Trapped nerve/ Sciatica

Hi,

Last Monday i had a slight muscle pain before playing football. I put deep heat on, played football and after I couldn't get out of bed for four days.
When i managed to get to hospital i was prescribed a few different painkillers and a muscle relaxant and told to move around on it as much as possible. As he thought it was a trapped nerve. He gave me the advice of no exercise 2 weeks after its released.

It feels completely fine now and I was wondering if i can exercise sooner? Maybe with a warm up, stretching etc? Obviously i do not want the risk of it relapsing, but it has felt completely back to normal for a few days now.

Can a trapped nerve relapse? Can i start to exercise again? Advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Hi Sam,

Whether your pain comes back all depends on what was causing he trapped nerve. For example if it was true sciatica and you have an issue with your lumbar spine and the discs between them you will need to make sure that is completely fine before you return. So probably go see a physio/osteo/chiro before you go back.

If it was a muscular tightness issue such as piriformis syndrome, which the sciatic nerve travels past as it goes down the leg, then you just need to mobilise and stretch your piriformis before you go back. You may need some sort of soft tissue release in the gluts

Either way I would get it checked out by a therapist before you do any sport.

Hope this helps.

Ben