Interview with Steve Cropley: Relief from Sciatic Pain

Baxter: When we spoke recently, you reminded me of an event that happened to you while attending a week-long retreat lead by JJ Gormley and me.  What was going on with your body that week?

Steve: I suffered low back problems from my high school years on. I routinely jumped off of gas tanker trucks onto concrete in leather-soled moccasins. Today they call that sort of thing “Parcorp”; in the 60s it was called “working for Dad.” My back problems got worse over the years. Years of downhill skiing, running, and working added to the problems. Chiropractors were my only saviors until sciatic pain.

In the spring of 2000, I developed sciatic pain. No relief from chiropractors, acupuncture, massage or physical therapy. I was suffering a pain that generally isn’t felt at its source. In my case, I did feel it from its source in the low back, through the hip and knee, through the ankle, top of my foot, toes and the sole of the foot. I couldn’t sit stand or lie down without constant shooting pains. Thinking that yoga might be part of the problem, I stopped my practice except for Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall or Waterfall pose). This pose was the one reliable way to fall asleep; I would plop down anywhere when I needed a break from the pain. I had months of agony before the pain began to recede. I returned to my yoga practice with the occasional recurrence of the sciatic pain, none as severe as the first. 

Baxter: You learned a valuable way of working with lower back pain from JJ that you now share with your students. Can you share it with us here?

Steve: It’s July 2004. I am in a weeklong yoga workshop at the Feathered Pipe Ranch with JJ Gormley and Baxter Bell. This particular afternoon, Baxter is teaching and JJ is assisting students. I can feel the tell tale bite of sciatic pain and I am moving in every direction, except the ones that Baxter is guiding us into, trying to find relief. JJ spots me and I tell her my sciatica was acting up. “Which side?” she asks. JJ shows me how to bring the hip points together with a yoga strap. JJ has me to do symmetrical poses. I did easy down dogs, cat backs, child poses and on my back, knees to chest and easy hip raises. Within a few minutes, the pain was gone. JJ answered the question on my face. “I figured this out on myself. “ She too had fought sciatic pain.

I am 60 now and in my life I have hurt all the major joints, broken fingers and toes, ribs, my jaw and my skull. On occasion, I wake up with low back pain. The difference today: I know that within a few minutes of rising, I will have figured out what it takes to make the pain disappear and get on with my day.

I have taught JJ’s belt trick to a lot of people in the last few years. Building extra press boxes at the 2006 Super Bowl, I found one of our electricians moaning and rolling around on the concrete. This guy had been self medicating, using alcohol to help him cope with his sciatic pain for years. Our 12-hour days and 7-day weeks were taking their toll on him. I taught him JJ’s belt trick, and some simple asana. Within a few minutes, he was able to find relief and go back to work.

This August a student came to class with sciatic bite, my term for that mild or beginning pinch that one gets as sciatica acts up. I taught her JJ’s belt method and she continued class pain free. As class continues, I forget about her earlier sciatic bite and guide her into a twist. She has an immediate reaction as her sciatic bite returns. We go back to JJ’s method, belt and symmetric poses. Pain stops. I haven’t seen this student since Thanksgiving, but I know she has JJ’s belt method in her toolbox, another tool to ease the body and calm the mind.

Here is JJ’s sciatic belt trick/method/remedy. Put the belt around the hips with the buckle on the hip point of the affected body side. Hold the buckle in place as you draw the belt tight. The action is to draw the hip points together.

Baxter, I don’t know why this works. Dr. Patty Tobi and I were talking about this yesterday. Does the pull of the strap or compression from the strap make others nerves fire and make the mind reset the brain’s reading of the enflamed nerves? Patty wonders if the strap puts pressure on a meridian.

Baxter: The belt trick is one I have used for stabilizing the pelvis and opening the sacroiliac joints so they can reset. Sacroiliac joint pain can cause sciatic-like pain patterns. It is hard to say what the belting is doing anatomically, but it very impressive in its effect on stopping back pain.

Steve Cropley is Head Custodian, Santosha Yoga, Sheridan WY, CYT 300 RYT 200. Steve read Light on Yoga in 1971 and determined he was already practicing yoga. He found a teacher and began formally studying yoga in the mid 90’s. Steve began studying with Baxter Bell in 2003, and Baxter introduced Steve to JJ Gormley. Steve graduated from JJ’s Special Ed Yoga program, which he practices to this day. Steve has led impromptu yoga classes in Beijing and Inchon Airport in Seoul. You can find Santosha Yoga at the Santosh Yoga web site.