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About 6 years ago I had a "sciatic nerve inflammation", cause unknown, but it was immensely painful - on the ground, screaming, levels of pain. Long story short, morphine and valium got me through the next few days and an epidural calmed it down further. By that time my left leg had wasted to the point i couldnt put weight on it and could only manage to walk about 200m with a stick. It was a fairly long road back, not helped by a bike smash a few months later that put me in critical care at UCH and removed 5 days of memory.
I still get low-levels of sciatica: pins and needles in my foot, sore buttock, stiff back, all that kind of stuff. For me, I need to keep on top of three things:
Flexibility - hamstrings (need to be able to touch my toes), hip flexors, calves and piriformas/ glutes, in that order of importance
Posture - I found alexander technique very helpful in giving a better awareness. Occasionally just lying on my back on the floor helps "straighten me out" too
Core - much more about activation, awareness and control than strength. So all the usual suspects, just done with very good form: clams, bridges, superman, plank, etc. On the other hand I did a load of dead lifts when I was getting strength back which seemed to get otherwise useless glutes working again
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cookiemonster
Has anyone ever had sciatica?
I ran 70 miles in a week, then 100 miles in a week about five weeks ago (not much fun). I had a bit of a twang in my thigh which then moved to my hamstring, but after a couple of weeks of fairly minimal running, I get a shooting sensation from my calf to my glute. Dr DoubleO has suggested sciatica. I'm 40 on Saturday so I'm due some failing limbs to go with male pattern baldness and white beard hairs