Yeah that’s your L4 & L5 nerve root that runs through your lower back hip and down the leg. Exactly what I had.
Defo get on the stretches once you can.
Until then enjoy Saturday in bed 
Anyone here ever seen a chiropractor for back pain? I’m having really bad spasms between my spine and shoulder blade for the last couple days. It’s definitely muscular and I think it would be good to get something manual done to it. But it seems quite hard to get on the NHS and they’ve got bigger things to worry about. Is it worth a try?
Usually with back muscle problems I just work them out on a door frame or with a cricket ball or something. But every time I try that it just seizes up more.
My posture has always been terrible and I haven’t done much exercise for a while. Working on both now. (Or will, once the pain gets better). Will get back on the bodyweight fitness routine soon I think.
I’ve got degenerative disc disease so it’s a fairly constant cycle of back back/hips for me, but I do find that doing the routine of stretches and exercises the physio recommended helps. The key is not to sack them off when you feel like you don’t need to do them because you’re feeling ok that day. I also have cortisone injections which basically act like a miracle cure every few months.
Posture is a big one too, especially seated.
Go to a sports physio, they are trained professionals unlike chiropractors who aren’t recognised in the medical world.
It’s not about cracking your back, it will probably be muscular and needs a physio.
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Yeah Sports Physio all the way. Managed to get in for an MRI on Friday for my back, hopefully i’ll get some answers this time.
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Thanks mate, thought as much. I’m wary of chiropractors too but it did get a mention on the NHS website saying some people have had success. Plus last time it happened I was in Dubai and EVERYONE gave me a card of a chiropractor that they swear by…
I’ll look at some physios around here, luckily I’m pretty central so there’s a few about.
That’s the thing with chiropractors, I bet all those people in Dubai are going to them regularly for back and neck issues, where as a sports physio will really want 1-2 sessions (depending on the pain) and send you home with a stretch routine to hopefully not see you back again because they’ve targeted the problem fully.
Each to their own of course , but I wouldn’t want to be constantly going back for the same issues .
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Up until the lockdown kicked in I was seeing a chiropractor once a month for regular ‘maintenance’. Probably didn’t need to as I stretch daily for 45 minutes-ish. Since not being able to go I’m the same as usual really. There’s certainly no discernible difference with my lower back.
I started to go to my chiro after I zoomed out a switch 180 a good few years back but rode it out somehow even though I should have just taken the slam. Result was two squished discs and me in a perma-Mr Burns posture. I was in a ton of pain and crooked as fuck. Looking in the mirror was scary- puffed out stomach and a kinked to hell lopsided spine. I tried icing, resting, salt baths, painkillers, smoking weed like a chimney all to no avail.
After two weeks of not being able to stand up straight or get out of the house I went to the GP. Ended up on Valium and codeine. Got some uninterrupted sleep for the first time since the injury. No difference to the problem though, just strung out on pills feeling like shit and stopping those made me feel even worse. He had me referred to the NHS back pain clinic where I was told there was no point in me being there as I would just get better as there was nothing seriously wrong. 
I was probably imagining that I couldn’t walk properly and looked like an extra from Freaks.
One morning, head in hands and almost in tears,I resigned myself to the fact that I’d probably never skate again. My wife found me distraught and said I should see a chiropractor, as she likes a bit of alternative therapy. My normal reaction would have been one of, ‘yeah right let’s burn some sage and go see the Ju-Ju man’, but desperate times and all that.
She made me an appointment, She folded me into the car and off we went. I walked into that office bent double and super skeptical. An hour later, after an examination, some x rays and some ‘magical back cracking’. I walked out with noticeably less pain and standing relatively straight. More importantly I felt like the situation was no longer hopeless. They asked what my goal was and I said number one priority was getting back to skating ASAP. They made me bring in some skate vids to look at so they had some idea of what I was up to. They devised an exercise/stretching regime for me to follow and a program of treatment. Ok, I had to agree to come back every two days for a week, then every three days for a further week. Cost was something like £400 for a fortnight. After that period I was walking and sleeping normally and the posture was fixed. Then I had to visit every couple of weeks for the next six weeks. I then
opted for the monthly maintenance after the initial program was finished, for piece of mind more than anything. If I’m honest with myself the maintenance is more than likely a bit of hokum, but the placebo effect was good enough and at £35 a month was worth it.
After two months of the first visit I was back skating again. 8-10 trick flat ground lines for 3-4 hours almost non stop with no pain. I was a total convert and recommended, at the time, chiropractic care to anyone would give me half a chance. I was so enthusiastic about it just because I had been given a second chance. The hope I felt walking out of the chiropractor office was a stark contrast to the feeling of doom I had after my GP visit
The x-rays showed that I had two pinched discs and, (this is where I became even more dubious as it really did remind me of dianetics e-meter nonsense. Where’s the science? 
),they did a muscle density test that showed which muscles were in spasm the most, and produced a muscle map on many pretty colours for me to look at.
Treatment consisted of the usual back cracking business and by putting me on a bed that was akin to a giant black and decker workmate and dropping various shelves in order to realign my pelvis. They also used a ‘magic biro’, clicking the unexplained gubbins on various parts of my back. It all seems mental now but I can’t deny that it worked for me and got me skating again, gave me hope and made me happy, so it still seems worthwhile.
The x—rays also turned up an old fractured vertebra from years ago which was an added bonus and explained a load of back issues I’d had years previously.
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Damn that’s a pretty fucked situation and totally understand the nhs and GP’s being useless in recommending sports physios.
My old physio (ex premier league football physio) said to me that doctors will alway say rest and pain killers before further treatment, by that time it could make it worse .
I’ve told mates not to bother with a GP because that’s always what happens and go straight to a physio instead , it’s worth the £45 to get it looked at there and then.
Absolutely, it was a live and learn situation. After ‘popping’ my pushing leg calf muscle on two occasions. I saw a sports physio. That totally did the job. Ultra sound, massage and exercise program Bupa paid for that pretty much no questions asked. He also told me to stop doing jazzy extended pushes and more importantly that Nike free shoes sucked for me. I’d skated in Nike tennis classics and the converse Dr J lows forever and they had a heel. The frees were akin to being barefoot and so when I pushed my calf muscle was more extended than I was used to. That combined with no warm up stretches and daft pushes equalled SNAP! Definitely with you on the proper sports physio care.
I’ve gone barefoot/zero heel drop on all footwear for the last 2 months and now my lower back is loads better. My ankles and calves ache every morning which I’m taking as a sign it’s all slowly stretching out and getting stronger like it’s supposed to, so worth a try.
I still wear the same old tennis shoes for skating but for the last few years I’ve tended not to wear shoes unless I have to for anything else. We live by the beach so it isn’t that strange and now I’ve got leathery hobbit feet. I’ve had a few entry refusals from restaurants and a Tesco, ( funny thing is Waitrose don’t seem to mind, weird). I hadn’t thought about it, but now you mention it, that does seem to have improved some aspects of lower back and leg mobility/strength. My arches are collapsing though. I leave duck footprints in the sand. I guess you can’t have it all.
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Has anyone had any experience of sciatica? I’ve had a pain running down the back of my right thigh from my buttock for the past month. I do yoga every day which uses pretty much all of the exercises I can find prescribed for it, and that doesn’t seem to improve anything.
Mine is very mild, it’s just annoying. I think it does clear up by itself eventually.
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Pretty sure I have developed sciatica in my left bum/leg. Anyone ever dealt with it?
Yep! Am dealing with the exact same problem right now, even down to it being mild-but-annoying, but enough to keep me off the board. Basically couldn’t lift my leg whilst straightened without shooting pains.
For me it is definitely from working from home with a desk/screen setup that wasn’t right for 6 months and slowly fucking up my spine.
It is starting to get better after doing these exercises every night and going for an hour walk or every day when I can, as apparently exercise (even if it hurts) is good for it. To be fair though most places do say that it clears up after 4 to 5 weeks so it could be a bit of both.
I find squats and lunges help… it seems to be related either to lower disc issues or piriformis muscle issues. My sciatica seems to be caused by the latter so I use resistance bands most days to do some squats and lunges to help strengthen it. It takes a few weeks but it’s definitely help mine.
You know what I’m going to say… chiropractor 
In all seriousness, if you get no joy with anything else it’s certainly worth looking into.
Perhaps but in my experience a dedicated sports therapist is worth their weight in gold. I’m lucky it’s my brothers profession so he is able to give me stretches and exercises. He was even able to diagnose my rhabdomyolysis just from my description of symptoms which a hospital had to confirm later with blood tests.
I would also recommend orthotic insoles for every skater over the age of 25. It turns out that my leading leg is actually an inch shorter than my pushing leg. I think the pushing with my right leg or having my left leg in a constant knee bent position from rolling probably led to this (skating since I was 8… 41 now). So my left orthotic has a heel raise to compensate. I mainly wear them in my walking shoes and stick a loose heel raise in my skate shoes. I only wear the skate shoes for an hour or two while I skate and change back to walking shoes when done.
I wear orthotic insoles from this company: https://www.pplbiomechanics.com/
They only take orders from sports therapists not from the public. They’re based in Cork but I’m sure there is a U.K. equivalent,
This is my back at the minute. I’ve developeda properkink in the last few weeks. It’s more obvious from the front but nobody wants to see that.
That’s not far off what mine was like. Sometimes the spasm will sort itself out. A bit of rest and icing and stretching, maybe some anti inflammatory gel/ tablets can do the trick. I have had it happen a few times and have managed to sort it. The chiropractor business was after a particularly catastrophic tweak. Definitely feel your pain though.
