Eat For You Dietitian

The year of 2023 has been a rollercoaster already. It has been showing me that life can change in the blink of an eye. We think we’re in control but life has a way. 

It started off with New Year’s Day evening beginning to experience the most extreme sciatica pain I have ever felt. The sciatic nerve travels from the lower back through the hips and buttocks and down each leg, so as you can imagine the pain travels all the way down and that is what we refer to as sciatica. For me it is on my right hand side and to try to describe it – it feels like a cramp you get in your foot or leg that never goes away, but 100 times worse. Movement was difficult as at times I couldn’t lift my right leg and my husband had to pull me from a seated to standing position. I’m on all the painkillers, now including pregabalin as advised by my physiotherapist who could luckily fit me in for the first appointment on 3rd January 2023. 

Prior to this happening I was looking forward to going back to work, excited to begin working on projects I have been discussing and also excited to get back to cycle commuting again. I’m 17 days in and I’m still restricted to the exercises my physiotherapist has prescribed me to do 3 times a day. I do want to declare that I do feel privileged that I can go to a private physiotherapist, as they are not cheap. I have also been offered an initial appointment with my NHS local Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy team later on this month. I have accepted this as other treatments for sciatica include steroid injections and very rarely surgery and I do want to make sure I can have this properly investigated if the pain does not continue to improve. 

Why am I telling you this? 

Let’s not take our body for granted. I look back on the movements my body used to be able to do before. I have enjoyed different types of movement in different periods of my life. I have been stronger and faster. What I have realised in the past few weeks is that I want to move more for my future self. To be able to continue carrying my own suitcase and food shopping in 30 years time. Today my goal is to be able to do a favourite hike of mine in Surrey, it takes a few hours and quite a few hills and I love it! I remember my husband, Pippa, our sprocker spaniel and I did this hike in the rain on the day he proposed to me. We loved every minute. 

To get to that goal I will take each day as it comes with how my body wants to move:

For now it’s 3 times a day of these prescribed exercises. 

1. Knee tilts to L (x 10)

2. Pelvic tilts in crook ly (x 10)

3. Neural flosser (x 5, stop if aggravating) – discussed doing these in seated as well. Bringing knee into 50 degrees of extension & PF/DF foot whilst flexing/extending neck.

4. open the book 3 x 10 on each side.

5. Cat / cow 3 x 10 each position

6. Glute stretch in sitting or lying on back. 3 x 15-30 secs.

Find your why? 

Try to step away from aesthetic goals.