Hello,

I am writing this to get some help fixing the source problem of my sciatica that I've been dealing with for almost a year now. If I may start from the beginning; in the early 2020 (prior to pandemic) I was a freelance software engineer and I was getting a lot of jobs, so I spent A TON of time sitting on a chair and getting my work done (I'm talking about all through the night and mostly through the day). I would skip the gym so I could spend more time working on projects. A month or two (maybe three) of this and I started experiencing back pain, bending forward, lifting my leg (I have notoriously tight hip flexors so perhaps this was what caused the back pain), and even squatting (no weight) would hurt my back. I tried fixing this by normal exercise/stretching and slowly it went 90% away. I decided to meet up with some friends to play soccer and while we were playing there was a moment where the ball was a little bit higher than my head and when I kicked it (front kick, over extending the hamstring) I think I may have pushed my leg muscles a little too far because after I did that; the next morning I was feeling a small burning sensation in the back of my left leg (first instance of sciatica). Since then the pain has only gotten worse.

Here is a list of the things that flare up the pain:
  • when I bend forward past 40 degrees
  • a faint amount when I bend backwards (not during the bending but when I stop bending backwards the pain comes)
  • no pain at all when I bend sideways
  • getting up from sitting on a chair
  • it hurts when I get out of the pigeon pose stretch (most of the time not during)
  • when I sit on a chair or on the floor(my back can be on the floor or not on the floor) and straighten my leg and move my foot up and down
  • while standing if I hard flex all the muscles in my core


Here is a list of the things I've tried to fix the pain:
  • stretching hip flexors, lower back, and glutes (this alleviates the pain but it always returns)
  • I've tried rolling on a lacrosse ball on the piriformis muscle (this literally kills me, but the pain returns)


The pain does go away for most of the day if I exercise in the morning (I isolate my glute muscles with some exercises then do I a stationary bike circuit), but it still comes back. When I bend forward to touch my toes there is a small crack in my lower back (no pain, it just feels weird when it happens). Also the pain starts from the glute and runs down the leg, sometimes (on good days) it will just be a little pain in the calf or back of the knee.

I hope my post wasn't too long, I just wanted to give as much detail as I possibly could. If there is any more details I can give please let me know. I really need help

Similar Threads: