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