UnFoto Friday

Since you've seen a myriad of wedding photos this week, I deem it prudent to skip Foto Friday in favour of an UnFoto Friday. Fear not, however, for you can count on me posting many many wedding photos in the days and weeks to come. Don't you feel better just knowing that?

As luck would have it after my sciatic adventures of Wednesday night, I already had a scheduled visit with my pedorthist yesterday, the purpose being to relieve me of a king's ransom and in the process to also relieve yet another condition common to some of us Less Young: a condition known as plantar fasciitis (heel spurs in the common speech). Be that as it may, the only relevant thing regarding my sciatic occurrence and, therefore this blog, was that he concurred with Ruth and others that it is, indeed, sciatica that I am experiencing. (Not that I would ever doubt Ruth, but it was comforting to have verification from a higher power — so to speak.)

But I have endured sciatica in my left leg for years (fear not, for it's generally under control), and this right side attack felt different. So I did what everyone would have done, only they would have done it much earlier because just about everyone on the planet is brighter than this writer, and did a Google search. Which led me to a few useless sites before I clicked on this YouTube entry (click or see below or take my word for it and move on down the page for even more more of my engaging narrative).



You have probably chosen to skip the video, but I have included it above as proof my my lucidity and because a recent scientific survey reported that there were at least five other computer users out there who suffer from sciatica. Or was that five tarillion? Regardless, there was Dr George Best describing the cause of sciatica and demonstrating appropriate remedial exercises. He described the Mackenzie method, which I know is reputable and endorsed because I have been using it with some success for about a decade and a half now. At the end of his video he mentioned another cause of sciatica, one not caused by disc ruptures etc. So, I opened his next video ...



... and found my condition (I think). Apparently these is a muscle deep in the buttocks called the piriformis that can also get tangled up (my words) with the sciatic nerve. In this clip he showed how to differentiate between the two causes, and so I deduced that my recent moanings and groanings were from piriformis sciatica rather than disc-induced sciatia. And he prescribed, if pescribed isn't too strong a word, remedial exercises. All of that takes place in this video.

I checked out his site, SciaticSelfCare.com from which I downloaded a free 49 page booklet. He just seems to be a well-intentioned doctor desirous of helping back suffers. So far I find no monetary motive, and that pleases me muchly. How wonderful to know that there are good, well-intentioned people around — not that good people don't need to earn a living too, but I think you know what I mean.

To come to the point: I did the exercises before retiring to bed, and I am pleased to report that I had a good sleep last night without too much back and leg trouble. Now, I'm not so naive as to think that a few stretches would relieve the condition that quickly; no, the attack probably wasn't that severe anyway. Nevertheless, it's comforting to have found a resource that may be of great help to me both now and in the future.