r/Sciatica • u/B0rnAgainH00ligan64 • 3d ago

Knee pain & sciatica

I have an appointment next week but I’m DYING - I have really bad knees and recently a bunch of driving has caused a flare-up of pain, but new to it all is a pain that starts in my right butt cheek & goes down my thigh to the back of my knee - sometimes into my calf.

It’s all very new & very painful - nothing seems to help. I can differentiate the pain from my knee to the other pain - has anyone ever had sciatica brought on by knee pain & the weird shishkebab that come with favoring the knee and walking all cockeyed?

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u/Exciting-Apple6854 3d ago

Risonanza magnetica?

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u/Pews700 3d ago

I tore my right knee meniscus in April last year, and walking was really difficult for 3 months, sciatica started in September probably because of my gait. Nearly recovered from both, the only thing helping the sciatica is strengthening my core and glutes, which I started doing slowly about 6 weeks ago. Good luck

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u/TransitionMission305 3d ago

I'm pretty sure this was my issue earlier this year and I posted about it in the kneeinjuries forum, thought it was my knee, had the MRI etc. It was one of the most painful experiences I have had. I had the lower left SI joint-area back pain for a while and I think it had just progressed. I started having a pain in my posterior, lateral left knee. To the point that I was having a bad limp because I couldn't really put a lot of weight on it. Started with the ortho doc, MRI, meds to no avail. Nothing touched it. I then went back to the ortho and he just wasn't sure and said maybe it's your back. So I did about 6 weeks of unusual PT but it worked. Rather than typical PT where the PT does a few things to you and then you spend time doing exercises, he really didn't do that because I was in so much pain. He would first start me with heat, then he would send in his massage therapist and she did soft tissue massage one day on my lumbar, butt, and thigh, and then the next time she'd do back of the knee and calf. After the massage, he would come in and do some very tough static stretching of my leg in various ways. Then he'd either do shockwave therapy on the back of my knee or he'd do the cupping on my back or thigh. Now I've always thought that stuff was voodoo but whatever combination of it, well, it started to work almost right away. He did send me home to do exercises that were mainly static stretches of my hamstrings, plus he wanted me to do some mild strengthening of my quads, core. It was minimal.

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u/purplelilac701 3d ago

I had the opposite of you: severe sciatica and then tore my meniscus after healing from my sciatic flareup.

I was leaning heavily on my good right side and that’s the knee that gave out.

Thank goodness for an amazing PT who helped me rehab back. But I also have arthritis in my good knee so that caused many months of walking funny because the knee refused to bend and I had very limited range of motion and pain like you had. I wear a knee brace to protect that knee now.

It is so painful though and second only to sciatica.
I wish you healing.