A woman walked into my office just a few weeks ago telling me of a “true pain in her butt” that has been causing her to limp.
She hurts day in and day out and the best remedy she’s been able to find is heat.
This woman was distraught. Her doctor’s labeled it as sciatica and basically told her it’s something she’ll have to live with for the rest of her life and the option of pain management through pharmaceuticals was available when she was ready.
To someone not experiencing it, this may sound like a reasonable solution.
But for someone who’s gone through or is currently going through it. It’s most certainly not!
When you feel the level of pain, stinging, numbness that sciatica can cause running up and down your leg with no relief in sight, you truly want to find a way to make it stop.
So first, let me tell you what’s going on.
Your sciatica (while typically stated as a diagnosis) is a large bundle of nerves gathered together from your lower back and sacrum that supply most areas of the thigh, lower leg and foot with sensory and motor capabilities.
In most circumstances this bundle of nerves is working for us every day in our functional lives.
It’s when either damage or excess pressure (ie. pinched nerve) occurs that our Sciatic lets us know it’s there.
In the case of excess pressure, this can be caused by:
- Positioning – if your skeletal system is out of alignment this can cause a positional pressure to occur
- Inflammation – whether from injury or systemic inflammation
- Muscle tension – did you know that the sciatic nerve runs deep through the glute complex which means it is surrounded by several very strong muscles that if spasming or holding tension can cause big problems for this nerve?
Now, if you’re experiencing this pain and have tried “everything” and just don’t know what to do next, have hope, there are things that can be done to help you!
The 3 items above are things my team and I assess and work with clients on daily.
Now back to the woman in my office…
After a full assessment, we discovered that while her hip pain was severe, she was also experiencing pain in other areas as well (mainly focused in her joints). She has a desk job where she is sitting with less than great posture most of the time and limited range of motion through her lower body.
We immediately set to work on the 3 items I listed above and within 1 week the pain was lessened. Within 3 weeks she was walking without restriction in her hips.
Now this isn’t to say that we have a miracle cure for anything (in fact we cannot say that we cure anything) BUT there are things we can do.
We can work on lowering our systemic inflammatory levels through the foods we eat and the support we give our bodies.
We can work on easing tension throughout our bodies by improving our posture and convincing muscles to let go and get back to the work they are supposed to be doing.
I think this is one of the reasons why I love my work so much! I am afforded the opportunity to work with unique individuals and their unique situations in such a way that brings them happiness and joy in their everyday lives.
Long ago I learned that while I could be “just a trainer” who whipped people into shape, that I truly enjoy helping people feel and live better.
The clients we work with still get every bit of the muscle tone and inches lost that most are looking for but often for the first time in their lives, they feel much better than they ever have or could have imagined and that’s what keeps me excited about coming in to work every morning.
If you are experiencing sciatic or other issues, start by following the 3 items I listed earlier and see what happens.
If you’d like my team’s help to create a customized program for your needs to help lower or eliminate your daily pain, please feel free to reach out to us. We still have 7 openings left for private clients in January and we’d love for you to be one of them.