Challenge completed

So my Christmas challenge was to be able to touch my toes.. and after plenty of stretching, plenty of warm ups, I finally did it. Really hard work and it's not something I can easily do yet and have to work upto it gradually. However it feels worth it.

Only negative feeling is actually now an ache at the top of my spine.. not sure how this has happened.. but feels sore even after a good nights sleep.. :(

Trouble in 3's

A few technical difficulties this week, first my wife's car started leaking coolant - £200 later and the water pump was replaced. Then the kitchen door locking system jammed, so we couldn't lock the door - callout needed for a locksmith, and then yesterday the internet router seemed to give up the ghost. I was almost at the point of buying another one (and I couldn't check for solutions online as no connection).. when I remembered I had changed the channel on our wireless video link from downstairs to upstairs. Switched that off, reset the router, and after punching in all of the passwords (that I had lost), we had internet again.

Since I am off work, I have been able to do some stretching during morning, afternoon and evening. After some warm up, I am now able to just touch my toes - which feels an incredible achievement. However, what is better from all of this, is that I feel a little more flexible - just a different feeling when I am bending to pick things up - or to put clothes on - a stronger feeling in my back. So maybe in doing this challenge..I have been gradually building up the muscle strength and flexibility - I had thought it was my hamstrings as the biggest issue..and they are still tight tight tight... so I constantly have to think about that.

However I must say that setting some form of challenge, or affirmation - however small it is, does make a big help in achieving things. I have done this in the past.. and perhaps I need to do this more with some of my other personal life problems.

Only a few days to go

I have continued the stretching, but as usual other things get in the way.

I was watching a professional football match over the weekend, and we were sitting close behind one of the goals. We therefore had a good view of the goalkeeper. He was about 1.9metres - with just incredible flexibility - all the time he was stretching during the game to keep warm and muscles ready for action. He touched his toes in a flash - like a piece of rubber bending.. then would stretch up and touch the cross bar of the goal. This player was in his twenties, but there are some premier league goalkeepers who are still playing in their late 30's... so I guess they have similar flexibility - otherwise they couldn't do their job.

The referees were certainly less flexible, just watching the warm up was quite funny. However I shouldn't laugh because I would be even worse.

My wife challenged me to touch my toes last night - I was almost there after two or three attempts, but then my stomach muscle went into a spasm / cramp which was very painful and stopped the exercise. Of course she can touch her toes without problem. So in our household, the girls are winning over the boys.

Pac Man

I added Pac Man for a few days, it was the game I grew up with.. so one of my favourites. However I am sure the noise will get to me after a few days.

I hadn't realised how man great gadgets could be added to a blog.

Progress on the toes challenge

So after setting my target, I have roughly 2 weeks to go to make it.

I had a business trip on Monday, which meant an overnight stay - so I spent quite some time watching the tv in the hotel bedroom - whilst trying to stretch my hamstrings and back muscles. It does take some time to get the muscles warmed up, but I was gradually making progress. However one set of muscles I hadn't thought about was stomach, as I gradually got further bent over.. it was my stomach muscles that started to cramp and become painful. Maybe this is further progress.

However in the morning, I still feel pretty stiff and the prospect of touching my toes seems far away, roughly 6inches of reach is missing on a cold start. But gradually during the week, my muscles start to feel a bit looser.. and I try as much as I can to stretch the hamstring muscles before I go to bed.. however I am concerned that 2 weeks won't be enough unless I try a bit harder.

A Target for Christmas..

Last few weeks at work have been long and hard, and with the dark nights and cold weekends - I haven't got out much and have munched through a load of comfort food.. chocolate, crisps.. the usual stuff. Now I won't be doing some form of diet or exercise programme, but at least I will try and do a stretching target..

so it's a simple target, touch my toes by christmas day.. I think that might be possible.. I am still a few inches shy of doing that.

so started this last night.. let's see how it goes.

One year

I was talking to my wife last night and she pointed out it was probably around November last year when the pain was really making my life difficult. Quality of life wasn't great, and there was a week when both of us were almost useless since she had hurt her neck and it had gone into some form of muscle spasm..

At the time I was of the opinion it would "go away" on it's own and that medical treatment was not necessary..

I see people go to doctors with the most small problem.. or with problems they had a week ago (a pain) and now the symptoms gone.. I can't believe how long it took for me to realise I needed help and to start sorting the problem out. I am also amazed that the first treatment that was offered to me was a pill - rather than thinking about what I could do myself.

With all of the technology I am still somewhat perplexed on the medical profession with this type of problem, what answers and solutions they are offering.

I still have bits of pain, but it's not chronic and acute.. it's more of an ache, which is manageable. I can do pretty much all of the things I need to do.

Getting Better Each Day

The pain is gradually becoming a distant memory - though it appears from time to time and now has more of a feeling of back ache, rather than the really severe and chronic pain that I had before.

Last week I managed a 7 hour drive to Belgium and a 7 hour drive back - with a lot of work in the house and garden - without any issues.

Still can't quite touch my toes yet, and I don't have enough dedication to do the exercises each day - but I do stretch the muscles as much as I can when sitting down.

Status since MRI

So I visited the hospital to get the diagnosis after the MRI scan. It's a bit inconculsive. Basically they say they can see a small problem with one of the discs - slightly bulging - but not enough of a problem to take any action, so I just need to manage the problem (unless it gets worse).

They then said I need to keep all of the MRI images as they have no place to store them.

So since then, what have I been doing. Obviously I have tried to be as active as possible, and my back pain hasn't got any worse.. it's still there a bit in the background. However as long as I can continue to make the situation stable, I feel OK with that.

I had a big breakthrough last week when I was able to touch my toes. I thought this was an incredible result considering where I had started from. However my work colleague said he could go past his toes by 20cm !! not sure if I believed him. He is a tri-athelete so probably it is true.

Anyway - I am convinced that the muscle problem is also a major part to this story and that a could physio program is helping.

Enjoying Holiday

Spending a few days in Finland - and despite plenty of time sitting around on planes,trains and automobiles.. the back and leg held up OK.. but as always, the situations mean you forget about stretching etc.

Watching some professional players of baseball warm up the other night, and was amazed at the amount of leg stretching they did before starting, using some rubber bands to pull against. Then seeing all of my older relatives being still able to easily touch their toes.. a bit frustrating I still can't do it. Progress is just above the ankles.

Today I was encouraged to try at climbing wall, and not just a vertical one - it had an overhang. Being above 80kg and not doing any work on my strength I thought this would last a matter of seconds. I was surprised how far I managed and how far up I got. Again incredible that I was able to move my legs and body to do this - when less than 6months ago I wasn't walking.

Next week is the MRI result.

MRI

Still waiting for the MRI results, but at least now an appointment.. mid of august !..

so more than one month between MRI test and results..

considering the data is created immediately, can't believe the waiting time.

10 days since MRI - no results yet

Having the MRI scan offered some hope that we would get to the bottom of what has been causing my back pain - however - 10 days on and still no news from this.

I had been originally told that the result would be much quicker. What does it actually take to read and interpret an MRI scan?

So glad that I had self treated this sciatica / piriformis - or I would still have the originally agony I was suffering for so long.

lingering pains

so another 1000miles in the car during a week doesn't help the piriformis too much -

have been stretching the hamstrings and doing as much bending as I could manage..

however the awful downpours have made the weekend a bit of a waste of time on the exercise front.

You need to keep stretching -

To be very frank - as soon as the pain had disappeared first from my back and then from my right leg - the energy and persistance to exercise/stretch and massage dropped. I know this is bad and isn't what was needed - but it's that bad reality. Work means you get up early - half asleep into the shower - travel - get back late..the weekends are busy or bad weather.. and the poor life cycle that got me into this terrible problem starts again!!! no.... I don't want to go through this again..

so today I had some pain in my leg - I know what causes this.. it's piriformis and you need to stretch it out..

So any tips on how to break the mental cycle of maintaining the good habits? Please let me know..

tonight I will do some stretching before bed.. and tomorrow I will be away again on business and must find a pool or sauna.

MRI Scan of Lower Back

approx 8 months have passed since my GP first diagnosed Sciatica. After a lot of searching, my personal diagnosis was piriformis syndrome and with some effective physio the pain has significantly diminished. Nobody in the medical teams I have spoken to have talked about piriformis. So today I went for my MRI scan, and I hoped to get a more definiative answer.

The MRI unit was a mobile one, installed into a lorry trailer.

The staff were very nice and friendly, and explained what would happen during the scan. I thought it would be similar to an X-Ray - but it was totally different to how I had imagined. I needed 3 scans and each took 3-4minutes. So in total I was in this tube for more than 10minutes. It is pretty claustrophobic in the tube and the noise is intense, despite using headphones. It's like a noise from doctor Who.

Unfortunately, no results today. Apparently the scans might be sent to South Africa?.. so maybe within a few weeks I can expect the result.

MRI Scan Booked and 24hrs in a Plane

Just got back from a trip to New Zealand and Australia. Some of the travelling was simply enourmous - I don't want to count the hrs spent in airports and on the planes. On the way back, we were stuck an additional 7 hrs as bad weather prevented a re-fueling stop in Hong Kong and we ended up in Manila. So, how did the back manage? Remarkably well. I have to be honest there was the occasional twinge and bit of stiffness - but nothing really bad. I tried to do a bit of stretching whenever I was stuck in an airport terminal waiting area before boarding.

So the treatment of stretching seems to be holding even in adverse conditions. The only disappointing thing is that I have not done any serious exercise now for almost 3 weeks.

I did read a very interesting book about maths and medical diagnosis - which I will post about in a day or two.

Whilst I was away, Alliance Medical called. I had to call them back as they would only speak to me. I now have the MRI booked for tomorrow at a portal MRI unit.

Lets see what further information this brings.

Visit to the Hospital

My GP had recommended that I see the Hospital doctor - but I had heard nothing until just a few days ago. Apparently there is a rule that the Hospital has to see you within 12weeks? and just by coincidence..the 12 weeks was coming up and I get a few days notice to visit the hospital.

However, it's an evening clinic which is a massive help. With all of the improvement I wondered if I should go - however still wanted to find out what the problem is - even if the symptoms had improved.

So day I had the appointment with the consultant. Usual routine, go through the history - short examination. No more or less than was done by the GP.

Ended with his comment that he thought it was a disc issue??? and maybe a trapped nerve??? well actually don't know what it is.. so best is to have an MRI scan.

However MRI scan has a 6 week waiting list. So now we have gone through the system, GP to hospital 12 weeks.. 6 weeks for MRI and it's 18weeks.. now lucky for me the physio has helped to massively reduce the symptoms and get me back on my feet again.

I am now really intrigued what this MRI is and what it can show.

Strangely the consultant never mentioned that the cause could be a possible muscle problem or piriformis syndrome.. I just wonder if it is totally discounted by a lot of the older medics.

Anyway, I will continue with the advice from the physio as this seems to have worked the best so far.

Making the Effort

One of the bad habits I had slipped into in the past years, was not making enough effort to keep my body in a decent shape. With work taking up more and more of my time - getting up at 5am and not home until after 7pm most days - there did not seem any time to keep in shape. However the severity of how hard the sciatica / piriformis hit me - has made me realise what a bad mistake this was.

I now really try to make an effort to do something each week. So this weekend it has been a 25minute run and stretching. When I am away on business I am now always packing shorts so I can use the gym or pool - even if it is just for 30minutes. Have a swim, sauna rather than a heavy meal and drink.

Wahl Massager

In a previous post I had mentioned using a massager. This is the one I have been using, a small hand held Wahl. I had noticed that massaging was one of the recommended actions for piriformis syndrome - but didn't fancy going to get a regular massage - so wondered if you could do something yourself at home. Looked through Argos catalogue and websites.. and this seemed to fit the bill. Ordered from Amazon, £20 delivered (I think).

It's a rechargeable system, so plug in and place in the base for a few hours. The unit is then handheld. To be honest I hadn't really thought about how powerful something like this would be. I am a bit underwhelmed with the massaging aspect - it's basically a glorified vibration. However the "infra-red" heating is quite impressive for the size. It just looks like 5 red LED's - but if the battery is well charged, this can put out enough heat - almost too hot to touch. However you need to make sure there is good skin contact. When my hamstrings are sore after some stretching and exercise - it's a relaxing thing to use. Only problem is the battery discharges quite quickly if you use vibration and the heat together - and the charger has a buzzing noise. You don't know when it is fully charged, though perhaps I didn't read the instructions properly. I suppose for £20 you can't expect much really - however I like the infra red as a quick shot of heat treatment always can come in useful.

Best Day so Far

After 5 sessions with the physio - it was mutually agreed that I now was in control of my stretching and that continuing with this program was the best thing.

A couple of weeks have passed since that point. I continue to do the stretching exercises of all the muscles around my hamstring, hip, buttock, lower back and trunk.

I have also occasionally used the "tennis ball" technique as a way of massaging the piriformis muscle. I don't use a tennis ball, something slightly smaller and harder - it's a kids bouncy ball, perhaps something you would throw to a dog. Lying down with the ball placed carefully on the muscle.. and rolling your weight around it - gives a sort of pain but also a relief.

Additionally I have a small hand held massager with infra red - which I apply each night to either hamstring or buttock.

I have changed my office chair to something more sympathetic and ergonomic - (I had previously changed my car)

I have also started jogging - and manage to do 2-3 sessions per week of 30 minutes. Sometimes it is a little bit painful, but a day or two later I feel the benefit. This additionally exercise has added a lot of general benefits, weight - feeling of appetite and general fitness.

This last weekend was intense where I was doing a bit of everything. By Sunday I was quite sore in my legs - but on Monday I feel the benefit. My hamstring doesn't get the chronic pain and I don't get the acute pains.

So how it feels is the investment in stretching and taking care of the muscles is really paying off.

At Easter I was in real pain, suffering a lot. Now it feels manageable. It isn't cured 100% but I would say it is 80-90% sorted.

The only thing I can think which triggered all of this was switching from left hand drive cars to right hand drive cars.. which changed where I put my right leg.. from being straight to being kinked to the right.

A long painful story - but there is hope for curing this syndrome.

Signs of Improvement

One of the sensations I had previously was that my buttock muscles were always in a cramp, so that when I stood up after sitting down - the pain was like a knife had been stuck into it. With the stretching exercises that the physio had instructed me on - this sensation was starting to go away. I still had the more chronic nagging sensation in my leg/hamstring area.. but I was at least able to walk around the office more normally and not do this ridiculous routine of standing still for 30 seconds or so after getting out of a chair. I was starting to be able to get out of a car with either foot, I was infact driving still for upto 2 hours and getting out with major pain.

This is starting to work - but doing stretching each day takes a new attitude to how you think about things. Now I am starting to find ways to stretch each time I am either sitting or standing.

Sitting in a chair, is easy to get in a slouch position. So try to sit up with a straighter back - with knees together. Then after a period switch positions, try with a knee over the other one. Constantly adjusting and preventing being stuck in one bad position for a period of time.

3rd visit to Physio

Starting to feel progress, but pain is still there as both chronic and acute. However certainly now not walking with a limp, so we are getting there.

Again all of my movement is checked. I had tended to work my right side harder than the left because that's where the problem is, but he advised me to try and work both sides similarly. So I tended to bend over to touch one leg at a time - as doing both at the same time was somehow more painful. Now originally I couldn't touch past my knees, but now I was reaching between my knees and ankles now.

We now started to work on my hip muscles. So lying on a bench, and keeping my shoulders flat (needed to be held down) - stretch my right leg over my left knee and vice versa. This demonstrated just how tight my side muscles and hip flexibility. We checked again hamstrings and these were not much better.

Lying on my front, then tried to lift up whilst keep hips on flat on the bench. Again not a lot of flexibility there.

Clearly a lot more work to do in many more areas than I had first realised.

2nd Visit to Physio - Piriformis Syndrome

So after a week of doing the stretching I made it back to the physio. I didn't know what to expect in terms of his assessment of my improvement. My pain was still there and I was a bit disappointed it hadn't gone straight away after some stretching. Obviously I was hugely over optimistic of what was possible in a week.

The first thing that was mentioned by the Physio was that my scoliosis was improving. It hadn't gone but he could see a difference already. Big morale boost.

He then checked how I was standing and sitting. I was still having a problem in placing my weight evenly foot to foot. Also when sitting I tend to slouch, which pulls back my legs.

He then looked at my hamstrings and his opinion was that they were incredibly tight. I needed to work on these.

So the stretch we performed was lying on the back and hand behind the knee trying to straighten the leg. This hurts, particularly in the back. It's also one which doesn't seem to make a lot of progress.

His recommendation was to first start with 5 second stretches.. and gradually build it up to 10 - 20 seconds etc.

He explained to me that the muscle/tendon doesn't get longer - but basically forgets how long it should be and therefore recallibrates itself to the shorter position. With stretching it creates a recallibration of the muscle to work to. Now I don't know if that is scientifically true or not, but as an engineer I can live with that and helps me to understand it.

So now I have got the John Travolta stretch and the hamstring stretch going - and trying to touch my toes. Roll on another week of stretching at home.

Physio Exercises For Sciatica

One of the biggest boosts I got was to my morale. Visiting somebody who actually knew the pain I was in - and what was causing it - was a massive boost to my confidence. All the visits to the GP's had really been a waste of time - and perhaps worse than that. I had gone there with the expectation they knew something about the condition and could advise me. All I got was a packet of anti-inflamatory pills - without a single explanation of my condition and how to go about dealing with it.

Before my visit to the physio - I could hardly stand up after sitting down for a few minutes. The pain in my lower back and buttock was so intense. I could not get out of a car easily, I had to swing my hips around so I could step out with my left foot and not my painful right foot. I stuggled to walk, I was walking with a strong limp as I dragged my foot behind me. I couldn't believe what was happening to me at 40 years old. I am 82kg and 1.8 metres.. hardly overweight, have run a marathon in under 4 hours and was a decent squash player - but now I can't walk??

So I started doing my John Travolta stretch as best I could. I also made a measurement of how far I could bend over - touching my toes - or said another way, how far down my leg could I touch. Before starting the physio work I could barely touch my knee without shooting pains.

So the way I did the measurement was to make a mark on the wall where I could reach out to..from a fixed position on the floor. I found it very painful to bend and stretch with both arms at the same time.. however my physio had told me to do both at the same time and not favour one or the other. Try to hold each stretch initially for at least 5 seconds without bouncing.

I booked to see the physio exactly one week later - so now I had a personal target, how much stretching and bending could I achieve in just one week. For the first time I had a goal and somehow this alone made me feel better in itself.

First Visit to the Physio - Does he know about Sciatica

So after finding a private physio (remember I had been waiting on a list for the national health but nobody was calling) I went for my first examination to see if he could do anything about my sciatica problem.

I was armed with the information that I didn't have any issues from either the X-Ray or blood.

Talking with the physio was a revelation. The level and depth of knowledge was completely different to the GP. This person could literally read my body - just by looking at the shape of the skin, the muscle definitions and the positions (or lack of) that I could move my limbs - he explained so much.

We discussed lifestyle, he looked at how I stood, how I would sit and move. He checked my full range of body movements, all aspects of this.

The main problem he said was that I had spent too much time sitting, tightening my hamstrings and buttock muscles.. and these were now going into spasm and were pressing on the sciatic nerve.. giving me the pain and sensations down my lower back and right leg.

I had developed a preference for one side of my body, I leant slightly when standing and sitting and therefore built up lobsided muscle definition, which was getting worse and worse each year. Even the folds in my skin were un-even. All these details I had never realised or noticed. He had a skeleton model and showed the parts of the body we were talking about. However he didn't talk about sciatica as a specific condition.

He then showed me the first stretching excercise that I would need to do. It seemed quite simple, but actually with my condition it was difficult.

It was like doing a John Travolta point to the sky move.. right then left. The idea being to push to the side and up.

After my first session (approx 45minutes), it was good to know I was now working with somebody who had dealt with this problem before, and was optimistic that it could be solved. He also asked me what I expected from the treatment.

Well what I expected, was to be able to get my life back to normal and not have this constant pain. Is that too much to expect?

Anyway - £35 seemed well spent so far.

So he first
Obviously the first point

Finding some hope outside the NHS

So the National Health Service (NHS) hadn't been able to help me. I don't have a private medical insurance either.

However my back and leg pain was both hurting and making me depressed. You can't do anything with the pain and the range of my movements had decreased dramatically.

Over the Easter holiday I pushed myself to find an answer. I looked through the local newspaper, looked at websites to find anything I could about sciatica. It was at this point I started to realise that I didn't have the classic sciatica, but what people term Piriformis syndrome. My X-Ray had shown there was nothing wrong with my back, and all of the symptoms of Piriformis syndrome seemed to apply to my condition. At least I had a starting point.

The main treatment it seemed to be was physiotherapy - with both stretching/massage techniques.

I started ringing around private physiotherapists.. and found one in my local village. I made an appointment that evening.

My life had started to change for the better.

3rd Visit to GP Doctor

So it takes almost 4 weeks to get the results of the back X-ray and blood test. I visit the doctor again hopeful that they would be able to tell me what the problem actually is - but I am almost disappointed when he says there is nothing abnormal with both the X-Ray and the blood test. This means after almost 6months of continuous pain, we are no furth on.


He does say I have a slight scoliosis on my back, but doesn't say anything more about it.


He asks if the physio has been in contact.. which they haven't.


He suggests I seek an orthopediac examination at the hospital.


This was back in March 2008 - May 2008, I am still waiting for the appointment letter to arrive, let alone knowing when to go to the hospital.

I really start to feel desperate now.

2nd Visit to GP Doctor

The pain diminished slightly after changing my car from a Ford Mondeo to a Volvo, however after a few months it was back to being very serious.

Everytime I was sitting down, the pain would be incredible. Standing up after sitting was like having a knife pushed in my back. Similarly any time I would cough or sneeze, the pain was intense. Driving was so uncomfortable.

So went to a different GP. Again the diagnosis was sciatica. This time the doctor sent me to the hospital for X-Ray and blood tests. The idea being to try and discover what was causing the pain. He also put me on the list to see a physiotherapist. We are now approx 4 months since the pain was first impacting me

Sciatica - First Visit to GP Doctor

The pain seem to be at it's height after driving, to the point of not being able to actually get out of a car after driving for more than 20 minutes. I had changed my car from an Audi A4 to a rental car, Ford Mondeo. The Ford Mondeo was brand new and I didn't suspect anything from changing cars. However it became so painful I was glad when the car was returned. The pain seemed to be less when I drove my wifes Ford Focus, the seats seemed more supportive.

So after struggling along for more than a month with lower back pain, and pain in the leg I made an appointment with the GP. I had been taking pain killers, but without any effect at all. The pain killers simply didn't make any impact to the intense pain.

After a brief discussion, the conclusion was that I had a case of Sciatica - and the GP gave a prescription for anti-inflammatory pills. The pills are called Dicloflex made by Almus pharmaceutical. Apparently they are supposed to reduced the swelling near the sciatic nerve? They didn't actually explain to me what they were - I thought they were stronger pain killers. There is some side effects, you won't be constipated with these things.

However ultimately taking these Dicloflex anti-inflammatory pills in combination with pain killers didn't make any difference to my condition.

Background to my Sciatica

This blog is dedicated to trying to recover from Sciatica.

I am 1.8m ~ approx 84kg and when the sciatica started, 39 years old.

In my 20's I was pretty active, and did regular exercise. In my 30's it became less and less, playing squash now and again.

I have a desk job and do quite a bit of driving to different locations of work.

After a very long drive, I suffered slight back pain - but I would recover quickly from this.

I moved countries, which involved moving the family (lots of furniture to move), changing cars and changing chairs/desks at work.

About month after the change I started to feel lower back pain. It didn't recover and gradually got worse and worse.