I have slipped discs and bad sciatica which forces me to not do anything physical because of pain. This has been going on for about two years now. I was born and raised a hard physical worker and at 35 years old I find myself mentally struggling with the handicap that I now have. Simple tasks like cutting the lawn are now very hard for me to do without extreme pain. I went out for late afternoon ride yesterday and I loved ever minute of it. Heres my point. Not being able to do anything physical, it has really worn on my mental health. feeling like less of a man because I can barely even cut my lawn (where not too long ago I was building 40,000 square foot homes). When im on my hog riding down the road, all of that disappears and I feel like I am a man again. So today, I am grateful for my ride because besides mounting my wife, my Harley is the only other thing that makes me feel like a man again.

 

Strange but true. I'm the same way. Sometimes have trouble throwing a leg over the bike but a couple hours in the saddle I'm good as new.

 

I'm 44 and have had blood clots in my left leg and know exactly what you are saying and how you feel. Its hard for me to say, but their are time when this leg im left with really test my strength on many levels. But Amen to, "When im on my hog riding down the road, all of that disappears and I feel like I am a man again".

 

I can relate, I have disc issues also. My Grasshopper backrest is the best $99 I've spent on my bike.

 

I have started wearing a back belt when I ride now my back is so bad. It helps my posture when I ride and off the bike as well. At first I was embarrassed to be seen wearing it but the benefits outweighed that idea.

 

I'm recovering from a laminectomy/discectomy surgery as we speak. I had the procedure done 2.5 weeks ago. The recovery has been going good so far, the sciatic pain in my left leg is going away day by day. I got hurt last fall at work. I know how you feel the mental anguish when the pain was at it's worst was really bad. It sucks that I can't ride for 2-3 months but I have faith that this procedure is going to give me my quality of life back. BTW I had a 14mm herniation in my L5/S1 disc.

 

Whenever I get to feeling sorry for myself and I see a post such as yours it makes me feel better. We who hurt sometimes think its only us and knowing that others are going through the same or worse kinda helps. I know in some way this sounds selfish, but its not meant to be. Hope you and all the rest get to feeling better.

 

I had horrible debilitating back issues 3 years ago. Back went out, then sciatica down to the numb, tingling toes. MRI showed degenerative disk disease (old age) and I have a cyst right where my sciatic nerve exits the spine. My issue also extends to my neck, shoulders, arm weakness, and most recently Carpal Metacarpal pain and weakness in my right hand, thumb and pointing finger. Not as major as some, but still extremely painful, debilitating, and depressing.

I could elaborate for many paragraphs but I decided all along to work through it in Therapy and have made amazing recovery on all issues.

As we age we often do have dramatic diseases that effect and weaken us. Much of it causes us to become sedentary ... Which leads to less abilities. Like they say if you don't use it, you loose it.

Therapy, and learning special stretches and exercises, along with rebuilding core muscles strength has helped me enormously!

I wish everyone who suffers these types of issues finds the answer to gain back your life too.

One quick story about the day the back pain was excruciating. Soreness and pain in lower back and those excessively tight buttock's muscles and the shocking pain all down the right side to the toes. I tried so hard to not let it stop me from enjoying life as I was getting worse. I managed to swing my leg over my bike and head down the road.

Each little bump shot pain through me. I was testing out a carb rebuild and was doing "wide open throttle" take offs and speed shifts to see if the stutter was adjusted out. I sped up a bit too much before a stop at an intersection and when I went to brake the shifting of my body pinched something that made me scream. It's funny now, but I was ... brake, scream, brake some more, scream louder all the way to the stop sign. At that time even balancing the bike at the stop was painful. I got her home and on the stand in the drive.

There was no way I could swing my leg up and get off. I leaned to one side and fell forward to the ground, hands first, and just laid flat on my back in the drive for what felt like a long time. I couldn't even lift myself up without grabbing the bike and using it, and my arms, to get up, again in screaming pain. I made a doctor appointment and went in for my first round of physical therapy and it took almost 4 weeks just to settle down the excessive debilitating pain issue.

I could write a lot about my therapy, but many of you probably have had some type of physical therapy already too. Let's just say 9 separate, multiple visit sessions (almost a year and a half altogether) helped me gain back my life. I'm very happy I decided to address the issue and work through it. Often surgery is the only way but I suggest doing everything you can before undergoing the knife.

 

Be careful when you're out riding, since you need to put your feet down and that might strain your back. Just have fun when you can, with all of that "mounting" that you're doing.

 

at 66, my back has lots of arthritis and two herniated discs and one bulging disc. chiropractor, advil, and muscle relaxers kept me going for years. then had to add vicadin to that. i finally went to a pain management doctor...and took some injections into my back. he said they do not work for everyone and cannot guarantee how long they will last. it has been 5 months for me, and i am back to playing golf and getting ready to head out on a 6k ride later this month. this is the best i have felt in years, and would suggest that you give it a try. JMO