SCIATICA PAIN: Causes, Symptoms, Prevention and Treatment

SCIATICA PAIN

Sciatica is a sensation that can manifest as moderate to severe pain in the sciatic nerve that affects the hips, buttocks and lower part of the leg through the back. Sciatica causes unbearable pain in the entire leg due to swelling in the veins related to the groin. In the acute stage of this disease, the patient remains in bed due to unbearable pain. As the disease becomes chronic, there is attenuation and shrinkage in the feet. Due to increased pressure in the part of the nerves, there is a tingling and swelling in the leg muscles. You might also feel numbness or weakness in these areas. Sciatica is a symptom caused by an injury to your sciatic nerve or an area that affects the nerve, such as your vertebrae. In sciatica, there is pain is usually affected on one side of the body. This disease is mostly due to the wrong way of getting up and sitting.  Sciatica is a very serious disease. If you do not get it treated on time, then it takes a big form, and you may have to undergo surgery at that time. Sciatica is more likely to occur between people between 30 and 50 years of age.
ABOUT SCIATIC NERVE

The Sciatic nerve starts at your spine, branches downwards into both feet, running through your hips and buttocks. This nerve is the longest nerve in your body and one of the most important nerves. This has a direct effect on your ability to control and feel your feet. When trouble occurs in this nerve, you experience sciatica pain.

                                                                                                    

CONTENT TABLE:

§  Symptoms of Sciatica

§  Causes of Sciatica

§  Prevention of Sciatica

§  Sciatica Home remedy

§  Diagnosis of Sciatica

§  Sciatica Treatment

§  Sciatica Medicine

§  Do these exercises to get rid of sciatica pain

§  Sciatica Yoga

§  Sciatica Complications

§  Sciatica Doctor

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF SCIATICA

The main symptoms of sciatica are:

·    Sciatica usually affects only side of the lower body. Sciatica pain reaches from the waist to the thighs of the leg and to the lower parts of the leg. The severity of the disease also depends on how much the sciatic nerve has been affected. Apart from this, this pain can also reach the toes.

·       Sciatica is a very different type of symptom. If you are experiencing pain flowing from your lower back through your buttock area to your lower limbs, it is usually sciatica.

·     Sciatica is the result of damage or injury to your sciatic nerve, so other symptoms of nerve damage usually arises with pain. Other symptoms may include the following symptoms:

·        You may have pain that gets worse with shaking.

·        You may have swelling, numbness, or weakness in your legs or feet, which is usually felt in your sciatic nerve tract. In severe cases, your feet may stop feeling or move.

·        You may feel a sensation of pins and needles, including a painful tingling in your toes or feet.

·        You may experience controllessness over routine activities, this inability to control your bladder or intestine. It is a rare symptom of cauda equine syndrome (ankylosing spondylitis). And it requires immediate emergency attention.

CAUSES OF SCIATICA

Sciatica can be caused by a number of conditions associated with your spine and can affect your sciatic nerves. It can also be caused by injuries, for example from a fall or due to spinal or sciatic nerve tumors.

The following are some conditions that may cause sciatica.

Lumbar Spinal Stenosis : -

Spinal stenosis is also called stenosis of the spinal bones, in which there is an abnormal contraction of the lower backbone of the spinal cord. It is characterized by contractions of the lower part of your spine bones. This contraction puts pressure on the spinal cord and the roots of your sciatic nerve.

Herniated Disc : -

Herniated the disk is also called a slipped disk. This spinal cord is separated from the pieces of cartilage. The cartilage is filled with a thick clean material that acts to rotate the bones around. This disease occurs when the first layer of cartilage is removed. The substance inside serves to compress the sciatic nerve. Due to which there is numbness or pain in the lower part of the body. According to the American Academy of Orthopedics, it is estimated that one in every 50 people have a herniated disc disease.

Piriformis syndrome : -

Piriformis syndrome, a rare neuromuscular disorder in which the piriformis muscles contract spontaneously due to sciatica. The piriformis muscle is the one that connects the lower part of the spine to the thighs. When the muscle is compressed, it’s movement puts stress on your sciatic nerve. This causes of sciatica. If you are sitting for a long time or fall from somewhere, then there is a risk of having piriformis syndrome.

Spondylolisthesis: -

Spondylolisthesis is a degenerative disc disorder. This condition happens whenever the spinal cord or vertebrae extend beyond each other, the expanded spinal cord can induce pain on your sciatic nerve.

Cauda equina syndrome: –

This is the most serious condition of sciatica; it affects the bundle of nerves of the spinal cord. This is manifested by neuromuscular and urogenital symptoms and requires immediate treatment.

Pregnancy: -

Expecting mothers experience sciatica pain, generally during the third trimester of pregnancy. During pregnancy, the growing fetus in the uterus exerts pressure on the sciatic nerve causing inflammation and pain in the lower back and leg.

Tumor within the spine: –

Spinal code tumor causes compression in the sciatic nerve. This compression causes sciatica pain.

Infection: –

British researchers have found that low-grade infection in the lumbar spine may cause sciatic pain.

Spinal Injury: -

Apart from this, this disease can also, arise due to spinal cord injury.

PREVENTION OF SCIATICA

Sciatica, back pain is very common. It is not always possible to avoid sciatica, and the disease may recur. However, sciatica-causing factors can be avoided and there are several measures that can help prevent it from occurring or recurring:-

1.     Sitting in the right posture - Maintain correct posture while standing, walking, and sitting. Choose a seat where you will get better support from the back. Even by folding the pillow or towel behind your seat, the back and waist are supported and its curve is normal. While sitting, keep your hips and knees at a normal level.

2.     The spinal cord also changes with age. On aging, the spine may slide or a lump may form in the bone. This is the main reason for having sciatica. Do exercises that maintain strength and flexibility in aerobic fitness and abdominal and spinal muscles. Exercise should be done daily to keep your waist and back strong. In particular, attention should be paid to the exercise of the abdominal muscles and waist muscles.

3.     Practice the technique of lifting anything correctly. For this, bend the knees and keep the back straight. By doing this, the tension falls on the hip and legs, not on the back. Hold that object near the body. The more the object remains away from the body, the more stress is on the back.

4.     When using chairs to sit, make sure that your back rests well. Use chairs that provide good back support and are designed to provide a good seating position. A wooden roll or contoured cushion can help provide support to your lower back.

5.     Do not smoke (Read more - 10 SELF-HELP TIPS TO QUIT SMOKING).

6.     Maintain body weight at a healthy level. Spinal tension increases as obesity increases. Apart from this, due to increased body weight, the spine also changes and due to this, it is normal to have sciatica.

7.     Avoid carrying too much weight on the back, driving for long hours or working at the same place for too long as these can also cause sciatica disease.

8.     Keep your blood sugar at check. The risk of sciatica is highest due to diabetes. High blood sugar affects the sciatic nerve and other spinal nerves along with other the part of the body. This increases the risk of nerve damage.

Apart from this, keep these things in mind at this time-

v Relax by not working during severe pain.

v Do not wear high heel slippers.

v Do not sleep on very soft mattresses.

v Warm up with a hot water bag.

v Avoid leaning forward.

v Do not carry any heavy goods.

v Use Western toilet.

DIAGNOSIS OF SCIATICA

Sciatica is a symptom that can differ from one person to another and depends on the condition from which it originates. Therefore, you a proper diagnosis to be sure that the back pain is due to sciatica.

Ø Check Medical History: To diagnose sciatica, the doctor will first want to know your complete medical history. This includes things that you have not been hurt recently, whether you feel pain or not, and how often you feel the pain. They would also like to know what makes you feel better, what makes you feel worse, and how and when it started.

Ø Physical Examination: The next step involves your physical examination, which will include a test of your muscle strength and reflexes. To find out which activities cause more pain, your doctor may ask you to do some stretching and exercise.

Ø Nerve Conductivity Test: The next round of diagnosis is for those who have endured sciatica for more than a month or who have a major illness such as cancer. A nerve test will help your doctor check how nerve impulses are being conducted by your sciatic nerve and whether there are any abnormalities.

Ø Radiological Imaging Test: An imaging test will help the doctor determine the cause of your sciatica by looking at your spine. The most common imaging tests that are used to diagnose sciatica and find out its cause are spinal X-rays, MRIs and CT scans. Normal X-rays will not be able to provide visualization of sciatic nerve damage. MRI uses magnets and radio waves to make detailed images of your back. CT scan uses radiation to make detailed images of your body.

Ø CT Myelography: Your doctor is more likely to perform a CT Myelography, in which they inject a special dye into your spinal cord to get clear images of your spine and nerves.

TREATMENT OF SCIATICA

If your pain does not improve with self-care measures, your doctor may recommend some of the following treatments.

1.     Medicines:

The types of medications prescribed for sciatica pain include:

·        Anti-inflammatory drugs.

·        Muscle dysfunction of drugs.

·        Narcotics Drugs.

·        Tricyclic antidepressants.

·         Analgesic drugs                                                                                                            

2.     Physiotherapy:

After your acute pain improves, your physician or physical therapist can develop a rehabilitation program to help you prevent future injuries. This usually includes exercises to improve your sitting, standing or walking posture, strengthening your back muscles, and improving flexibility. Research on sciatica pain has shown that exercise is the most appropriate way to treat this pain. Especially those exercises, which involve pulling the body forward, because this process puts pressure on the affected nerve roots and you, feel relieved.

3.     Steroid injection:

In some cases, your doctor may recommend an injection of corticosteroid medication into the area around this nerve root. Corticosteroids help reduce pain by reducing inflammation around the affected nerve. The effects usually stop in a few months. Only a limited number of steroid injections are used because the risk of serious side effects increases when injections are often made.

4.     Surgery:

This option is usually used when there is a lot of weakness due to a compressed nerve, no control of bowel or bladder, or when you have pain that gradually increases or there is no improvement from other treatments. It is to reduce the pressure in the nerves of the back and groin, the spine is widened, which is called a lumbar laminectomy. Surgeons may remove a bone spur or a part of a herniated disc that pressurizes the afflicted nerve.

5.     Alternative Medicine:

Alternative treatments commonly used for lower back pain include:

a)    Acupuncture: - In acupuncture, its specialist pricks thin needles like hair in your skin at specific points of the body. Acupuncture is claimed to help reduce pain in some studies, while some studies have found no benefit. If you decide to use the acupuncture method, select a licensed practitioner to ensure that it has received extensive training.

b)    Chiropractic: - Spinal adjustment (manipulation) is a type of chiropractic therapy that treats spinal mobility. Its goal is to improve its function and reduce pain by restoring spinal mobility. Spinal manipulation appears to be as effective and safe as any standard treatment for lower back pain, but maybe unsuitable to reduce diffuse pain.

c)     Yoga:

In order to get rid of sciatica pain, it is necessary to practice yoga to keep the spine flexible and slow down the degenerative changes due to aging. The main yoga poses for relieving the pain of sciatica are Bhujangasana, Makarasana, Matsyasana, Kridasana, Vayamudra and Vajrasana. Vajrasana is the most effective posture in which the lumbar spine and sciatic never gets the most focus. (READ: Effective Yoga Poses You Must Try To Fight Back Pain)

SCIATICA COMPLICATIONS

Some of the complications of sciatica are: -

¯ Partial or complete inability of the leg to move.

¯ Partial or complete inability of leg sensation.

¯ Repeated or unnoticed injury to the leg.

¯ Side effects of medicines.

WHEN TO VISIT YOUR DOCTOR?

If the symptoms of sciatica are very mild and do not, last more than 4 to 8 weeks, there is usually no need to go to the doctor.  If you do not get benefit from the above remedies and the intensity of pain increases, then you should contact the doctor immediately, otherwise, the disease can become serious and there may be partial or complete inability of the feet to move.