On this edition of the Ask Coach Parry podcast, with being less than a month out from the Comrades Marathon, questions have come in thick and fast. So for the next week or so we’re going to be answering all the questions that were posted and the first one came through from Brett Driver. Lindsey, Brett says he’s having a problem with his sciatic. He says, please help, his right foot has gone numb, what can he do to sort that out?

Brad Brown: On this edition of the Ask Coach Parry podcast, with being less than a month out from the Comrades Marathon, questions have come in thick and fast. So for the next week or so we’re going to be answering all the questions that were posted and the first one came through from Brett Driver. Lindsey, Brett says he’s having a problem with his sciatic. He says, please help, his right foot has gone numb, what can he do to sort that out?

Lindsey Parry: Okay, so look, sciatic irritation problems are fairly complicated, they’re not easy to sort out and look, there’s definitely, if his foot has gone numb, he’s lost feeling, it could also be a couple of other things that could be causing it. The problem with sciatic nerve is it can get irritated in the lower back itself. In some people we can get something called Piriformis Syndrome where the sciatic nerve runs through the piriformis, the piriformis goes into spasm and it then can cause pain of numbness because it’s putting pressure on that nerve.

Physio & stability strengthening can help Sciatic problems

So probably the best short term fix is to get some physiotherapy and hopefully through that they can like determine exactly where that sciatic irritation is coming from. Is it in the lumbar spine or lower back or is it coming from in the glutes, something like a piriformis and get that treated. But then also there are some really good lower abdominal mobility and strengthening stabilisation exercises that you can do and then if we can strengthen that and stabilise, in particular, the sacroiliac joints, that will stop any unnecessary movement in there which would then relieve some pressure from the sciatic nerve.

Are your Sciatic issues caused by structural damage?

Of course there may be some structural damage too, often in the case of this type of irritation there may be some damage to the intervertebral discs which would complicate things a little bit because then just purely the act of running would potentially irritate the sciatic, but again, even if that is the case, if you do go on a fairly aggressive rehabilitation program, stabilising that lower back and restricting the movement, you will, A reduce the rate of degeneration but very importantly, B you should be able to lessen the irritation on the sciatic nerve.

BB: Brilliant. Lindsey, thank you very much, Brett, thank you for your question, much appreciated. I hope it does come right before Comrades. I’m Brad Brown, Lindsey Parry with us once again, until tomorrow, have yourself a great one, cheers.