Good day. Just joined the message board here, thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Pete Chadwell and I've joined this group because of two back symptoms I've been living with for a number of years.
For about 10 years I've had problems sleeping due to tension/soreness in my back that develops while I sleep. This comes and goes in cycles which last for months. Chiropractic visits have not achieved anything except draining my bank account. In the early, early morning hours the discomfort awakens me and I escape to the couch where I use an electric massager, then I return to bed for another hour or two of sleep.
The other problem I have is either sciatica or a problem with my left sacro-iliac joint and I suspect it is the latter. I get a shooting pain down my left buttock and upper thigh which originates high in my left buttock. At times it has been severe enough to cause pronounced limping. I've been able to control it much better for the last year as I've been excercising. I also feel various clunks and pops in my hip on that side as I move my leg in various ways. Again, chiropractic visits have not helped this. I'd like to be able to narrow this down in some way so that I know whether it's sciatica or the sacro-iliac joint that's causing the problem.
Anyway, that's the 'short' version. I look forward to the collective input from this forum and I hope I can contribute as well. Thank you!

Hi Pete,

Glad you were able to find your way here, in spite of my help! In case you guys can't tell, Pete is one of my friends. He came here at my suggestion, as I knew that somebody out there would be able to help him out. Be gentle with him, being as he is a newbie. Ha!

Take care everybody, and may you have less pain today than you had yesterday.

Rob

Hi Pete,
I too have established those same symptoms. I do have tears in discs L4 L5 and L5 S1 but I strongly believe that my SI joint is a huge problem. I have the pops and clunks also and have deep pain in my right SI joint area. My legs aches occasionally too and I get some shoots of pain but still not sure exactly what it is.
I have problems rolling over in bed and getting up from a chair is when I mostly hear and feel the pops after taking a few steps. Do you have these symptoms?
Sometimes if I have pain and then my "joint" pops back in place or whatever, I get relief. It is mostly like a pulling and pressure kind of pain, real tight like something is "caught". Sometimes I wonder if it is my facet joint too.
I hope someone has some answers cause I have yet to figure out what is going on!

Good luck to you!

Christina

[This message has been edited by ChristinaD (edited 01-13-2003).]

[This message has been edited by ChristinaD (edited 01-13-2003).]

Christina:
The clunking in my hip is noticeable (though not painful) when I swing my leg through its range of motion. Sometimes it shows up while walking. If I were to lie down on my back and lift my left leg up and then let it down, I would feel a klunk. Occasionally I am able to pop what I THINK is that sacro-iliac joint by putting one foot far in front of the other and then lowering my body until one knee is in my chest and the other leg is trailing far behind. Then I strech it further by straightening my trailing leg. Sometimes I get a 'pop' right then that seems to affect whether or not I feel the pain in my hip. These are among the reasons I don't believe it is sciatic pain, strictly speaking.
The pain is a deep pain inside my left buttock, up high alongside the sacrum. (right where the SI joint is) When the symptoms are particularly bad, weight shifting onto or off of that leg produces pain. Merely standing on the leg doesn't necessarily hurt.
Hope this helps… gotta go.

Hi All! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wave.gif

It sounds like you guys may have a problem with the piriformis muscle that runs horizontal across the top of the butt. When that swells up it can cause your joints to 'stick' (then pop as it moves around the swollen muscle). This muscle also lies on top of the sciatic nerve. So when the piriformis is inflamed, it squeezes in on the sciatic territory, causing the pain that radiates from your (whichever cheek) that runs down your leg. A good test for this phenomena is to slowly turn your upper body to one side then the other. The piriformis muscle is the one that turns your body...so this movement will bring the onset of pain if that is your problem--if it doesn't cause your pain...then it most like is your sacroilliac...get it checked out. Hope this helps!


------------------
successtory
Oct 2000: Repetitive Stress Injury-Inverted Hernia
Feb 2001: MRI. Shows only slight bulge at L4-L5
Dec 2001: Discogram/CT scan shows Inverted Hernia at L5-S1. L4-L5 & L5-S1 ruptured in all 4 quadrants. Unable to walk.
Feb 2002: IDET, Nucleoplasty, Intra-Discal Injections
Sept 2002: Rated in the top 10% for successful patients. Retraining for new career.

Hi Panda,

If you are willing to try our my suggestion, I may be able to help you out to partially or totally relive your pain / problem:

It seems that you are experiencing Sciatic Nerves entrapment. These Nerves start from your lumber area ( L5 / Sacrum ), go through your buttocks area, around your upper leg bones, splits in two, go around both side of your knees, down on the outside of your lower legs and to your feet. Any of the pain that these nerves are causing will be felt in all or partially in those areas. By the way, those Sciatic Nerves, at your buttocks, are almost the size of your thumbs. It is the most common type of Back Pain and easy to have. It does not require very much strain to have this Injury / Pain. If caught early enough, it is the easiest one to fix otherwise, it may require many sessions of Massage Therapy. If you are willing to try this Method that I am using on my wife and many of my Clients: " It requires three person, including yourself, to use the special technique. On a very stiff bed, you lay straight on your side, bracing yourself with one hand to sturdy yourself, one person puts his/her hands against your lower back spine so that it does not curve and the third one grabs both of your feet together and brings them forward as far as possible toward your belly then, brings them back down in the same manner to where they were. You then, lay on your belly, the second person holds your lower back spine again and the third person grabs one leg at a time, does not matter which one that you start with, moves it straight outward as far as possible and back then, the other leg in the same manner and back. At that point, you should lay there for a few minutes to catch your breath and then, get out of the bed from your left or right side and not forward. This method should fix your Sciatic Nerve entrapment.

The next thing that you should do and it is extremely important, is to get on a kitchen table and do the following exercise that I will try to describe to you as follow:

Lay and rest your upper body on the table;
Extend your arms forward to hold yourself on the table;
Put both of your leg and feet together;
Lift both of your legs/feet up slowly as far as possible;
Hold;
put both of your leg and feet back down slowly;

Do as many as you can and repeat as many time during the day and for many more days to come. You will have strenghten your back and as long as you exercise, this Sciatic Nerve problem should not reoccur again to you. You should keep doing this Exercise to keep your back in shape.

You should print this technique so that you do not forget the way it is done. If this technique is not followed to the letter, you will get a lot of pain by its improper use.

Hope that you follow it properly and that it works for you.

Good Luck and God bless