I just typed this up, for about the 50th time, to share on another forum and figured it may be helpful for some of you, or someone you know, who may have a back injury, especially a ruptured/herniated disc with sciatic pain. Some of this may be helpful with other joint pain or injuries.
I badly ruptured my L5 in 1995. Two doctors recommended against surgery, explaining your body will eventually absorb the fluid the ruptured out of the disc. The third doctor said SURGERY NOW OR YOU WILL END UP WITH PERMENANT NERVE DAMAGE, but he was too persistent and (with my police training and experience) I could tell he was not being honest and was giving off plenty of signals of deceit. I chose to not have surgery, but I learned many good things over the years that have been very helpful and I strongly recommend.
1) Ice. Ice your lower back to reduce the inflammation and numb the pain. Get a good quality gel ice pack, or fill a gallon ziplock bag if money is tight, wrap it in a lightly damp towel, lie on your stomach with the ice pack on your back and cover with a blanket for at least 30 minutes. Skinny people may get by with 20 minutes, more fat will slow the time for the cold to soak in and will need more time. Usually what happened to me is initially the outer muscles start to relax and other muscles begin to hurt more but this only lasts about 5 minutes until the cold soaks in and relaxes all the muscles. That is usually when I would fall asleep and wake up an hour or two later when I would finally push the ice pack off my back and continue sleeping. The slightly damp towel will help the cold transfer but will prevent the ice from burning your skin. I wish I learned this right way, sadly it was years before a chiropractor suggested this and saved me from non-stop pain.
2) Stretch, move, and Chiropractor. After the ice numbs your back move around, do stuff (nothing heavy) and once limbered up gently stretch your back muscles. Sit on the floor, try to tough your toes, gently twist lift and right, basically you are carefully using the muscles and helping them gain full motion again. Find a good Chiroprator, not necessarily one that wants to see you every day, but one that says come back in a few days or a week when you start to tighten up again. If they let you decide they are not in it for the money, if they say come back every day for a month they want the money. (just my experience after visiting 5 different Chiropractors over the past 25 years)
3) Deep Glute Stretch is the best stretch I have ever tried, and sadly I did not learn this until about 3 years ago. This video shows the Deep Glute Stretch first, followed by 7 other good sciatic stretches. If you are not flexible enough to reach your shin to pull on the leg you can use a towel or belt to gently pull on the shin. DO THIS, start with a gently pull as far as you can but do it a few times a day and each time your stretch will improve.
4) Motrin, or generic Ibuprofen. I was a Police Officer and refused to even try using prescription pain killers of muscle relaxers because I did not want them in my system at all, just in case. The doctors told me to use extra strength Tylenol BUT THAT DID NOTHING. On weekend visiting friends I was out of Tylonol, hurting terribly, and they only had Motrin. I took 600 milligrams and within an hour the pain was greatly relieved. One time working on the way to a call I was out of Ibuprofen and stopped at 7-11 to grab a bottle, for some reason their generic was 600 milligram tablets and I didn't read the label and just took 3. After I handled the call I realized I had no pain AT ALL and read the bottle to learn of my mistake. I had time to drive to the ER and ask a doctor friend about my mistake, he laughed and said I should eat something to protect my stomach but not to do that again. Moral of the story, Motrin stops the pain, try to stay under 800 milligrams based on my experience weighing about 200 pounds.
5) Within about a year, or two max, your body will absorb most of the fluid from the disc and you will start feeling less pain, but if you follow my suggestions, especially sooner than later because I started all these way too late, you should get relief and get back to normal.
LASTLY, I did have 3 cortisone injections into my spinal canal at the injury and they worked well, almost too well for my stupidity. After the first injection I felt OK but took a vacation and drove across country and the extended sitting was not good on the injury. The doctor politely yelled at me for that, but I did enjoy my hunting trip so it was a trade off for me. The second injection made me feel pretty darn good, but I was still stupid and lifted something heavy and hurt my back a bit more, I didn't mention this to the doctor because I already yelled at myself. The third shot was very good, but had I not goofed up the first two I suspect the results would have been so much better.
You will hear many suggestions from others, but I have suggested this many, many times to people with new and with old injuries and those who took my advice always tracked me down to thank me for the change in their life.
Good luck.
I badly ruptured my L5 in 1995. Two doctors recommended against surgery, explaining your body will eventually absorb the fluid the ruptured out of the disc. The third doctor said SURGERY NOW OR YOU WILL END UP WITH PERMENANT NERVE DAMAGE, but he was too persistent and (with my police training and experience) I could tell he was not being honest and was giving off plenty of signals of deceit. I chose to not have surgery, but I learned many good things over the years that have been very helpful and I strongly recommend.
1) Ice. Ice your lower back to reduce the inflammation and numb the pain. Get a good quality gel ice pack, or fill a gallon ziplock bag if money is tight, wrap it in a lightly damp towel, lie on your stomach with the ice pack on your back and cover with a blanket for at least 30 minutes. Skinny people may get by with 20 minutes, more fat will slow the time for the cold to soak in and will need more time. Usually what happened to me is initially the outer muscles start to relax and other muscles begin to hurt more but this only lasts about 5 minutes until the cold soaks in and relaxes all the muscles. That is usually when I would fall asleep and wake up an hour or two later when I would finally push the ice pack off my back and continue sleeping. The slightly damp towel will help the cold transfer but will prevent the ice from burning your skin. I wish I learned this right way, sadly it was years before a chiropractor suggested this and saved me from non-stop pain.
2) Stretch, move, and Chiropractor. After the ice numbs your back move around, do stuff (nothing heavy) and once limbered up gently stretch your back muscles. Sit on the floor, try to tough your toes, gently twist lift and right, basically you are carefully using the muscles and helping them gain full motion again. Find a good Chiroprator, not necessarily one that wants to see you every day, but one that says come back in a few days or a week when you start to tighten up again. If they let you decide they are not in it for the money, if they say come back every day for a month they want the money. (just my experience after visiting 5 different Chiropractors over the past 25 years)
3) Deep Glute Stretch is the best stretch I have ever tried, and sadly I did not learn this until about 3 years ago. This video shows the Deep Glute Stretch first, followed by 7 other good sciatic stretches. If you are not flexible enough to reach your shin to pull on the leg you can use a towel or belt to gently pull on the shin. DO THIS, start with a gently pull as far as you can but do it a few times a day and each time your stretch will improve.
4) Motrin, or generic Ibuprofen. I was a Police Officer and refused to even try using prescription pain killers of muscle relaxers because I did not want them in my system at all, just in case. The doctors told me to use extra strength Tylenol BUT THAT DID NOTHING. On weekend visiting friends I was out of Tylonol, hurting terribly, and they only had Motrin. I took 600 milligrams and within an hour the pain was greatly relieved. One time working on the way to a call I was out of Ibuprofen and stopped at 7-11 to grab a bottle, for some reason their generic was 600 milligram tablets and I didn't read the label and just took 3. After I handled the call I realized I had no pain AT ALL and read the bottle to learn of my mistake. I had time to drive to the ER and ask a doctor friend about my mistake, he laughed and said I should eat something to protect my stomach but not to do that again. Moral of the story, Motrin stops the pain, try to stay under 800 milligrams based on my experience weighing about 200 pounds.
5) Within about a year, or two max, your body will absorb most of the fluid from the disc and you will start feeling less pain, but if you follow my suggestions, especially sooner than later because I started all these way too late, you should get relief and get back to normal.
LASTLY, I did have 3 cortisone injections into my spinal canal at the injury and they worked well, almost too well for my stupidity. After the first injection I felt OK but took a vacation and drove across country and the extended sitting was not good on the injury. The doctor politely yelled at me for that, but I did enjoy my hunting trip so it was a trade off for me. The second injection made me feel pretty darn good, but I was still stupid and lifted something heavy and hurt my back a bit more, I didn't mention this to the doctor because I already yelled at myself. The third shot was very good, but had I not goofed up the first two I suspect the results would have been so much better.
You will hear many suggestions from others, but I have suggested this many, many times to people with new and with old injuries and those who took my advice always tracked me down to thank me for the change in their life.
Good luck.
