[milkmanjoe]

Hey Guys....

Some of you who met me in person years ago remember a thick guy with forearms Brownie referred to as Popeye.
I decided I was getting too old to carry that weight, so I lost about sixty five pounds. I’m 5’6” so that is some body altering weight. Well, it came with a price......

Seems now the weight of my pistol, with a Blade-Tech reinforced belt, is aggravating my sciatica. I could be carrying a Ruger LCR x in 357 or my usual G-17, near unbearable pain like a razor going down my left leg on longer walks.
Today I tried dual mags on the belt on my left side, trying to offset the pistol weight. That is how I carried my G-17s when I was younger. The weight distribution seemed to help, but once Summer hits that’s a lot to conceal on my now smaller frame. Still, it hurt, but was bearable.

I was thinking maybe some thin foam between the belt and my hip on my left side. I’m open to more ideas.
Current holsters used are all Panther OWB for G-17. Its the weight pulling on the left hip causing the problem.

Any ideas?

 

[Marlinluvr]

Is it the weight or the tightness of your belt (or possibly both)?Got the same issue and it seems like my belt is cinched down more when I'm carrying, causing increased pain!

 

[Earl 007]

I have a bad back (disabled) when it's bad I get my shoulder holster out of the closet until it calms down. good luck

 

[milkmanjoe]

Is it the weight or the tightness of your belt (or possibly both)?Got the same issue and it seems like my belt is cinched down more when I'm carrying, causing increased pain!

Tightness of belt doesn’t change anything. Tried other belts, but the Blade Tec is my daily belt

 

[joecarry]

Joe, congratulations on the 65 lbs loss. I too lost 63 lbs from Dec 19 to July of 20 and I’m 4” taller then you, so yes, that is life altering change of shape.

I have taken to carrying two P365s, one on each hip with a spare 12 round mag. These are carried at the 9:30 & 3:30 positions with Panther IWB holsters with Blade Tech adjustable belt.

What I’ve found is that for shorter durations, I can carry both reasonably ok/comfortably without any issues. If I do go for longer periods of time or longer walking especially, I find I have to make the belt a lot tighter to keep the pants up but then it starts hurting my hips. I am chalenged with repositioning the guns slightly more off the hip bones and finding some happy medium.

This is why on longer walks or carry days, I often ditch the bug on the off carry left side and just go with one strong side and the spare mag off side.

They are not heavy guns but the second one tends to send the comfort level off the charts for more then a few hours carry time. At least for IWB. I don’t do OWB so maybe that would help?

Good luck and congratulations on your weight loss. Keep it up. Your health will thank you for it.

 

[milkmanjoe]

Joe, congratulations on the 65 lbs loss. I too lost 63 lbs from Dec 19 to July of 20 and I’m 4” taller then you, so yes, that is life altering change of shape.

I have taken to carrying two P365s, one on each hip with a spare 12 round mag. These are carried at the 9:30 & 3:30 positions with Panther IWB holsters with Blade Tech adjustable belt.

What I’ve found is that for shorter durations, I can carry both reasonably ok/comfortably without any issues. If I do go for longer periods of time or longer walking especially, I find I have to make the belt a lot tighter to keep the pants up but then it starts hurting my hips. I am chalenged with repositioning the guns slightly more off the hip bones and finding some happy medium.

This is why on longer walks or carry days, I often ditch the bug on the off carry left side and just go with one strong side and the spare mag off side.

They are not heavy guns but the second one tends to send the comfort level off the charts for more then a few hours carry time. At least for IWB. I don’t do OWB so maybe that would help?

Good luck and congratulations on your weight loss. Keep it up. Your health will thank you for it.

Congratulations on your weight loss, too!!
I had Panther make me a lefty G-17 holster a while back, and right after I created this post I switched to left side carry. The lefty holster was so I could carry dual G-17s. But I’ll be damned, a single G-17 left side feels good so far.
Now this could mean I have to make a trip down by bttbbob and re-train lefty on movement and shooting then fly out by Brownie and re-train his whole Threat Focused course out in the Arizona mountains.
Poor me, eh😁

 

[Earl 007]

I carry OWB 90% of the time so that might be the first thing to try.

 

[milkmanjoe]

I carry OWB 90% of the time so that might be the first thing to try.

My post says I carry OWB.
I’m wondering if IWB would change the hanging angle and relieve the pressure/pain

 

[Shark1007]

Joe, it’s bizarre that you mention this today because I just spent literally all afternoon in the gun room trying to decide which smaller pistol to carry appendix. I may have torn rotator cuff and when I make the motion to draw from about four or 430 it’s extremely painful.

I’ve had nine back surgeries and did personal injury cases for decades. I’m certainly not a doctor but here are some thoughts. Your spinal cord actually ends at about L3 maybe just a little bit above your belt line depending on where you wear the belt. Nerve roots from your remaining lumbar vertebrae and sacral vertebrae all combine to become the sciatic nerve. It’s about as big as your thumb. It runs in most people under the piriformis muscle in your butt. Compression or weight at your waist line can either irritate parts of the sciatic nerve bundle before it comes together or even inflame the Piriformis muscle which in turn compresses the sciatic nerve.

The sciatic nerve splits at your knee and goes on down to your foot. Sciatic nerve pain can be either from muscle spasm which might happen from a holster constantly digging into your buttocks or compression from a really tight belt or it can be from a disc herniation. Disks are like jelly donuts and if a herniation occurs in the right spot it will produce radiating pain down your leg usually on one side only. The jelly of the donut kind of pushes out making a bulge that pinches the nerves against the hole where it comes out of your spine.

Of course, seeing your doctor and finding out what he thinks the cause is would be prudent. In the meantime, anti-inflammatories like Motrin/ibuprofen taken at regular intervals are helpful. They work when the blood level gets to a certain point and it’s important to take the correct dosage with meals usually. The anti-inflammatory dose for me is 600 mg every 4 to 6 hours with food. That usually calms things down in several days. Importantly, you’ve got to remove the external force that is causing the problem i.e. the gun/holster and compression.

The only way for me that’s halfway certain when I have trouble is to go to an ankle holster. A fanny pack might be helpful because you can wear them kind of loose but, the ankle holster works best for me or as suggested above a shoulder holster.

Sorry your hurting, brother. I understand.

 

[Earl 007]

Sorry Joe I got that backwards , so I failed reading Comp today.

 

[joecarry]

Congratulations on your weight loss, too!!
I had Panther make me a lefty G-17 holster a while back, and right after I created this post I switched to left side carry. The lefty holster was so I could carry dual G-17s. But I’ll be damned, a single G-17 left side feels good so far.
Now this could mean I have to make a trip down by bttbbob and re-train lefty on movement and shooting then fly out by Brownie and re-train his whole Threat Focused course out in the Arizona mountains.
Poor me, eh😁

Wow, dual G17’s, that’s a lot of hardware to support. I used to do a G17 with a G26 on off side carry but I couldn’t pull it off as there was just too much weight pulling and I could only get the belt so tight, too tight for comfort. I was looking into getting but never did, suspenders that I could wear under my cover garment to hold my pants up without making the belt so tight but I gave up on that and didn’t pursue it.

Another thought from my Miami Vice days is I have lots of shoulder holsters as mentioned above. They of course have their own pros and cons to wearing but it is an option to consider. Especially great if you spend a lot of time in a car or seated.

Good luck buddy. I hope you find the right combination that gives you the relief you need to carry happily.

 

[milkmanjoe]

Joe, it’s bizarre that you mention this today because I just spent literally all afternoon in the gun room trying to decide which smaller pistol to carry appendix. I may have torn rotator cuff and when I make the motion to draw from about four or 430 it’s extremely painful.

I’ve had nine back surgeries and did personal injury cases for decades. I’m certainly not a doctor but here are some thoughts. Your spinal cord actually ends at about L3 maybe just a little bit above your belt line depending on where you wear the belt. Nerve roots from your remaining lumbar vertebrae and sacral vertebrae all combine to become the sciatic nerve. It’s about as big as your thumb. It runs in most people under the piriformis muscle in your butt. Compression or weight at your waist line can either irritate parts of the sciatic nerve bundle before it comes together or even inflame the Piriformis muscle which in turn compresses the sciatic nerve.

The sciatic nerve splits at your knee and goes on down to your foot. Sciatic nerve pain can be either from muscle spasm which might happen from a holster constantly digging into your buttocks or compression from a really tight belt or it can be from a disc herniation. Disks are like jelly donuts and if a herniation occurs in the right spot it will produce radiating pain down your leg usually on one side only. The jelly of the donut kind of pushes out making a bulge that pinches the nerves against the hole where it comes out of your spine.

Of course, seeing your doctor and finding out what he thinks the cause is would be prudent. In the meantime, anti-inflammatories like Motrin/ibuprofen taken at regular intervals are helpful. They work when the blood level gets to a certain point and it’s important to take the correct dosage with meals usually. The anti-inflammatory dose for me is 600 mg every 4 to 6 hours with food. That usually calms things down in several days. Importantly, you’ve got to remove the external force that is causing the problem i.e. the gun/holster and compression.

The only way for me that’s halfway certain when I have trouble is to go to an ankle holster. A fanny pack might be helpful because you can wear them kind of loose but, the ankle holster works best for me or as suggested above a shoulder holster.

Sorry your hurting, brother. I understand.

Shark....
I had anti inflammatory meds but they got discontinued due to interaction with my current heart meds. Heart surgery the 24th at MUSC, Charleston. I have several smaller pistols I can carry, I’ve always been a G-17 guy, back to my now shelved Gen 1’s.
I switched to left hip carry about an hour ago and have no pain. Of course that’s a whole new skill set, though, with my own eight acre range I think I can get the left thing down well enough for Walmart runs. My wife(compounding pharmacist) says anti inflammatory meds likely will not be in my very near future, if ever again, depending on meds needed after heart surgery.
I may switch to a “lightweight” Springfield Ronin 4.25 barrel in 10mm after checking weights.
Appendix carry is out for me. Tried it, was fast with a T shirt, just didn’t like it. Fortunately, like you, I have a collection of pistols and holsters to play with till I find a comfort zone.
Maybe I’ll get a duty belt and let a thick soft leather belt be the buffer in between the duty belt and my hip

 

[Shark1007]

I may have an extra fanny pack if you’d like me to mail one to you. It seems like everything interacts/conflicts with everything else these days. I finally decided on an appendix carry set up with a Springfield XDS to lessen the chance of shooting myself in the tinkled. I wore it for five minutes and the moment I sat down it poked me in the femoral artery where it was rebuilt with dacron by an army surgeon.Listen, please keep us all advised when you’re heading in for the surgery so we can get the prayer squad activated.

MUSC Charleston Is absolutely the place to go in your locality. There are tremendous benefits to being treated in an institution affiliated with med school.

 

[milkmanjoe]

I may have an extra fanny pack if you’d like me to mail one to you. It seems like everything interacts/conflicts with everything else these days. I finally decided on an appendix carry set up with a Springfield XDS to lessen the chance of shooting myself in the tinkled. I wore it for five minutes and the moment I sat down it poked me in the femoral artery where it was rebuilt with dacron by an army surgeon.Listen, please keep us all advised when you’re heading in for the surgery so we can get the prayer squad activated.

MUSC Charleston Is absolutely the place to go in your locality. There are tremendous benefits to being treated in an institution affiliated with med school.

Thanks for the Fanny pack offer, I have a few from camera days when my sons were in school sports. I’ll keep testing guns and holsters, it’ll be fun and I’ll likely find stuff I forgot about. I do have the SCCY CPX1 that weighs nothing and shoots amazingly well. Hmmmmmmmm

 

[edgehill]

I have this issue from time to time and found a hybrid holster seems to help since the ones I have spreads the weight out around my waist.

 

[Riverpigusmc]

Perry suspenders. I have 3 different color pair

 

[196THL.I.B.GUNNER]

Thanks for the Fanny pack offer, I have a few from camera days when my sons were in school sports. I’ll keep testing guns and holsters, it’ll be fun and I’ll likely find stuff I forgot about. I do have the SCCY CPX1 that weighs nothing and shoots amazingly well. Hmmmmmmmm

Thanks for the Fanny pack offer, I have a few from camera days when my sons were in school sports. I’ll keep testing guns and holsters, it’ll be fun and I’ll likely find stuff I forgot about. I do have the SCCY CPX1 that weighs nothing and shoots amazingly well. Hmmmmmmmm

Hi There .. As a Long Time Fellow Sufferer ( Blown Off a Track ) '67. On Top Of That , A Piece of Shrapnel Is Real Close to Sciatica in my Thigh . Working Flipping houses ( By Myself Mostly ) & Street Construction , It Finally Went out 'Completely' in 1980 . Laminectomy L4 - L5 .. Even Today I Have to Take V.A. Methocarbamol (2) X daily .. I Switched to My Shoulder Rig i Made & that Helped into the 90's . Due to Both Of My Rotatorcuffs Being Out , My Next Handgun 'Will Be' An S&W M&P Ez in Either .380 . 9mm .. As All of You Know , Sitting is Death on Your Back , & i Try Not To Sit very much . So , I Think the Last Post was 'Right On the Money' , Carry Light ! Just IMHO . Good Luck To You And All Back Sufferers ! "Gunner" ( Gotta Go ) , My Back Is 'Talking' To Me

 

[milkmanjoe]

Perry suspenders. I have 3 different color pair

Hello Michael....
I prefer to give a hetero appearance, but Thank You just the same.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I’m on their site now on my phone.......Ooooooooh, rainbow suspenders...Click.....Now we’re twins

J/K———Thanks, I’m really gonna order some

 

[LittleGator]

No good deed goes unpunished! 🤣

 

[BeerHunter]

🤣
On a serious note, milkmanjoe shark, Gunner, Earl, et al; I'm hoping all of you find some relief soon!