LogFAQs > #979479833

I feel for you, my friend. I've been struggling with on-and-off sciatic nerve pain for over eight years.

The initial injury happened while I was jogging on a treadmill in a crappy hotel gym. I felt a completely foreign pain go down my right glute and leg. I flew home in extreme discomfort, and my dad - who is a doctor and has also dealt with this same thing - immediately diagnosed me. He told me that unfortunately, this might be something I need to live with for life, and that the best thing to do is take healthy steps to mitigate it.

I hate to tell you that it may be the same deal for you, as I'm sure most people recover from sciatica completely, but that sadly has not been the case for me. I'll often go pain-free for weeks or months and think I'm in the clear only to re-aggravate it via weightlifting or just randomly. In my experience, the best thing to mitigate sciatica has inarguably been weight loss. I've never been massively overweight, but there are times I've packed on maybe 35 pounds more than my ideal weight, and that's when my pain has been its most unbearable. The lighter I get, the less of an issue it becomes.

The other advice I can give you (and I'm being hypocritical here because this is advice I often ignore myself) is to be disciplined about strengthening your core. Anytime you strengthen your abs and obliques, you are helping your back, improving your posture, and lowering the risk and intensity of sciatica.

I reinjured my back most recently a couple months ago and decided to try yoga classes at my local gym. I've only been going for a month and already feel significant improvements in my core strength, range of motion, and pain management. I'd recommend a good yoga class, or at least a core strenthening routine.

Best of luck, and I hope you beat this!