Understanding Sciatica: Causes,
Symptoms, and Treatment Options
Sciatica is pain, weakness and numbness or tingling in the leg. The condition is driven by pressure or damage to the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve originates from the lower back, travels through the hips and buttocks, and extends down each leg.
Symptoms
● Pain: The sciatica pain feels like a burning sensation or shooting pain starting from the lower back or buttocks and emitting down to the front or back of the thigh, leg, and feet.
● Numbness: Sciatica pain occurs by numbness in the back of the leg. In some cases, tingling and weakness can also be experienced by individuals.
● Pain or Numbness in One Leg: Sciatica most commonly a ects only one leg. Patients su ering from sciatica can feel heaviness in the impacted leg.
● Posture Rendered Symptoms: Sciatica pain worsening while sitting, trying to stand, bending the spine, lying down and twisting the spine.
Causes
Sciatica is only a sign of a medical situation It is not a medical disorder by itself There are several possible causes of sciatica:
● Herniated Disc: When the disc in the spine herniated or slips, it can press towards a sciatica nerve and provokes pain and discomfort.
● Tumours: In some cases, tumours in the spine and buttocks cram the sciatic nerve, which leads to sciatica.
● Trauma or Injury: Any damage to the backbone or hips can generate sciatica, such as falls, car accidents and sports injuries.
● Spinal Stenosis: This is the condition in which the spinal canal narrows abnormally Which causes a reduction in reducing the space for the spinal cord and nerves.
Treatment
The main aim of treatment is to reduce pain and improve mobility. Relying upon the causalities, some cases of sciatica may resolve independently over time with simple self-care treatments. So here is the list of some sciatica treatments:
● Cold and Heat Therapy: Regularly applying a cold pack to the a ected area for 20 minutes can help relieve pain. You can use a frozen bag of vegetables or a cold pack for cold therapy. After a few times, if you are still experiencing
pain, then you can try heat therapy instead. You can apply heat to the a ected area using a heating pad, hot lamp and hot pack.
● Physical Therapy With Exercise: It helps to improve the mobility of the lower back, stomach, and thigh tissues and helps in sciatica treatment without surgery. The primary goal of sciatica physical therapy is to:
● Relieve pain in the lower back, thigh, leg, and buttocks.
● Restore functional, pain-free movement patterns.
● Restore lumbar spine and sacroiliac joint function.
● Reduce muscle twitch
● Elevate neurological adaptations to decrease pain perception.
● Enhance lower body mobility.
● Chiropractic Treatment and Massage: Chiropractic treatment helps reduce pain and improves the functionality of the spine by adjusting your spine. Sciatica pain is also caused by muscle tightening. Massage helps lose muscle, enhancing mobility and flexibility in the lower back.
● Epidural Steroid Injections: Epidural Steroid Injections, or ESIs, is the most common option for treating many kinds of lower back and leg pain. It is the central part of non-surgical treatment for sciatica and lower back pain. The therapy includes injecting steroid prescriptions and local anesthetic directly into your epidural space encircling your nerve roots and spinal cord.
