Everything You Need to Know About Sciatica

Introduction

Sciatic nerve pain is common among people. Sciatica pain starts at your spinal cord. It runs through your buttocks and hips, and you can feel it in your legs. The sciatic nerve is the longest in the body and is one of the most important. It has its effects on controlling as well as feeling the legs.

If you feel an irritated nerve, then you are expediting sciatica. Sciatica includes a sensation that manifests itself as severe to moderate pain in your legs, buttocks, and back. In these areas, you might also feel numbness, sharp pain, burning, weakness, etc.

Sciatica is just like a symptom that is caused due to underlying injury to the sciatic nerve or any area that affects the nerve for example, vertices and bones in your back and neck.

Symptoms of sciatica pain

Sciatica is caused due to injury in the sciatic nerve. Most of the symptoms occur with pain. The common symptoms of sciatica pain are:

1. Pain that gets worst due to mobility of the body.
2. Weakness, numbness, burning, etc., in your legs and sciatic nerve pathway. You might go through the loss of feeling in your legs.
3. The sensation of needles and pins in your feet or toes. This includes painful tingling.
4. The rare symptom of sciatica is losing control of the bowels or bladder. This is an emergency that needs immediate attention.

Treatments of sciatica

Some common home treatments of symptoms of sciatica are as follows:

1. Cold:

If you have a cold, you can use an ice pack or a frozen vegetable package. You should apply it a few times daily to reduce swelling and pain.

2. Heat:

You can also use a heating pad or hot packs to ease the pain. You should use ice packs for 2-3 days, then switch to hot pads. It reflexes your muscles.

3. Stretching:

You can stretch your lower back or even do yoga.

4. Physical therapy:

Exercises and physical therapy can also help to strengthen your sciatic nerve pain.

5. Medication:

Your doctor might prescribe you oral steroids, pain relievers, muscle relaxers, etc. Make sure you take them on time.

6. Surgery:

Surgery is the last option if you are not getting any relief due to physical therapy and medications. It might be needed if you have lost your bladder or bowel control. Two common types of surgeries include discectomy and microdiscectomy. In a discectomy, that disc is removed, which creates pressure upon the nerves. In microdiscectomy, a disc is removed by a small cut with the help of a microscope.

Stretches of sciatica

Some common stretches that can be performed in this situation are:

1. Side-lying hip stretch
2. Back lying hip stretch
3. Buttocks pinch
4. Back lying hip rotation
5. Knee to opposite shoulder stretch

Conclusion

You can always prevent sciatic pain or prevent it from occurring again. You should always correctly lift heavy objects, check your posture, and exercise regularly. This condition affects the spine and back, and the pain traces back to the legs.