Sciatica pain went away

Posted by huntersimms @huntersimms, Sep 24, 2021

Hello, this is my first post. I’m sorry if it’s in a wrong group. I had extreme sciatica pain after presumably over stretching something about a year and a half ago. I was working on a side kick, and so I placed my left leg on top of my backyard railing, balancing on my right leg, and the next day I could barely walk. For weeks this went on with slow, minimal improvement.
I joined the Marine Corps and my training prior to that was running a lot, doing crunches, etc. my sciatica seemed to improve, but I always had pain.
We just got back from a 6 day land navigation course, walking/running with about 30 pounds up and down some steep hills, sometimes a quarter or half mile long. This took place for about 15 hours a day, each day. Coming back my sciatica is seemingly non existent. My left hamstring flexibility has improved a lot as well (Previously it was probably half of my right leg and I can’t even touch my toes, so my left was really really bad)
It seemed like this was connected mainly to over stretching my hamstring or something and that was affecting my sciatica nerve? I wanted to know if anyone might explain what happened. Presumably you’d think ruck running, obstacle courses, etc are probably things that would have made it worse. Thanks if you made it this far down to my long history!

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John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Sep 25, 2021

Hello @huntersimms, Welcome to Connect. I'm thinking you probably answered your own question that overstretching caused the pain. Here's some information I found that may help explain what happened.

"Stretching is often recommended for lower back pain. However, nerves become irritated when stretched. In the case of sciatica, improper stretching, overstretching, or repeated stretching can aggravate symptoms. Improper posture while sitting, standing, or exercising can also cause sciatic nerve pain." --- Exercises For Sciatica: Moves To Avoid and Stretches To Try: https://www.verywellhealth.com/exercises-that-could-worsen-sciatica-297246

Do you mind sharing how you found Connect?

JK | @contentandwell | Sep 25, 2021

Hi, @huntersimms Welcome to Connect!

I have been having what I believe to be sciatica pain off and on for a very long time now. That has of course pushed me to research what is good and not good for it. Of the little I do know, sitting for a prolonged period of time is bad for it. In fact I did that at one point for what was basically 8 hours and the next day the pain was so intense I had a pre-syncope from it, fell, and had a minimally displaced fracture of my trochanteric femur.

I read recently that walking is good for it, but not to take long strides. It's encouraging that yours seems better now. I do exercise a lot, nothing like what you have been doing of course, but I am going to have to be more conscious if after exercising my sciatica feels any better. I have also wondered if it could possibly be residual pain from the minor fracture.
JK