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Has anyone else experienced this?

Posted , 3 users are following.

wendym1966
wendym1966

I have had sciatica for approximately 6 weeks. It was so painful for the first couple of weeks and the exercises the nhs gave me to do made it so much worse, so I have been seeing a chiropractor. The pain has subsided a lot, I am fine when sitting or laying down but within seconds of standing or walking, I get pain in my calfs and my foot has a horrible tingling feeling in it. I also had a problem with my right hip(my sciatica is primarily down my left side), which made me walk with a waddling gait. My walking is getting better but I feel so unstable on my feet that I get very anxious about walking outside without having someone to hold onto. I feel I will never be able to walk independently until I have no pain or tingling, and I can walk straight without any effort. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I am worrying my anxiety of falling over will never go away!

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • Ellisrobo
    Ellisrobo wendym1966

    Posted

    Hey Wendy,

    I was in your position for the best part of 4 months, Any thing my physitherapist had me doing only tired me out and made me verfy immobile. 

    So I decided to go private like yourself, To start off with he explained to me exactly what was wrong and made me a list of DO's and DONT's! These helped me very much because I didn't know what I was doing everyday was contributing o the pain.

    Ask your chiropractor to do something like a list for you.

    As for the tingling walking will ease that pain, but since you have some anxiety about falling or collapsing, as did I and many I have also spoke to had this same problem. try a crutch or cane for a few days to steady yourself, chances are you will not fall because of it and what you are fearing is simply in your head, so after a few days of assisted walking you'll be getting some confidence back and hopefully you will be willing to try and walk on your own, the more you manage to walk on your own and the further you can go without having to stop and sit down, the more you will realise it was just in your head and you can actually walk okay..

    Now i realise that it is possible to fall because of this pain, you cannot let that thought hold you back, being unactive will contribute to the amount of time it will take to make a full pain free recovery.

    Hope this has helped you and maybe gave you some confidence to get back up and try.

    Just remember if you can look up, you can get up!

    Best of luck -Ellis.

    • wendym1966
      wendym1966 Ellisrobo

      Posted

      Thanks Ellis. It's good to know I'm not the only person that has anxiety issues about walking.

      I do think it is partly psychological but almost losing my balance indoors a few times hasn't helped. I have bought a cane but I've never used one before and nearly lost my balance practising with it indoors.

      I keep telling myself that when I don't have to work at walking properly and it just comes naturally, that I will feel more confident. At least that's what I'm hoping! 

      But it's so nice to know that how I'm feeling is how other people have felt. I was concerned I was the only one. 

      My chiropractor has been giving me more and more exercises to do each week, and advised me on the do's and don'ts. He's also given me a special belt to wear to help with my hip. He has said that I am taking longer than most to get better, but hopefully I'll get there. 

      Thanks again Ellis. 

    • Ellisrobo
      Ellisrobo wendym1966

      Posted

      No problem at all!

      I hope you have a full recovery sooner rather than later! 

      All the best wendy!

  • wendym1966
    wendym1966

    Posted

    Feeling a lot better now, about 95% back to normal and getting out and about and walking a lot more. Chiropractor has said he only needs to see me a couple times more because all he is doing now is monitoring me. Still doing all the exercises he gave me but they are getting easier every day. 

    I would definitely recommend going to a chiropractor rather than the nhs. 

    • marshall71
      marshall71 wendym1966

      Posted

      Yes I think your right the nhs is useless In treating people with back problems 
    • wendym1966
      wendym1966 marshall71

      Posted

      I think chiropractic treatment should be available on the nhs, as so many people find it is the only treatment that works.

      I'm lucky enough to have private health insurance but I feel sorry for people who simply can't afford to pay to see a chiropractor and so have to suffer for a lot longer than need be because they are having to rely on the nhs. 

      A lot of these people end up needing to have surgery because the treatment on the nhs doesn't work and their condition gets worse. I would have thought it would be cheaper to provide chiropractic treatment than to have to operate. 

      But I don't expect it will ever change as the nhs do not even recognise chiropractors, as I was told by my doctor when I needed them to do a referral letter for insurance purposes. 

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