My chiropractic visits are now down to twice a week. He has given me permission to get back on the bike for, get this, 12 to 15 minutes at a time. What?! 12-15 minutes! And, to make things worse, he says, “Don’t go all out. Take it at a nice easy pace.”
He should have told me no biking. I’ve decided to forgo the 15-minute biking teaser. Instead I’ll continue with my 1-hour power walks on the hilliest terrain I can find. I work up much more of a sweat power walking than on a leisurely 15-minute bike ride.
Morning Stiffness and Slight Pain
My chiropractic visits usually occur in the afternoon. That’s after my body has had a chance to oil up. In other words, the slight morning stiffness and minor sciatic discomfort is gone by the afternoon. Being that the pain and discomfort is so slight, I actually forget about it by the afternoon.
Well, my last visit was in the morning and he was not happy about my slight discomfort. He aggressively massaged the muscles (which he does every other visit), stretched them, heated and electrocuted them (not a real electrocution, I’m talking about electronic stimulation).
He did his usual adjustment. My body is much more receptive to the adjustments now. There’s a lot of movement and bone realignment. That’s a good thing.
Limited Exercises
He changed my homework exercises to a modified squat. In essence, I sit on the edge of a chair in perfect straight back position, put both arms in front of me like Frankenstein and stand up without altering my back position or using my arms to push myself out of the chair. Once I’m up, I slowly sit back down. Shortly after my rear end touches the seat, I get back up again.
I’m to do about 7 reps 3 times a day. These exercises strengthen and retrain the offending muscles. So, between 1-hour walks and squats, I’m slowly getting back into exercising again.
If we can get rid of the early morning slight stiffness and minimal pain, it would be great. At this point, the slight discomfort I feel early in the morning is small potatoes compared to a full-blown flare up.
I’d be interested to hear if anyone else’s success story with sciatic pain.
Update: Things are getting betterer and betterer…
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