What is Sciatica?
Sciatica refers to the pain that occurs when the sciatic nerve, one of the the largest nerves in the human body, becomes pinched. It is a type of pain that typically occurs on one side of the lower body.
The pain of this pinched lumbar nerve is felt in the lower part of the back and it often radiates to the buttocks and one or sometimes both legs.
Depending on the site of sciatic nerve involvement, pain may also be felt in the foot or toes. In some patients, the pain of sciatica is very severe and can become chronic pain. In other cases, it might be infrequent but may become worse.
Why does it come and go?
In most of the cases, sciatica pain is not permanent. It comes and goes because it is caused by the irritation of the nerve root in the lower lumbar or lumbosacral region of the spinal column.
Sometimes, the amount of nerve compression or irritation is aggravated due to any posture disorder, prolonged sitting or standing, muscle spasms, any injury to back muscles or other reasons. When the underlying symptoms and causes are both settled, pain disappears. However, in some patients, pain may be continuous due to their underlying cause.
Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
This is a condition in which the spinal canal gets narrowed down in the lower region of the back. It is a common cause of compression of the sciatic nerve. Pain due to this cause is continuous in most cases.
Degenerative Disc Disease
DDD is a condition in which intervertebral discs are degenerated gradually due to age-related wear and tear changes, arthritis, dietary deficiency or any other cause.
Intervertebral discs provide a cushioning effect. When the cushion effect is lost in the lower lumbar region, the sciatic nerve is compressed between two vertebrae, leading to severe pain.
A Herniated Disk in the Lumbar Spine
A spinal disk is comprised of two parts: the hard outer shell, and the soft inner contents that are protected by the shell. When the gel-like inner contents of the disk sticks out (usually through a crack in the disk’s shell), that is referred to as a disk herniation. This can place pressure on the nerve roots that come out of the spinal cord, including the sciatic nerve.
Bone spurs
This is a bony overgrowth on the vertebrae that may place pressure on the sciatic nerve, lead to compression of the nerve, and ultimately to sciatica.
Spondylolisthesis
It is a condition in which one vertebral bone slips forward over the other vertebral bone. This causes the compression or irritation of the root of sciatic nerve and pain is felt in the region of distribution of the nerve.
Muscle Spasms
When lower back muscles have a spasm, sciatic pain occurs. When the spasm is settled down, the pain disappears. Muscle spasms of the lower back region are an important cause of intermittent pain of the sciatic nerve.
Wearing High Heels
People who frequently wear high heels are more prone to developing sciatica due to disc slippage, back muscle inflammation or back muscle spasm. Usually, it happens that the pain comes with the wearing of high heels and goes away a few days after taking off the high heeled shoes.
Sciatica Symptoms
Patients with sciatica may experience some of the following common symptoms:
- Lower back pain
- Pain in the saddle area or leg that is aggravated by sitting
- Pain in the buttocks
- Burning or tingling sensations in the leg
- Weakness or numbness in the leg or foot
- Difficulty in moving the legs or foot
- Pain is felt all the time on one side of the rear
- Sometimes shooting pain is felt, which makes movement difficult.
Risk Factors for Sciatica
Some of the risk factors are:
- Aging
- Jobs that require lifting heavy weights or long periods of continuous sitting down
- Having a sedentary lifestyle
Treatment
Before any pain management or treatment is being employed to heal from sciatica, it is important to seek medical advice and obtain a diagnosis from a specialist. Because symptoms of sciatica may overlap with medical conditions such as cauda equina syndrome, obtaining a sciatica diagnosis can help ensure that the adequate treatment is being offered for the appropriate issue a patient is facing.
With that being said, if the diagnosis has been confirmed, the patient can move on to the treatment phase.
Sciatica treatments typically include the following options:
- Physical therapy
- Painkillers in the form of anti-inflammatory medication
- Painkillers in the form of injections
- Spinal surgery (as a last resort)
- Alternatively, our method is highly effective in treating sciatica:
Treat the root cause of SCIATICA
It helps you relieve acute or chronic sciatica pain at home. The Backrack technology helps you decompress your spine through an easy program of exercises that is carefully designed by world top spinal specialists. It is clinically proven that the Backrack device works on the whole spine so it can be used for the entire range of cervical, thoracic, and lumbar anatomical regions of your spine.
It’s a stand-alone product in back care that is recommended by top spinal specialists across the globe. Anybody who is suffering from spinal conditions such as:
- Sciatica
- Leg Pain
- Bulging Disc
- Stenosis
- Scoliosis
- Nerve Impingement
and other spinal disorders, can use this device to get a long-lasting back pain relief at home.
Author: Spinal Backrack
