Hi artsy,

Sorry for the pain of sciatica you're going through. I had trouble with it twice, each time affecting a different leg. The first time I got it I had severe shooting pain in my hamstrings and calves, and leg numbness. It resolved after about one month, but I didn't do anything special beyond icing my lower back.

The second time I had difficulty standing for more than 30 seconds. Walking was ok. The disc at L5/S1 had ruptured and a piece was loose in my spinal canal. I was also diagnosed with stenosis, scoliosis, and listhesis - and overall disc degeneration. Lumbar disaster area......

The first surgeon would only do a fusion while removing the disc fragment. I got another opinion, and that surgeon did laminotomies at S1/L5/L4, no fusion. Basically, he drilled holes in the back of those veterbrae to make more space for the sciatic nerve, trimmed back some arthritis spurs, and removed the disc particle.

That was 15 years ago and I haven't had another occurrence of sciatica. I am in the gym everyday now and I do a lot of work for my core muscles. My current surgeon said if I develop sciatica again, he'll have to fuse some of the lumbar vertebrae, and probably S1. He did say that my very strong core is literally holding my lumbar spine together.

My suggestion - hire a PT and go through core exercises that you can make part of your weekly routine. Please clear this with your Dr first as I don't know the specifics of your case.

I'm 70 y/o and this has worked for me. I wish you all the best! (I also maintain a normal body weight for my height, and my percent body fat is around 20, right in the normal range.)

Joe