Out Of Commission Again – BionicOldGuy

On Sunday I started having pretty severe sciatica on the left side. I think this might be a delayed reaction to my back injury from September 18. This is the opposite side of where I’ve had piriformis syndrome and an injured SI joint in the past. I was having trouble walking much more than a few feet without pain, but could still ride. A day off would have been well advised, but a buddy of mine was driving down from Palo Alto so we could ride together and I felt bad about canceling. We ended up going on about a two and a half hour ride in the hills West of Morgan Hill. I took it easy pedalling by using more electric assist on my upright, and felt fine during the ride. But the sciatica was much worse later in the day. My doc was able to squeeze in a virtual visit with me Monday afternoon, and from the description of the symptoms she thinks its piriformis syndrome, which is certainly what it feels like to me. The pain is worse deep in my left butt which is where the piriformis muscle is, and it refers down my left leg to the shin and ankle which is probably the sciatic muscle being pinched by the muscle. So no riding or any other exercise for a week. She put me on prednisone and another anti-inflammatory meloxicam, and a muscle relaxant. We’ll follow up in a week and if it hasn’t got a lot better, further diagnostics will be needed. I remember all my physical therapy exercises from the last time I had this, and am supposed to do them as well.

It was pretty bad Monday night because I didn’t have the meds yet which I got Tuesday AM. The sciatica was so bad it was hard to find a sleeping position that wasn’t painful. Yesterday was better because I think the rest is helping plus the meds were kicking in.

I think the lesson from this is that I should have taken it much easier and made sure I was fully recovered after my September 18 injury. Instead, as soon as I started to feel better I got cocky and dived back into long hard workouts, forgetting that it takes longer for us old people to heal!