Sciatica and pain Dam Back .. Help

I am 60 yrs old and have had back problems for 21 years. Mine started with sciatic nerve pain down my leg and I have had several episodes where my back went out and the pain was so severe I could not walk or get out of bed. I went to a chiropractor in the beginning at the advice of someone and at first the treatment helped. But on one visit to the chiropractor he adjusted my back too hard and caused me to have a herniated disc that put me out of work for 2 months with the worst sciatic pain I have ever had. The nerve was so inflamed that you could see a red line down the side of my thigh to my ankle. I almost had surgery but right before surgery was scheduled I began to get better.

I will never see a chiropractor again and advise all to never see one. I have had many doctors who had different ideas on what to do for the chronic back pain and some of the physical therapy helped while other did not. I was a letter carrier for 36 yrs and I think the lifting and sitting in a truck all day twisting my back caused or aggravated my problem. I went to work many days struggling with pain to get the job done that caused a lot of stress. About a year ago I went on sick leave in March with severe sciatic nerve and back pain with the intention of retiring in June. While on leave a MRI was done to determine what was wrong with my back and one doctor said that I needed to arch my back more and my discs looked pretty good. I went for a second opinion and that doctor said I needed back surgery immediately.

The procedure he wanted to perform was to cut out the bone on the back of two vertebrae and cut out the two discs and then do a fusion with two rods and some screws to stabilize the backbone. I was in such pain that I was ready to go through with it but read on the internet that kind of surgery had like a 60-70% chance of relieving pain. That did not sound like good odds to me so I went to a neurosurgeon who said there was no way he would do such radical surgery. The neurosurgeon sent me to the best physical therapist I have ever seen. He showed me how to keep my back arched when I bent forward and it took awhile for me to develop that habit. I learned to always have good lumbar support while sitting and to stretch after sitting a long time. I got an inversion table at the therapist's recommendation. The table has a device on it that gives good lumbar support and I use it every day. The first time I got on the table and went upside down my back popped like popcorn and I could feel relief from back pain. I lost a lot of my gut by eating less and doing exercises. All of these things combined with retiring from my letter carrier job has helped me feel the best that I have in years. I still have to watch what I do and have occasional back pain but for the most part I have little to no pain. I know my back will never be 100% but I think I can control it for the most part. I hope you find relief from that awful pain and my prayers are with you.