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sciatica pain..... in a younger person?

boamedt

boamedt

Jul 2, 2008
1,311
842
Santa Rosa, Ca
#1
I'm only 28 and already have the problems of older man.....anyone else who is around my age find these phrases familiar? Ow my sciatica, my hip, my back, my knees, my shoulders? And its not just that, I can't even sleep through the night anymore, I get up to pee at least twice a night. I already have a somewhat salt n pepper hair too
Is anyone else effected by young persons old man syndrome?

Yes I see the Dr about all this:rolleyes:
 
#3
Not sure about the age thing, but all those aches and pains in a 28 year old can be indicative of a few things... untreated Lyme disease for instance. Otherwise if you have a herniated disk it can cause a multitude of issues - did you have any injuries preceding this?
Yeah dude, get to a doc.
 
#4
My father had this and arthritis at a relatively early age. I've had similar problems. My son is starting to have issues with this at 35. When my father had this the doc put him in traction for a couple of days. He never had a problem again. But traction is considered obsolete today.


;-/ Paul aka Papa Pi
 
#5
boamedt said:
I'm only 28 and already have the problems of older man.....anyone else who is around my age find these phrases familiar? Ow my sciatica, my hip, my back, my knees, my shoulders? And its not just that, I can't even sleep through the night anymore, I get up to pee at least twice a night. I already have a somewhat salt n pepper hair too
Is anyone else effected by young persons old man syndrome?

Seriously, I had all that stuff at 28. The good news is, it all got better with time. Not that unusual.
Click to expand...
 
#7
Ok my guess is that you probably have a prolapse disc; I got one of those as well and at its worst it causes irritation of the sciatic nerve. It also causes pain in my hip joint and then radiates down my leg, it's a miserable and insidious pain.
Basically I have a disc that bulges out from between two vertebrae and presses against the nerve. Mine was diagnosed 20 years ago and I was offered fusion surgery to fix it but I refused.
Now I'm older, it is a lot worse and surgery is looking more attractive.
Go see an osteopath and get checked over, an early diagnosis will save a lifetime of misery.
 
#9
I am dealing with about of sciatica pain right now and I am 31. I have been extremely avtive my whole life (I played D1 college baseball and have been a competetive olympic weightlifter amongst other things). The sciatica came on after I started working in an office, at a desk job. Even though I have a standing workstation, I probably sit 50% now than I did before I started this job. It is a high stress position that requires a lot of hours and late nights. I am not moving nearly as much as I used to and its starting to affect me in an extremely negative way. I would recommend a lot of deep tissue work, stretching and corrective excercise. I am hoping that I will get the issue resolved in the next few months. Good luck.
 
#10
ive been going to the chiropractor for two months now, hoing it would help(recomended by others). i went to the dr this morning and he put me on a steriod taper to try and get the inflamtion down on the nerve. they think that it keeps getting injured because its so inflamed that it never gets the chance to subside. we will see, i have a history of nothing working on me....i told him i was taking 1800mg of motrin every 6 hrs and it wont even touch the pain, 3 vicodin later, still nothing.
they also signed me up for physical therapy to take care of my back and shoulder pain
 
#11
could be bulging disk. my sciatica pain was pretty off and on but hurts a lot. I got an xray, thankfully everything was fine in my back.

I use a pool noodle and put it vertical to my spine and roll back and forth on it a bit and that usually helps a lot with the pain.
 
#12
boamedt said:
ive been going to the chiropractor for two months now, hoing it would help(recomended by others). i went to the dr this morning and he put me on a steriod taper to try and get the inflamtion down on the nerve. they think that it keeps getting injured because its so inflamed that it never gets the chance to subside. we will see, i have a history of nothing working on me....i told him i was taking 1800mg of motrin every 6 hrs and it wont even touch the pain, 3 vicodin later, still nothing.
they also signed me up for physical therapy to take care of my back and shoulder pain
Click to expand...

None of what you described will help with sciatica. If it is truly sciatica, your piriformis (and most likey hip flexors) are tight and it is digging in to your sciatic nerve. This is a muscular issue and you need to fix the muscles, not the skeletal system. Tissue manipulation and deep tissue work are the only way to deal with muscular problems like this. Think about it like this, unless there was a moment where you actually hurt the area (like you broke your ankle or tore your ACL) it is either an overuse injury or muscular malfunction. Your body has shut down somewhere and is overcompensating somewhere else to protect a muscle. I suggest finding a reputable massage therapist (not some strip mall chain) and really have them work on the specific problem.
 
#13
lowendmafia said:
None of what you described will help with sciatica. If it is truly sciatica, your piriformis (and most likey hip flexors) are tight and it is digging in to your sciatic nerve. This is a muscular issue and you need to fix the muscles, not the skeletal system. Tissue manipulation and deep tissue work are the only way to deal with muscular problems like this. Think about it like this, unless there was a moment where you actually hurt the area (like you broke your ankle or tore your ACL) it is either an overuse injury or muscular malfunction. Your body has shut down somewhere and is overcompensating somewhere else to protect a muscle. I suggest finding a reputable massage therapist (not some strip mall chain) and really have them work on the specific problem.
Click to expand...

This.

Even a bulging disc is a worst case type scenario. A couple years back I was injured playing rugby and it just caused that entire hip area to be pretty inflamed. I've had a few issues over the years, many coming from everything being slightly out of place due to my over pronated feet. However, once the initial knock settled down I had issues with my hamstrings tightening up and piriformis ceasing on the sciatic nerve (more than once had complete loss of strength and/or numbness down one leg, not to mention the oh so pleasant bolts of pain when it was angry!).

Hamstring and hip tightness can really screw your posture too. Tight hamstrings will pull your hip, shifting your spinal posture and put excess pull on the muscles in your back. Your body needs balance, something being out a little can cause all sorts of problems. Not to mention that, as your body over compensates, it'll likely result in injury elsewhere, you can end up with an almost cyclic injury pattern!

See a doc, you'll likely have to do some stretches and maybe some core stability work, I still do a lot of work with bands and a gymball. I'm 27, if it makes you feel any better :-P . Also, I found heat packs and anti-inflammatories to be most beneficial!
 
#14
Your age is just about right. My sciatica got so bad that I had surgery 20 years ago. It was the best thing I ever did.
Before surgery, go with massage, whirlpool spas, exercise, and losing weight, if you have to, will definitely help. Good luck
 
#15
ive been getting massages, stretching and taking anti-inflammatories to no avail. thats the problem, they dont help...ice..nothing....heat nothing...they gave me anti-inflammatories that they give rheumatoid arthritis and it did nothing...the doc is confident that we can get it better, but none of this stuff is working.....im not fat, i dont need to loose weight, im 6'4" and 200lbs.
what surgery did u have?
 
#18
boamedt said:
ive been getting massages, stretching and taking anti-inflammatories to no avail. thats the problem, they dont help...ice..nothing....heat nothing...they gave me anti-inflammatories that they give rheumatoid arthritis and it did nothing...the doc is confident that we can get it better, but none of this stuff is working.....im not fat, i dont need to loose weight, im 6'4" and 200lbs.
what surgery did u have?
Click to expand...

How long has it been an issue? These things are not an overnight fix. It took me about 18 months of working at til it was "better", I still have some issues but they pale compared to what it was like before (no more sharp pains, weakness or numbness). It was a lot of time being pretty p'd off too, lack of sleep and fairly constant pain doesn't equal a happy bunny.

Have you been to a physio/physical therapist?

Yoga is good, I did Pilates for a while (must go back to that actually).

Surgery is always a last option. If it is just a muscular imbalance then its not likely to be an option either. It could also depend on the manner in which your sciatic nerve passes the piriformis (there are 4 known anatomical variations, some more prone to sciatica).

Your height won't help things, being taller seems to make you a bit more prone to issues like this (6ft4 here too).
 

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