Elliot Lewis

I have a known case of Spina Bifida Occulta, typical curled toes, lifelong tight hamstrings/calves/quads, and now at 32, my first old man injury which just won’t shake.

First COVID lockdown (UK), 2020, I sit at my kitchen table on a hard, shitty chair for 3 months. Working from home, most probably bad posture, I gave myself sciatica. For weeks I couldn’t sit on my shitty chair, instead I knelt in front of my table, tippy tapping on my laptop. Sitting was unbearable, sleeping was no good, everything sucked. But I was 26 years old and invincible, I recovered fine with nothing but rest.

May 2023, I am misdiagnosed with folliculitis. Sores down the left side of my face and behind my ears, with all the lymph nodes in my neck as hard as marbles and sticking out like horns. The antibiotics do nothing. A week later, I go back and the doctor admits to a misdiagnosis of shingles. And bloody hell, shingles are bad! Neck pain like no other, nerve pain shooting down your shoulder into your elbow and like there are pins in the end of your fingers. But antivirals work a treat and I’m sorted within a week of the right course of medicine.

January 2025, I am running 50-80km per week, the fittest I’ve ever been. Legs are tight, but that’s just classic over training, right?

April 2025, I race the Ballarat Half Marathon, set my PB (92 minutes, not that you asked). One week later, I am playing indoor soccer on a dusty basketball court. The courts were maintained well for the years prior, cleaned at least weekly and sticky spray stuff for your shoes. But things got worse overtime and here we are, dusty court. Trying to impress the girl I’m dating, I overcommit with my left foot outstretched to take the ball. I slide on the dust and do the splits. Left foot out front (a little off to the left), right leg back. But hey, I feel like I tear my right hamstring, go figure.

May 2025, I’m doing nothing at all. I’m invincible, remember. I’m 31, the world belongs to me and my limber limbs. I’ll recover with some time and rest. But alas, May 30th, I am rear-ended in a car crash. Not a fast one, didn’t hit the steering wheel, but I chipped my teeth in a big jaw clench and whiplash. My car gets fixed and my work pays for a couple months of physio. It can’t get much worse, can it?

Physio goes well, lots of piriformis compensatory pain. Lots of release work, both back and legs. Did I mention I have two more half marathons to do?

Run Melbourne, July 13th 2025. I’ve been sponsored to run for the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, for my mum. August 2nd, I run the Yarrathon with my friends. After these, I do nothing. I’m broken. Everything hurts, nothing gets better, so I rest. Rest heals everything. Boy, I’m tight though.

Physio ramps things up; I do heaps of glute bridges, double leg, single leg, legs up on a chair, single legs on a chair. Progress to straight leg deadlifts, Romanian dead lifts, some squats, arabesques, the list goes on. It hurts, but I persist because that’s what I’m told to do. My GP doesn’t give me a referral for an ultrasound because I’m young and an ultrasound doesn’t penetrate deep enough up under a glute muscle so it won’t do anything.

It gets worse, the nerve pain sets in, and this doesn’t stop for a year. It’s August 2026 when I’m writing this now, and it still hurts.

September 2025, I go back to a sedentary life, no more physio.

January 2026, I reckon I’m ready to start jogging again. Nothing fast, nothing far, and only in my best shoes. ASICS Superblast 2s, my softest shoes are all I can bear to run in. I join a really lovely run club, it’s social, slow paced, and has a free beer afterwards.

February 2026, my hamstring hurts every step. As my right leg strides out, it pinches at the very top of my hamstring. It jars my whole leg, glute to calf every stride. I start adding a second 5km per week, and even the odd 10km. But alas, I’m only making myself worse. I’m going to the gym once per week to do the old physio exercises.

May 2026, I go to a new physio, the nerve pain is stopping me from sitting down at my desk for more than a couple of hours. Nerve pain in the back of my knee and calf doesn’t feel right. He says it’s radiculopathy and that I should not move at all, keep still and let the nerves settle. And so I do. I think he’s a little scared of nerves. I can’t ride my bike, because leaning forward has my hamstring in extension and it hurts!

June 16, 2026, I try a new physio. Surely not moving at all is bad advice. Physio number 3 suggests glute bridges, nerve flossing, single leg glute bridges, banded hip abduction and dead bugs. Moving again feels good! But the nerve pain is there, radiating from mid back to lower calf. I can’t drop my chin to chest, I can’t reach my toes let alone mid shin. It.has been over a year since I have stretched my hamstring. I change the weekly 5km jog with the run club to a 5km walk kist to keep myself moving.

June 26, 2026, I progress to resisted clam shells, single leg glute bridges with weight on a chair, other leg in the air. This is far too much, and I’m back behind square 1, I’m square negative 10. Everything is regressed back to simple nerve glides.

July 15, 2026, I am regressed to prone supermans and standing hip extensions (kick backs) like a hot gym girl. These all hurt,  I persist, but I’m getting worse. My nerve has been aggravated and there’s no respite. I can’t squat, lean forward. I can’t hold any weight in front of me without activating my posterior chain and pinching my hamstring. I am going to the gym once per week where I can do leg extensions and prone leg curls (heavy-ish hamstring curls) without any pain. But damn, I’m so tight!

July 31, 2026, we regress to donkey kick leg extensions. Not much is helping. Foam rolling is my only hope. Foam rolling and spiky balls are my only real relief. Walking is good, but if I cross my right leg over my left knee, I’m in trouble, that’ll set me off for a week.

August 10, 2026, I see a myotherapist. She says all of my fascia is screaming. My stomach, my quads, my calves, the fascia everywhere has referred pain all over. Still, standing up straight, I can’t drop my chin to my chest properly. I can’t sit with my leg out straight. I can’t pick things up from the bottom tray in the dishwasher. But I can still do leg curls in the gym, and it feels weird that this doesn’t hurt.

How is it that I was doing so much better last year? Why has cycling got so much worse? Why can’t I just get better? Why is nerve pain so debilitating? Why don’t people take old folk seriously when they say sciatica is the worst fucking, inescapable pain?