Surprising news from Ortho Doc – BionicOldGui

I saw my new orthopedist for the first time today (my previous one retired). I received surprising news: I have sciatica off my back (not the hip, like the piriformis muscle). An MRI of my back shows a bulging disc and spinal stenosis, right where the sciatic nerve exits on the left side. The condition is moderate, so under normal conditions the nerve is not compressed. But anything that inflames the disc can compress the disc and cause sciatica. This explains why I got my first sciatica symptoms after exercising too hard about a month ago. Then it subsided after a few weeks, and I flared it up again with more exercises. It also explains why the PT exercises I’ve been doing, which are for both the piriformis muscle and the SI joint, haven’t worked as well as they have in the past because they don’t directly target the lumbar spine. For now, he’s going to start me on prednisone, which he thinks will work because the sciatica has settled down a lot. I am allowed to exercise, including cycling and PT exercises, as long as there are no signs of sciatica. I will start to add more intensity and back off as needed. I will also look at PT exercises specifically for the lumbar, there is a good reference here). I would like to build muscle in this area so that it is less fragile in the future.