Sciatica is a pain in the ....

About six years ago, I had an indignity foisted upon my backside. While visiting the historical site of Valley Forge, my fiancé (now husband) and I were upstairs in Washington’s Headquarters. I decided to go downstairs and look at some more things while he continued to explore up there. I’m not sure how it happened or really what happened, I just know I took the short way down those little, HARD colonial stairs. In addition to almost giving the National Park Ranger a heart-attack while he rushed to see if I survived my less than graceful approach to descending stairs, I gave myself what turned out to be an injury that would continue to haunt me. My left side took the brunt of the fall and for the rest of our trip (this happened on day one of a five day trip) I sported a black bruise over three quarters of my left derrière and had to one-cheek it anytime I sat down. We were there for a wedding (hard church pews) and to see the sights (lots of driving in and around Philly). I applied ice and other than enduring the pain and embarrassment of falling on my ass very publicly, I pretty much thought nothing more of it. Got married, settled into our new house, life went on and a few years passed.

Then, while I was teaching dance class, I often found my left cheek and leg were hurting and tight despite how limber as I was. I had no idea why as I had promptly forgotten my Philly woes. I went to the doctor who then sent me to a physical therapist. He did the usual range of motion tests to see where the weakness was. Then he did some “deep tissue” work. If you have not had the pleasure of such a “massage,” I can only describe it as a way to get people to give up their secrets. It still hurt so much the next day that I couldn’t sit down during a meeting. Apparently, when I fell at Valley Forge, I did more than I realized to my bum, deep down in the muscles. Luckily, that seemed to go away with the PT exercises and life was good again.    

Then I took up running. I started putting more stress on my body than it had experienced since I was a kid. I gave myself runner’s knee training for and doing a half marathon (another story). Worked my way through that and then right before Christmas one year, I must have “hit a nerve” so to speak. I was having problems just walking. I couldn’t figure out the pain. I broke down and went to a chiropractor. (Side note: I have never trusted them since I had to take a friend to one on an emergency “I have a crick in my neck so bad my head won’t move” and they hounded that person to come in on such a regular basis, I thought it was just about the money.) After looking through my provider options, I found one close to home that the insurance accepted. Heebee jeebees. I only went back two other times and the heebee jeebees never went away. Just something about him I didn’t like in addition to the ‘you need to come twice a week for the next few months’ crap that made me distrust chiropractors in the first place. But I was walking again and I moved on to just focus on runner’s knee pain.

Like that annoying old relative you only see every few years, it came back earlier this year. However, I found another chiropractor and she’s awesome. More of a “come see me when you need to” and definitely not creepy. When I fell, I don’t think I realized just how hard I hit. It was enough to knock my glasses off my face and I think it also made it easier to throw my hips out of alignment on occasion. And when that happens, that nerve running down the back of my leg gets angry and lets me know about it.

Introducing Mr. Sciatica, the current bane on my running schedule. Luckily, it’s better treated with stretching and exercise (just search sciatica exercises or stretches on YouTube and you’ll see) than bed rest, which would really drive me nuts. Problem is it is quite literally a pain in the ass. Usually just one side of it, and in my case, it’s the left side. Pain runs from the upper cheek down to the knee along the back of the leg. With each stride of a run, it’s not the leg striking the ground that hurts; it’s pulling the leg forward that does. So, I’m off again to the chiropractor’s this week to see if another adjustment will get everything back in alignment and the nerve a bit less inflamed and angry. Because an angry sciatic nerve means painful running and no running means an angry me.

(Medical disclaimer – this is in no way meant to diagnose or treat anyone’s leg pain or possible sciatica. If you are experiencing any type of severe pain, seek qualified medical assistance. Nor is it intended to disparage chiropractors, but do your due diligence before selecting one.)