I've had sciatic pain for more than one year now, after explosively lifting 150 pounds from shoulder level to overhead. It radiated from the lower back to left knee, slowly improving (by half a percent per day) until I resumed physical activity. Then it switched to the right side.

Sitting is unbearable for more than 1 minute. Standing can be tolerated for 5-10 minutes. Laying down is pain free, but pain will return immediately upon standing. It is not severe, maybe 3/10, but is continuous. It feels like tight rubber bands around my right knee, with some aching in the calf, which occassionally experiences some acute pain. The lower back I feel only occassionally, but the muscles around there are always tight and somewhat weak, in that I can feel them pulsing after sitting or standing for a while.

My primary care physician said my back was spastic because I was unable to touch my toes. She prescribed some back exercises, which I followed fairly diligently, but without much relief after several months. I went to an accupucturist for six weeks and was briefly pain free. However, I reinjured myself by squatting 200 pounds several times. I felt a sudden movement in my back during the motion and the pain immediately returned, and has been very slow to abate.

Several muscles are very tight: my ITB and hamstrings especially, the periformis, and quads.

My question is why the pain isn't healing and how may I help the process?