Rebuilder's Forum (Archived)

Your "partially filled tire" metaphor works for me Dean ... I like it ... speaking as one who has driven too hard and fast, on a partially filled tire ... and experienced relapse. Good to read of your progress, Henry. Also, that you've been able to reduce your amount of driving; that should REALLY h...

Hi Jeff Dean recommends doing the basic exercises (exclusively) for two months before doing the advanced exercises ... which worked for me. And since you've been getting some success with the basics for two months now ... it would seem reasonable to start experimenting with the advanced exercises an...

Hi Alice Hoping you can explain to us what a "transforminal nerve block" is. What the docs do to you (injection?radiation???). What they put in you? Theory behind the intervention? What they expect the medicine may do? Probability of good results? Those kind of things. Numbness in the ankles is symp...

Hi JG Yes, feel free to check in as often as you can ... no one seems to be taking attendance and saying you can't come in to play, if your name becomes recognizable. I'd even say it was positively therapeutic for me to have this place to come to, and encourage others going thru the same sciatica jo...

Hi DFranklin It's helpful to remember: first, that your present condition is temporary and you will most likely continue to get better, back to your normal, pre-sciatica condition ... or better. During the acute stages of sciatica, one of my strong fears was that I was always going to remain a cripp...

Hi King

Why not follow your physical therapist's recommendation and just see what happens if you increase the traction strength to 75 lbs.?

Randolph

Hi Henry Yes, you're right: I'll be interested to hear how your surgery goes ... and I'll certainly be cheering for you! I very nearly opted for microdiscectomy after my first (and thankfully, only, relapse) a year and a half ago. In my case, it was a wise, and lucky, decision to not have the surger...

Thanks, Dean. You're right ... there are WiFi reception area maps on the internet. Google "wifi areas". Looks like Flying J is the only national-chain truck stop that typically has WiFi (and it looks like they charge to get access) .... yet I see other drivers using (just playing games?) their lapto...

Hi CJ My guess/opinion is that you're pushing yourself reasonably well: just enough to let the pain tell you you've gone far enough ... then doing not much more. And the fact that you woke up with little discomfort is a good sign, too: if you wake up really hurting ... that's possible indication you...

Hi Frank What kind of pain are you experiencing; when did it start; what pain are you experiencing now? If you're still in the acute stages of your pain, probably not too surprising that some exercises/stretches that involve the sites of injury or referred pain would be ouchy. Usually, you don't wan...

Hi Charles I went to a few sites advertising Maitland Spinal Mobilization .... looks like chiropractic with technologically updated manipulating tools. Hard to tell from the website fluff though. What's the benefit behind paying somebody to press on your vertebrae with fancy beeping tools? Wouldn't ...

NJ Ken had some success with his inversion table before he received his two epidurals that stopped his sciatica cold. I found some benefit with "reverse-inversion", that is, hanging by my hands from a chin-up bar so my feet were dangling above the ground. Either way you stretch your spine vertically...

Hi CJ Glad to hear of your initial successes with RYB! I'd encourage you to investigate the new developments in weight-loss therapies to help you lose weight, for example Dr. Judith Beck's THE BECK DIET SOLUTION (not another diet, but an application of the recent development in psycho-therapy called...

Perhaps part of the benefit you're getting from the kneeling chair, Dfranklin, and the benefit you're getting from sitting on the exercise ball, Paul, is the simple change in sitting positions. Our genetic endowment of big butts would seem to indicate were well-adapted for sitting. The problem may b...

Yes, Kim, in Sept '05, my lower back exploded in pain while doing some weighted leg squats (my particular "straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back"), and then a few weeks later a misguided chiropractor completed the carnage .... so my sciatica was VERY debilitating AND VERRRRRY painful for several months....