Clifton CC

After taking down and shifting my garden fence which got blown over just before Christmas I ended up with back ache....no big deal, I've hurt my back a number of times over the years and it subsides after a short while. This time the back ache settled down as usual but I've ended up with pain down my left leg - reading up on the interweb, I've got an achetypal case of sciatica. I'm fine about limping around like Gene Vincent but not happy about it playing merry heck with riding my bike. I can ride my bike but can't put any power into it and can't ride out of the saddle at all. The internet suggests 90% of the time it just gets better on its own - anyone else had sciatica - and if so how long did it take before you could ride comfortably again.

Hi Steve,

Sorry to hear about your back. I used to suffer from Sciatica years ago ( well I had it twice in fairly short succession).

My advice;

1. Mine almost disabled me in that I could hardly move out of a chair let alone ride a bike, so yours maybe something else.

2. For a back pain I'd really suggest a GP over Dr Web. My mother pulled her back just before Xmas gardening and spent a week in agony before having it formally diagnosed as a collapsed vertebrae. Backs are too important to risk guessing.

Good luck!

Thanks Tullio - I'm doing the man thing and not going to the doctor....it's no where near as bad as yours was (how long was it before you could ride again) and getting the time to go to the doc is difficult. At the risk of causing offence to the odd user of this forum, the advice I get is always the same for anything....stop doing what's causing the pain (I've been advised to give up cycling a couple of times) and if it's not better in three weeks come back. If it doesn't get any better I'll have to go I suppose, but I've no reason to suspect it won't.

It could be something else but the symptoms on Doctor web for Sciatica are exactly what I've got....I just hope it settles down soon so I can get on my bike and get some xmas belly off.

Hi Broomwagon
I had sciatica about 3 years ago and so long as you keep moving you should recover totally . Mine took about 2/3 months to heal completely - with no cycling sorry.
Get well soon
Ros

Don't you just love the plethora of experts who crawl out of the woodowrk with advice on this sort of thing- clearly I am one of them! Had back problems with sciatica loads for which I've had physio / chiropracters bending me into all sorts of improbable shapes / GP advice.

They all advise the same- take brufen to reduce the inflammation and keep moving as much as you can to avoid the muscles getting even more stiff and sore.

If my experience is anything to go by (i'm not saying it is) it just takes time / brufen / stretching and eventually your back will recover (fingers crossed)

Good luck

Not so sure it can help, but I think they can - try a Chiropractor.

I have used one for back pain, neck pain and misalignment due to working long hours on a computer and laptop. They can do post injury too. I was recommended one by Col Hawxby who had one treat him for an injury. The one I use is in Haxby - something like Haxby Chiropractic plus. The guy I use is Steen Sorenson. It is disconcerting to be "cracked" but heavenly relief at the same time. They will tell you if they can't help.

Good luck getting treatment.