In the short term, I suggest you apply heating pads and ice packs to your injury. Physical therapists often suggest alternating between heat and cold treatments. You will soon discover if heat or cold helps you the most. When I hurt my back, besides heat and cold treatments, I used Ibuprofen, which you can buy in any drug store. This is very helpful if the pain is not too severe.

A doctor may also recommend you to a physical therapist. A good PT session starts with heat pads, ice packs or ultrasound, and sometimes a little massage. Then you are guided through physical exercises tailored specifically to your back injury. A lot of these exercises you can do at home. Other exercises require equipment found in most gyms. Some exercises uses equipment that can only be done in a PT office. You will probably need health insurance to cover these sessions.

I have seen a bunch of chiropractors and was not helped by them. I think physical therapy is more effective. However, there have been people who swear that chiropractors have been very helpful. So possibly you might give that a try. I wish you the best.

Unfortunately, continuing to lay sod is not going to make it easy to recover. Sciatica is usually caused by muscle spasms that put pressure on the sciatic nerve bundle, usually in the presence of a bulging disc. What usually results is a vicious cycle where the more pressure you have on the sciatic nerve, the more your muscles spasm and rest is usually a must because you have to stop the cycle. Lay on your back on a firm mattress with two or more pillows under your lower legs and take some anti-inflammatories and that might help. Ibuprofen is probably the safest of the OTC products and ginger root is a good natural anti-inflammatory. Another thing that may help a lot is the use of pain relieving topical products. The best combination I found is

If that isn’t enough, you may choose to either visit a doctor and get a prescribed muscle relaxant and anti-imflammatory combination. The most common is either flexeril or skelaxen plus the steroid prednisone. The doctor may also prescribe a short term pain killer. Prednisone should not be taken for a prolonged period due to side effects. It has been called “the best drug ever and the worst drug ever” for good reasons. It works and it can be dangerous!

Another option is to seek out a chiropracter who has a DC9000 decompression machine. That therapy, combined with electric stimulation pads and a cold laser plus supplementation with ginger, fish oil and curcumin (I used a product called Curcumax), along with Dr. Christopher’s Complete Bone, Skin and Tissue capsules and ointments did wonders for me the last episode I had, though it took two months of three times a week and twice a week treatments at about $ 100 per visit. Yeah, ouch! But it surely beat the cost and prolonged rehab associated with surgery and it avoided mainstream drugs.

Once your back has stopped spasming it is very important that you do stretching exercises designed to keep your back flexible and the muscles out of spasm and core exercises to build up your muscles and take pressure off your back. Look up “back exercises” and perhaps “pelvic tilts” and “pelvic thrusts”. A good inversion table can work wonders – just be sure to get one that provides knee support instead of the ones where you hang from your feet because the feet and knees were not designed to carry that kind of load.

When you resume work, be careful to lift small weights and to use your knees to keep pressure off your back. It is also helpful when standing and doing things like washing dishes to have a step stool or large book(s) to put one foot on. Avoid things like sweeping, mopping and vacuuming where you are in a bent over position for long periods of time.

Walking is a very good exercise for helping take weight off, improving your back condition and your overall health.

Finally, watch your weight. Being overweight is really hard on the back because a distended stomach puts a lot of pressure on your back. Once a person has had back problems they are very likely to return as long as they remain overweight.

I hope that you are able to recover at minimal expense and time, but sometimes it takes some of both. Left untreated, your back will likely get worse and worse and you may end up blowing a disc out completely.

Twice I went the mainstream route successfully, though once I got careless and lifted a far too heavy object which resulted in my blowing out a disc and having surgery. Not fun! This last time I went the chiro and natural route and am glad I did.

I hope this helps you!

Sciatica refers to pain experienced along the path of the sciatic nerve, the longest nerve in the body, which runs from the lower back through the pelvis and buttock area, right down to the back of the lower leg.

Sciatica is a fairly common form of lower back and leg pain and is due to the sciatic nerve being irritated or compressed. The pain of sciatica varies from an infrequent discomfort to a continuous, excruciating and debilitating pain.

Sciatica is usually experienced as pain that radiates from your lower back to your buttock and down the back of your leg. This pain may be mild or severe and is sometimes felt as a burning sensation or a sharp jolt. Sciatica may be sudden or insidious in onset and worsen over time.

In some people who suffer from sciatic pain it may be accompanied by a numbness or weakness in the leg or foot as well as a feeling of tingling or pins-and-needles in the toes.

Homeopathic, herbal sciatica remedies can help. See the webpage cited below for more info.