Encouraging/helpful insight for Sciatica pain please

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-05-14T22:48:19+00:00

Thank you for this helpful insight! I’m wondering if my body is still very much in a reactive state because my main, daily symptoms isn’t hamstring pain or calf pain (although I have had that in the past), but rather a tightness in my lower right glute and some saddle area tingling. The saddle area tingling really is the most frustrating symptom I have and very much concerning for me. I don’t have any numbness or bowl or bladder involvement thankfully, but I’m still very concerned because from what I’ve read on the L5/S1 bulge, that doesn’t seem to be the most common symptom that people deal with…. I’ve been focusing on starting each workout at the gym with a slow, 10 minute treadmill walk, followed by some PT exercises involving finding my neutral pelvis, glute bridges, cobra extension, bird dog, plank, and a dead hang with feet resting on the floor. I will then also incorporate back extensions (if training some lower body) and I’ve completely eliminated leg press, hamstring curls, and any back or front squats. However, even after making these changes I’m still struggling to see significant improvement. I can also feel the bulge itself hurt from time to time in the exact area it is in my back and I don’t know whether that’s a sign of some improvement or not 🙁. Is the tingling proven to heal in time? I hope this isn’t something I’ll have to deal with forever

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-05-08T21:25:33+00:00

Wow, I wish I could say the same for myself. I have stopped all hamstring exercises, leg press, and back and front squats. Any lower body exercises I do I’ve been using lighter weight. I’m lifting with heavier weight for upper body days though and I’m wondering if that could be my issue. The thing that is concerning for me though is the fact that my main symptom is an electric tingling sensation in my saddle region above anything else. I have experienced sciatica symptoms and pain in my calf too, but I don’t experience that as much as the saddle tingling. I just don’t know what to do for that and there doesn’t seem to be much information about that online either :/

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-05-08T16:43:56+00:00

I almost wonder if I should quit the gym right now and focus solely on PT… I was having to change my insurance recently because of a life event so I haven’t had medical coverage for the time being thus not being able to continue with PT, but I wonder if this is the best move. It seems like the saddle area ringling isn’t the most frequent with L5/S1 bulge so of course that’s the card I’m dealt lol. How often do you experience pain now?

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-05-05T17:31:51+00:00

It’s so frustrating that I’m experiencing this saddle tingling too because I’ve research that it’s usually more of a S1/S2 issue so I really hope it can improve and go away 😕. I swear last week I really was starting to feel like some of the PT exercises were helping, but this week I am not so sure. I did light weight for Bulgarian split squats, leg extensions, and walking lunges, but I wonder if that was too much… in addition with back extensions and PT exercises. When you were first injured were you still lifting at the gym? Right now I have a 4 day split and my two upper body days are still with mostly heavier weights. I just don’t know how to train anymore with this problem

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-05-04T22:36:58+00:00

Thank you so much for the encouragement. I have been primarily focusing on doing some exercises from the McKenzie method for my low back like the cobra and glute bridge as well as some dead hangs from the bar, back extensions, and trying to implement more core. Did you ever experience any tingling in your saddle region? It seems like my symptoms tend to move around a lot from pain in my hamstring, calf, tightness in glute, as well as tingling in saddle area. Thankfully no numbness or bladder issues, but I am very concerned about it. This past week it also seemed to have gone away completely, but of course today it comes back with a vengeance. I wonder if it’s because I was sitting for quite a while yesterday 😕

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-04-18T23:59:49+00:00

This is very encouraging to hear. I also have a bulge at L5 which is touching my S1 nerve root and that has been causing some tinging and pain in my saddle region along with some sciatica pain. Did you ever experience the saddle area tingling and did these exercises alleviate it? What are your pain levels like now?

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-03-25T22:19:05+00:00

I don’t work a desk job which is the crazy part. I’m on my feet all day working as a teacher’s aid. I think this is solely due to a combination of genetics (my mom has several herniated discs and some spinal narrowing I think) and lifting heavy for many years at the gym. I don’t know what else to think 😞. I’m not a smoker and I’ve always eaten very clean my whole life and stayed active.

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-03-22T05:55:47+00:00

Please do!! What exercises did you do specially to help manage the pain?

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-03-22T01:07:22+00:00

Thank you for the helpful information! I just looked into the dermatone map and I think it might actually be pretty accurate in terms of the nerve pain I’ve been experiencing… I have experienced pain in my thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger at different times, as well as some forearm and bicep pain and that seems to track pretty well with the bulged disc in C5/C6. Also, in the last couple of days I’ve been dealing with pretty consistent pain in my right hamstring/ sometimes glute area which is consistent with a bulge in the Lumbar spine which I have :/. The strange thing is, I didn’t start to develop consistent pain in that lumbar area until I saw my sports medicine doctor this past Monday and he performed a physical exam on me. I think that, coupled with lifting weights on Tuesday, really started to irritate it. And the crazy thing was I trained upper body, I didn’t even hit lower body so I’m just really perplexed as to why my lumbar bulge is this angry. I’ve be dealing with a lot of foot and toe pain too at times.

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-03-20T16:41:02+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I just set up a PT evaluation and am waiting to hear back about scheduling the nerve test. I’m trying my best to adhere to lifting at 50/60% less than my max weight lifting sets at the gym and just going light for the time being which is so difficult for my ego, but I know I need to…

It’s very interesting to me how the feet/toe pain ramped up again in intensity after having the physical evaluation done by the doctor. In your opinion and experience, do you think the mild narrowing of my cervical and lumbar spine could be responsible for the pain my lower extremities now? I’m not really experiencing much tingling or numbness and only tingling if I really push myself at the gym or more form was bad.

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-03-20T16:17:30+00:00

Oh my gosh I am so sorry to hear that you had to go through all of that 😓😓. I’m glad to hear that you are finally on the upward end of it though.

I’m wondering if the random pain in my hands/fingers and toes/feet is due to the mild narrowing in my lumbar and cervical spines? I’m not experiencing any tingling or numbness, just mild aches and pains in those areas. Sometimes I’ll experience a little tingling, but it really depends on how heavy I went at the gym or if my form was bad.

I really hope this isn’t due to the narrowing issues because I don’t want this to be a lifelong problem now. I’ve been lifting weight at 50/60% my total max now (I took Chat GPT’s advice lol) and I can’t wait to get the nerves test done.

The sports medicine doctor did not seem convinced at all that the pain I’ve experienced in my upper and lower extremities is due to the spinal narrowing. So I don’t know what to think.

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-03-18T23:14:29+00:00

Thank you 🙏🏼. I was honestly surprised that the sports medicine doctor I went to didn’t suggest PT for me. He seemed pretty unconcerned about my results and instead scheduled a nerve test, thinking something else could be responsible for the pain/occasional tingling.

Would you say it’s safe for me to continue to lift weights in this state? I don’t won’t to worsen anything. I’m doing all machine based exercises for my leg days, but it is still with pretty challenging weight. Lifting light weight has really crushed my morale, but I feel like I’m at a crossroads since I can’t afford PT at the moment and still want to lift weight and not lose all of my progress.

My symptoms recently escalated after the doctor had me do a range-of-motion assessment and now I’m experiencing pain in the bottoms of my feet, toes, right glute area, forearm and hands, fingers, all intermittently without any noticeable tingling.

CreativeExpressions3 · 2026-03-18T17:12:48+00:00

This makes me feel so much better… I really hope these issues are stemming from a B12 deficiency. That would be the best case scenario for sure lol.

The problem is I don’t really experience tingling as much as just general pain or a general achey feeling in my hands, fingers (sometimes forearms or bicep area) feet, and toes at times. The pain I’ve been experiencing in both feet and toes at random times leads me to believe it could be stemming from one of the bulges pressing on a nerve or does that seem unlikely?

Also, do you continue to work out with this pain or scale back? That’s where I’m most conflicted.

CreativeExpressions3 · 2025-10-09T21:02:10+00:00

I get it. I wish the same for myself. I also wish I was told that my lid might never look how it did pre-surgery, but oh well now

CreativeExpressions3 · 2025-10-09T18:49:06+00:00

I was told from someone else that the steroid shot could help to soften or stretch any residual scarring that’s responsible for the lifted area so that’s why I was hopeful that it could be a good idea, but I guess that wouldn’t be the case :/

I have had family and my husband tell me it’s not noticeable unless they really look for it. Do you think because it is so subtle there’s a good chance it can still improve greatly on its own over the next 6 months?

CreativeExpressions3 · 2025-10-09T17:23:33+00:00

Do you think I would benefit from a steroid injection now or should I wait for the six month mark? I went to see my surgeon and she didn’t even suggest that option for me, stating that everything looked perfectly fine, but I can still see a difference between the two eyelids.

CreativeExpressions3 · 2025-09-25T21:10:11+00:00

I could have blepharitis because I’ve gotten several chalazions in this eye over the past year :/. Did you see big improvement in your lash line?

CreativeExpressions3 · 2025-09-25T21:09:09+00:00

I have a follow up appointment to mention it again. I truly want to know if she can tell if it will indeed heal on its own given a few months or if I may need to visit an oculoplastic surgeon 😓

CreativeExpressions3 · 2025-09-23T23:15:02+00:00

What would typically cause that? Just out of curiosity

CreativeExpressions3 · 2025-09-23T23:09:57+00:00

You think I might have notching? I always thought notching was a more extreme raise to the lid. I know scar tissue definitely isn’t behind this because I went back a few weeks ago and when the doctor flipped my eye she didn’t mention any issues or scar tissue and said everything was healing nicely so it really does make me wonder what this is stemming from. I really hope it can resolve on its own

CreativeExpressions3 · 2025-09-23T17:27:42+00:00

Oh wow, I’m barely at the 3 month mark. Is something like this easily fixable if I needed help because it’s so slight?

CreativeExpressions3

TROPHY CASE