Question
Hello. I am suffering from severe sciatica which I beleave is due
to a slipped disc. I had a sudden painful and audible click in my
lower back in late July 05. I was moving home at the time. After
some rest I made a full recovery in week or so. Then around the
8th Oct 05 I begain to get a sharpe burning pain in my left calf
muscle. This could be treated with ibuprofen for the first few
days then it no longer had any effect. I was prescribed Co-
codamol & diclofenac sodium. This modorated the pain a bit but
only if I took the maximum dose of 8 Co-codamals a day. Then
after a week they no longer had any effect on the pain. I was put
onto Tramadol instead starting with three pill a day. This did
work for about two weeks but I am now taking between 6 to 8
pills a day. My GP has very little to say about my condition or the
level of pain killers I am on. I am being treated by the
physiotherapy dept of the local hospital now. I was made to wait
8 weeks in pain before I was assessed. They are treating me with
excercises, lower back manipulation and acupuncture. The have
referred me to the 'BackPac' unit who access people again but
they have 4 month waiting list. I have asked if I could have an
MRI scan but they say it may not show what is wrong with me. My
condition has worsend and have pain in the lower back, left hip and
leg. I can no longer stand for more than 4 minutes without a full dose
of Tramadol (4 tablets) and I need crutches to walk.
It has been suggested to me by a friend that the NHS has a policy
of making all back pain suffers waiting in pain for up to a year in
the hope that they recover with out treating them. Do you think
this is true? If my un diognosed condition will get better on its
own why don't they tell me that. I don't know what is wrong with
me or why no one want to find out what is wrong with me. I
think if I had a time scale to think about it would help me cope
better. I have a 3 year old son to look after and my wife is
expecting another child in the summer. When she take
maternaty leave I would like to think I would be fit for work
again so I can feed my family. Am I being too polite and patient
with the NHS waiting list after waiting list? Should I be screaming
and crying in hospital waitig room to get noticed? I would be
greatful for any advice about my condition and how to navigate
the NHS on this.  

Answer
Dear Ricky,

I'm going to bypass most of your questions and go to the heart of the matter.  Sciatica can be ended in fewer than four sessions by means of somatic education.

Sciatica is a nerve pinch caused by muscular contractions, usually in the lower back and waist, sometimes in the buttock.  You need to improve your control of those muscles, so they relax.  The nerve pinch will come off.

Please see the explanation and articles at somatics.com/conditions.htm.

My advice:  find a somatic educator nearby and have the necessary sessions.  I'm talking about immediate improvement the day of the first session and about complete resolution in about three weeks (with one session per week).  Practitioner list:  somatics.com/practitioners.htm

If no one practices near you, you can alleviate your own problem by a self-training process with one of the following programs:

Outgrowing the Myth of Aging (preview, send blank email to [email protected])

Free Yourself from Back Pain (preview, email [email protected]).

You will be improving your control of the involved muscles and ending the spasms underlying your condition.

Read the suggested articles or look for a copy of the book, Somatics, by Thomas Hanna, at your library.

No drug, no manipulation, and no one can alleviate your muscle spasms for you; only you can learn to control your own muscles.

with regard,
Lawrence Gold