Sciatica Screams!
What's going on in the yoga & pilates world?
From Turtle neck to Back pain
The first time Bonnie Willdorf's back decided to launch a full-scale mutiny was in 1980, all from the innocent act of lifting a baby out of a car. "I had full-blown sciatica, with pain shooting down my right leg all the way to my foot," she recalls. "For two or three years straight, I spent months at a time completely flat on my back."
When another excruciating flare-up years later prompted a surgeon to suggest an operation, Bonnie's back surprisingly rallied, and she recovered just before hitting the operating table. Seeking a long-term solution, she turned to Judith Lasater, a renowned yoga therapist and physical therapist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. At first, even basic yoga poses made Bonnie's lower back protest. Under Judith's expert guidance, however, she learned to modify movements and embrace restorative poses that finally gave her overtaxed sciatic nerve the breathing room it needed to heal—a slow process, as nerves tend to take their sweet time.
Bonnie candidly admits that her spinal struggles were largely self-inflicted by what she calls "bad body mechanics." As she puts it, "I've always had terrible posture—slouching my shoulders and letting my neck lead the way like a turtle."
She is hardly alone. Modern life seems practically designed to sabotage our spines. We trade upright wooden chairs for plush, sink-in couches, and drive cars that let us recline like royalty—a far cry from the bolt-upright benches of the old Model T era. While our brains are clocked in for an extra ten hours of work a week, our core support muscles are effectively snoozing on cruise control. So, how do we get our backs out of retirement?
Severe back pain-Sciatica
Back pain is generally a culmination of years of subtle injuries and trauma to the back. See Yoga as Medicine, by Timothy McCall, MD. Sciatica is a condition most commonly caused when the shock absorbing disk that separates two spinal vertebrae bulges out and compresses a nerve root exiting the spinal cord. It causes pain that radiates down the leg to the foot. Funny, a few people have sciatic pain but no pain in the back. In recent years, doctors now realize that lying around is actually counterproductive, leading to a decrease in conditioning and an increase in pain. The longer you stay immobile, the more muscle mass you lose. The loss of muscle mass places an extra burden on other muscles to compensate. Rather than babying a back injury, doctors now recommend people start gentle activities the first day.
Whatever the underlying cause, the result may be muscle spasms in a variety of locations that can be more painful than the original problem. For treatment, one size does NOT fit all.
One Size Does Not Fit All Spines
According to Timothy McCall, MD, most cases resolve in six to eight weeks, pretty much no matter what you do. This includes herniated disks. Before going to surgery, consider what a Certified Yoga Therapist of 1,000 hours or more may do for you. They may be able to figure out what set you up for back trouble in the first place. They do this by examining
posture
your emotions
your work and living environment
Failure to address these issues is another reason why back surgery is less successful than it might be, and why many surgical patients wind up needing a second or third operation to address problems that develop at yet another level of the spine.
Monday, Nov 9th
9:15 am open
10:30 Michael
11:45 am Deep Delicious Stretch
Tuesday, Nov 10th
9 Christina
10:15 Pilates Mat
Wednesday, Nov 11th
8:45 am Open
10:15 Jenny
2 pm Curt
4:30 Carol & Chris
Thursday, Nov 12th
9 Christina
10:30 am Andy
Hudson Bend, TX 512-914-4870
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