but walking longer was an issue.
Recently, I had to visit the hospital multiple times as my wife was admitted there due to COVID 3rd wave. And that increased my back pain even more – even though I used cabs to go and come back.
It was then that I found Dr. Ashley’s informative Fix Your Sciatica podcast on Audible, where he talks and interviews experts exclusively on one topic – How to Manage Sciatica Back pain without medications or surgery. He also runs a Youtube Channel on managing sciatica pain.
Online Consultation and Therapy
The best thing about Dr. Ashley’s ifixyoursciatica.com program is, any one from across the world can not only book a free strategy call, but they can also sign up for his weekly online therapy sessions.
I booked the initial strategy call without being sure whether he’ll turn up or not. In spite of the 12-hour time difference between US and India, I was able to connect and talk to him via online video.
He asked me to tell me what how I developed Sciatica back pain, and what I had done until then. He listened patiently and then he told me about his way of working/treatment.
One week later, he asked me to show how I sat, stood, and walked – all over online video. The first thing he did was to correct my posture. I had been slouching forward all these years, and that was a fundamental mistake.
He also asked me to show him the exercises I was taught by my physio, and suggested some changes to them.
He then taught me some movements/stretches – to do while sitting and also just before/after walking. One of the stretches gave me instant pain relief, right during the session. I have been doing that stretch whenever I feel pain while walking – and there is pain relief. The pain comes back if I continue to walk for longer periods, but I am able to walk longer than earlier.
Easy to Reference Video
One important thing that Dr. Ashley did after one of our calls was to record the gist of exercises/sessions he suggested and and he sent a personalized video to me via whatsapp. This has been very useful as I refer to the video whenever I have some doubts about the posture or I forget some stretch. I think all Psysios should give their patients a personalized and easy to reference video like this.
I am trying to reduce or eliminate my sciatica back pain without surgery or medications, and so far this is the best option I have found. I am not saying that I am much better than earlier and I have resumed my normal life, but there is improvement and I guess this process takes time.
I hope to resume a normal life after the COVID lockdowns and restrictions have ended. Let’s hope for the best!
Readers can also share your experience with sciatica and the steps you’ve taken to cure/manage it, in the comments. Let’s learn from each other.