Get A Full Health Check - I’m not just talking blood tests. I’m talking X-rays and the full works. If you feel a slight twinge or weird feeling in muscles or bones…get it checked! For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a strange tightness to my right glute, and my right hip area always felt a bit stiff, some days were better than others. I genuinly just got used to the feeling and just assumed I had a constant tight glute. I also couldn’t stand having the area massaged - if I ever went for a full body massage, I’d always tell the therapist to avoid my lower back and hip area, as it ended up aching after. As I’m writing this out, I’m realizing how ridiculous it is that I never got this professionally checked out, but it’s easy to not take these things seriously.
Fast forward a few years, and after doing a gentle Pilates workout, I woke up the next morning with a completely stiff lower back. I literally could not move. I had to get my husband to help me get out of bed, I could barely walk, and I couldn’t bend over at all. It’s not like I haven’t strained my back before, but I’ve previously felt a slight twinge when it’s happened, so you kind of know you’re about to get back ache or that you’ve twisted in a way you shouldn’t have. This particular time, there was nothing. I just woke up in pain and felt unable to do anything.
After a couple of weeks, the frozen back subsided, but I was left with severe Sciatica and could feel that same area deep in my right glute (where I’ve always felt something, but never really knew what it was) was clearly inflamed. I could feel something pressing down causing the Sciatica pain. I finally went to see a specialist, and after x-rays we found out I had Scoliosis, which is when your spine is not straight, and has a curve/bend in it. My L4-L5 and L5-S1 had reduced in disc space, causing the pressure on one side of my glute, which in turn caused the Sciatica.
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