MBT's

[lainey lou]

Reflexology is excellent for sciatica, I see lots of clients with this problem ( I have suffered myself and I know it's agony). Quite often after an hour of toe twiddling from me my clients are pain free, able to touch there toes etc and usually stay like that, some for a few weeks, some for months, the best yet is over two years!
Stretching exercises are also good especially drawing up your knees to your chest before you get out of bed in the morning to loosen up your lower back.

[Nicos]

I couldn't wait for the website to load - very slow... but the bit I read seemed to be talking about how barefoot Masai don't get backache? So why not just kick off your shoes?!

Interestingly Masai squat instead of sitting - better for posture!
Sorry Piskie- never seen them before- hope they work for you though!

[piskieinboots]

Lainey lou - will you marry me hun

[Becca]

can't comment on the mbt's but have tried earth shoes which i think work on a similar logic in that they are supposed to make you walk as you would barefoot.. they're pretty good tho they take a bit of getting used to as the heel of the foot is slightly lower than the ball of the foot so they make your calves ache a bit at first if you're used to heels like me :P My mum walks several miles a day in hers and swears by them suppose to be good for posture and join problems and also allegedly burn cellulite, I wear mine when my knee is dodgy and they seem to help so i can vouche for the first claim if not the second :P

[Alison]

Have had a pair for years, my pilates instructor is also a big fan and does weekly walking sessions and even weekend / week holidays. Not been on them but did get mine from her when they were on offer at only about half the price they are now. They usually get a pretty good write up in the press also and were used as a way of reducing your butt size on some C4 thing a few months ago. They're not all that stylish but neither am I so no problems. Basically the way they work is to force you to have better posture which is good for your spine as a whole and you can do good without really thinking about it. Whoever said it above about the sizing tho, I would have to agree, I take a size larger normally and they do recommend that you get them properly fitted to ensure that they're correctly sized.

[squashysu]

They look cool - i suffer from HMS, got lots and lots of pain at the mo as been in the garden all week!!! I also have terrible flat feet (not got a lot going for me really) this attributes to the pain!

One question piskie, do they have an arched insole in them? as i need this regardless.

I must say that i do the gardening in my Crocs, which are totally fab and easy to wash the mud off of!

SS

[SarzWix]

Snap SquashySu, there's a couple of us 'bendy-bods' on here I live in walking boots all my waking hours, for arch & ankle support
I have to say, that with all my experience of sciatica (20 years), the 2 things which work best to sort it out are;
1. Change the thing which you do most often - if you work standing up, change to a job which has more varied movement or a different working height etc. If you work mostly sitting down, either more varied movement or at least a different chair you can change to halfway through the day or something. This is because sciatica is most often caused by continued pressure on the spine in the same place, repeatedly, causing a disc to bulge at the side opposite to the pressure. The bulge then presses on the nerve to cause the pain.
2. Lie down flat. Now don't all yell at me at once, I know it hurts. Believe me I know. I have a theory that the immense pain on lying down is caused by the pressure being released off the nerve, so that you get a kind of nerve pins & needles. I had it so bad, that when they tried to do MRI scan, I had to have 3 shots of morphine to be able to lie still enough. But because of it, I was in hospital 3 days & when I got out I could stand up straight for the first time in 18 months Keeping flat for three days had released the pressure on the disc, and allowed it to start going back where it belonged! Having learned that lesson, if it kicks off now, I straight away take the strongest painkillers I have, so that I can bear to lie down, and everything slots back into place again.

There endeth the lecture

[lainey lou]

Lainey lou - will you marry me hun

tee hee hee!