deadlift sciatic nerve injury

[littrell1981]

I am honestly not trying to be silly at all...please don't delete me! I am pretty certain I have an aggravated sciatic nerve. What is the magnitude of this type of injury and how long should it take to heal? I would ask a physician, but we both know what their response would be and that is just not an option. I acquired this injury while doing a heavy set of deadlifts several weeks ago but I was able to work thru it for about three weeks until it got to the point where I could barely get out of bed. Would it be wise to continue to work thru this type of injury or should I take a complete lay off? Again, I am not trying to be funny or silly.

[plugchop]

It's impossible to give advice here without knowing more about your situation. Sciatic pain is a symptom, not a diagnosis. It could be caused by all kinds of things, including piriformis syndrome, a cyst somewhere along the nerve, inflammation at the nerve root where it exits the spine, a compression injury somewhere, etc. All of those situations will have different implications for you in terms of how long you should rest, etc.

[vanslix]

I would ask a physician, but we both know what their response would be and that is just not an option.

Honestly, if you know what a physician's response is, then you should know yourself and don't need to ask the question at all. Because docs are horrible at treating potentially serious nerve injuries. An MRI would just be way too silly.

[rygamer]

if you have health insurance I would get an MRI. At least you can rule out a disc herniation. Your disc is most likely touching a nerve. I took a couple months off, then I started back up again. If I feel my L4-L5 nerve bother me just a little bit, I scale it back and rest it before I start training at 100% again. I tried training through the pain, but I ultimately had to stop. I couldn't tie my shoes, couldn't sit down without any pain. etc... etc...Good news is that I'm almost back to my personal best lifts. Why rush with an injury?