I had on-and-off sciatica for 5 years. It’s a nasty lower lumbar pain that also shoots discomfort down your glutei and hamstrings.
It started back in 2012, I was trying to throw someone in a pool on a hot summer’s day when I felt a sharp jolt in my lower back (I know, what a way to injure yourself).
The tingles that spread down my legs and across my lower back were unlike anything I’d felt before. I laid on the scorching cobblestones struggling to process the physical sensation, and was unsteady on my feet for the next hour.
When self-care and physiotherapy weren’t working, I was lucky to be referred through the New Zealand public healthcare system to one of the country’s top sports doctors. And at no cost, too!
“Deadlifts,” he said, “You need to do deadlifts. They will strengthen your entire core, your back will get better, and the pain will go away”
He recommended I buy Mark Lauren’s book, ‘You Are Your Own Gym,’ so I could do the less-strenuous bodyweight version of the deadlift.
I tried to follow his advice, but my execution and follow-through was poor. I lamented and all-but-accepted for 2-3 years that I just had to live with it. I still remember long hours in my first job, sitting in office chairs with searing pain in my back and legs.
However, when I moved to London and finally joined a gym, a kind personal trainer helped me learn the proper deadlifting technique.
Within 3 months, my sciatica was gone, and I’ve not had any persistent issues since.
The change and improvement was so dramatic that I was upset I hadn’t taken the doctor’s advice sooner.
It was also a lesson for me that sometimes when we feel pain, rest doesn’t make it better, stress does. Stress strengthens and prepares us for a new road ahead.