Question
Approximately 16 years ago I had an accident and following an xray was told I compacted the discs in my lower spine. I am 27 now and I didn't really have any trouble until last year when I started getting pain in my lower back with sciatica. I also got sharp pain in my right hip when walking. The strange part was that if I massaged my lower back it felt crunchy, like I had small pebbles in my there! I went to my doctor and after feeling the area he said I had a fluid build up in between my spine and right hip joint. I was given anti-inflammatory drugs, which cleared up the pain & sciatica within a couple weeks but he said if it returned I may need surgery. It is back again with the crunchy feeling and the pain in my hip is occurring more often when I am walking. I also seem to be getting pins and needles regularly in my thighs and right buttock. I don't understand where this fluid is coming from and what the surgery would be? Can you help please? I can't find anything on the internet about this fluid or why its affecting my hip. Thank you for any help you can give, Beth.

Answer
Hello, Beth,

I can't answer about the fluid or what surgery your physician has in mind.  You'd have to ask him/her.

The pins and needles and hip pain commonly come when muscles in the low back get contracted enough (triggered reflexively by the initial injury) to cause nerve compression (sciatica); such contraction also causes lower back pain.

The muscular contractions can be retrained by means of clinical somatic education (more sophisticated than most physical therapy).  That would handle the low back pain, hip pain and pins-and-needles.

There's a clinical somatic educator in Oxford; I don't know of others in the U.K.  Consult:

http://www.hannasomatics.com/practitioners for a list.

my articles:

http://www.somatics.com/sciatica.htm
http://www.somatics.com/recovery_from_injury.htm

self-help:
http://www.somatics.com/page7.htm

Programs exist specifically for back pain and sciatica.

The pins and needles probably require a program I have yet to publish (in progress).