Help! Pool is making me a cripple!!

fd_colorado

fd_colorado

Go Pack Go!!!
Silver Member
Help!!!! Sciatica is crippling me and playing pool seems to make it worse.

I have never had sciatica issues until the past few months. It started out that if I played for awhile (4-5 hours, for example) all of a sudden I'd feel a sharp pain in my hip. I would then try to keep on playing. I would eventually quit playing an I would get back to normal in a few days. This worked for awhile, but now the sciatica is much worse and the recovery no longer happening.

I get shooting pain down my leg when I put weight on it *and* when I pick the leg up.

Anyone have any proven cures for this?
 
See a doctor. They would know better than us. With that said ill still give you my suggestion. I'm not sure how much this would help but make sure to really square up when you are at the table. A lot of people stand really crooked and end up putting a lot of weight on one or two specific spots. If you stand more with your feet both facing the table and your knees slightly bent that should put the least amount of stress on your back and your hips. Also make sure to stretch really good before you play for a long time. If it really comes down to it you may just need to take it easy on the pool playing. One last thing, exercise helps quite a bit.
 
If youre at this point, it might be disc issues. You got to stretch your legs thoroughly before and after you play, hamstrings and quads.
You got to realize that thats where all your weight is concentrated and what are your legs connected to ? Your back. They get tight and your back gets tight and you have pain.
I have 3 herniated disks and i deal in a casino for a living and i play pool also , if i didnt learn to do these stretches, there no way i could be doing what im doing.
If you want links to a few good stretches from youtube, pm me.
 
injuries are no fun!!! shattered my ankle when hit by a drunk driver. Can be brutal after a few hours at the table. One pocket makes me feel mentally crippled though. best of luck to you
 
mine was L4 -L5

I had to have my back operated on..
I put it off for a few years , Dont be stupid :eek:
See a doctor..............
Best of luck with you health.
MMike
 
Get the book heal your own back by McKinsey on amazon. It's $10. Helped me quite a bit. I have sciatica too. I also have a home table and made it 6" higher. That helped a lot.
 
I was diagnosed with sciatica in the early 80's. My doctor told me it was from a herniated disc in my low back. He was the ortho doc for the olympic team of 76. He gave me several choices, get serious about therapy, stretching and strenghthening exercises or go under the knife. At the time I was working 40 hours a week at Stanford University and training on my road bicycle about 350 miles per week. The biking and not stretching caused the herniated disc which aggravated the sciatic nerve. He gave me a bunch of stretching and exrecises to do and within a month I was fine. I still do many of those stretches and exercises to this day and never suffered sciatica again. My advice is get to a top notch sports related ortho doc and see what he recommends. Wish all the best to the OP..
 
All good

nahog99 said:
See a doctor. They would know better than us. With that said ill still give you my suggestion. I'm not sure how much this would help but make sure to really square up when you are at the table. A lot of people stand really crooked and end up putting a lot of weight on one or two specific spots. If you stand more with your feet both facing the table and your knees slightly bent that should put the least amount of stress on your back and your hips. Also make sure to stretch really good before you play for a long time. If it really comes down to it you may just need to take it easy on the pool playing. One last thing, exercise helps quite a bit.
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All good advice here especially on the stance it has helped me. I try to stand like Allison Fisher it also helps in keeping the elbow up.
 
See a doctor. If it persists, get a diagnostic MRI. I had degenerative disc disease, and two discs literally dissolved into nothing. One vertebra moved into the spinal canal and was pinching the spinal cord like a balloon, right over the sciatic nerve. Needless to say, I got it fixed the best they could about two years ago with a spinal fusion, steel cage, artificial spacers. The back is still pretty weak, ongoing ache, and nerve damage in both legs, but I can walk. I can play pool for about 4 hours, max, if I have a good chair. The sooner you get an MRI the better, regardless of whatever it may be. Good luck, brother!
 
For what it's worth, my problem is plantar fasciitis. In the research I did, two self-medicating recommendations - one was apple cider vinegar and the other was taking Calcium supplement with Vitamin D.

Taking the Calcium did result in lesser pain. Doesn't hurt to give it a try for a couple weeks and check the result.
 
If it's only affecting you after 4 hours of shooting and no other time, the likelihood is that it is from shooting for 4 hours straight. Studies have been done and the majority of adults have some degree of disc disease, however certainly not all of these experience symptoms. The majority of acute lower back pain is due to muscle spasm, usually brought on by fatigue or some sort of injury. Many times the spasm is enough to give symptoms of shooting pain down the leg, sometimes past the knee and in to the foot.

As mentioned, physical therapy designed at strengthening core stabilizing muscles is often curative. For my chronic low back pain sufferers that are overweight, I'm pretty blunt that they gotta lose weight. Even a 5 lb drop usually leads to a significant improvement of symptoms.
 
bigshooter said:
Chiropractic helped me.
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I agree. It's you scaitic nerve most likely. This nerve comes through your lower lumbar vertabra, down through your hips, and down you legs. A good adjustment from the chiropractor, followed by a good deep tissue massage to the lower back and hips by a certified massage therapist usually takes care of it. It may take more than one adjustment if it's really bad. In my case it's usually a muscle in my back that is causing the vertibra to pinch the nerve, once this starts occurring, the pain is not in the back, but goes down into the hips and legs. It can be dealt with fairly easily if that is what is happening. Only a chiropractor can tell you for sure, but it sure sounds like exaclty what I have experienced many times in the last 30 years. I make routine visits (once a month) to my chiropractor and haven't had the issue in quite a while. Good luck as living in pain is miserable, I know.
 
iusedtoberich said:
Get the book heal your own back by McKinsey on amazon. It's $10. Helped me quite a bit. I have sciatica too. I also have a home table and made it 6" higher. That helped a lot.
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4 hours is too long for someone with no medical issues, lol.

Back off a bit, and raise table, that should help so u can continue to enjoy the game-

My biggest fear in aging is that I will someday have loss of sight or pain making enjoying pool difficult...try to enjoy in moderation :-)
 
rayjay said:
The sooner you get an MRI the better, regardless of whatever it may be. Good luck, brother!
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Thats the number one thing to do, no question. Without it, they can take all the x- rays in the world and see nothing, the MRI will tell exactly what the problem is.
For the last year in addition to my stretches i have been taking Triple flex with MSM in it, my wife takes straight MSM, it was used mainly for horses for a long time till they found out it benefits humans also.
Stretch baby, stretch, you will never regret it.
Heres some good stretches , they are the two i do every day, in fact twice a day.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=791XXiYzNbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_alXoZ4774
 
bigshooter said:
Chiropractic helped me.
Click to expand...

I was just watching the live stream at SBE. Alex stopped by the commentator booth and asked the chat what to do about sciatica. One of the chatters recommended chiropractic.

At SBE there was a gal giving demos of a small muscle electrostimulator. My rotator cuff problems got so aggravated from remodeling work last week that I never even took my cue out of the case at SBE. I was in so much pain it hurt just standing there, never mind swinging a cue. I sat down and let her try it on my shoulder. Five minutes later the pain was gone. Of course, it was right back again today.

I was thinking it might be a temp fix for sciatica IF you know where to put it. It's pretty powerful stuff, and could exacerbate the situation if used incorrectly, but a good PT or sports physiologist would be the one to ask.

Good luck, sciatica pain sucks.
 
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