Sciatica Pain Relief- All you need to Know

 What is Sciatica Pain?

Sciatica is stemmed from the irritation, inflammation or compression of the sciatic nerve that emerges from the gluteal area, running down the length of the legs in your feet. The sciatic nerve is present on either side of the lower spinal area and passes from the back of the leg and ends right above the knee.

From the knee it outlets into smaller nerves that go till the toes of the feet. This nerve is the longest and the thickest nerve in our body consisting of five nerve roots, almost as thick as our finger.

Two of the nerves join from the lumbar spine area present in the lower back area and three from the sacrum section of the spine, the last part of it. A health and wellness coach can be a great help in dealing with this pain and having permanent relief from it.

The pain is often confused with lower back pain but it’s quite different from it. If you have sciatica, your pain will be mild to severe, and will be present anywhere between the lower back area, passing through the hips into the buttocks and/or leading down the back side of the legs.

Some people experience piercing pains in their hips and upper back are of the leg and others only experience tingling sensations. But sciatic pain is far more common than you think, in fact 4 in every 10 people can suffer from this pain at some point in their life.

The interesting part is that sciatica pain is not a condition like chronic pains, it is in fact a symptom of the compression and irritation on the sciatic nerve. Sciatica pain is also not a lifelong condition which can be treated with aftercare programs and therapy sessions.

Causes of Sciatica Pain

As mentioned earlier, sciatica pain is a symptom of another problem, which 90% of the time is the slipped disc or herniated disc. Our spin is made up of three components- vertebra, nerves and disks.

The disks are made up of cartilage that provides cushion in between each vertebra and the nerves allowing everything to move without any friction. When a disc slipped out of place it put additional pressure on the vertebra and thus the sciatic nerve in this case.

But for the other 10% the reasons can be spondylolisthesis, spinal tumor, cauda equina syndrome, infection, injury or lumbar spinal stenosis. You can also be at risk of this pain when you're in your late 30s or early 40s, when your job requires you to do excessive heavy lifting or when you have to sit at the same place for long strenuous hours.

Symptoms of Sciatica Pain

As sciatica pain is itself a symptom of an underlying problem it can be identified with shooting and sharp pains along the sciatic nerve. The pain can start off as mild and over time, if left undiagnosed or untreated, can turn into much worse in nature.

The episodes of the pain can be short and severe or can be mild and continuous. Sciatic pain can also cause numbness and tingling sensations like needles pinching through the back of the leg, in the hip and down to the feet.  

Treatment of Sciatica Pain

The main aim of any treatment regarding sciatica is to reduce the pain and surge the mobility. Most of the time, a person suffering from this pain doesn’t need any surgery and can find relief with medication, therapies and aftercare programs or with the help of a health and wellness coach.

There are various kinds of medications that can be used orally like Aspirin, NSAIDs, Advil, naproxen and acetaminophen. All these are over-the-counter medications and do not require any prescription. Muscle relaxants, antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications can also give liberation to the person in sciatica pain.

Bed rest is not recommended in sciatica pain although moving freely or doing physical movements is tough when in pain. Exercise, stretching, yoga or swimming can all improve muscle flexibility that can ease out the pain significantly.

There are other forms of alternative therapies as well like acupuncture, massage, biofeedback or meditation can all help in making the pain decrease. Sometimes a simple thing like hot or cold press can also bring in some break for the person in pain.

If the pain has become somewhat chronic, maybe it was undiagnosed for a long period of time or maybe proper treatment was not given, spinal injection or cognitive behavioral therapy might be effective.

If all of the above mentioned things don’t help in providing any sort of relief and the mobility is decreasing day by day, surgery may be the last resort.

Ending Lines

Prevention is better than cure, make sure you maintain a good posture, have a healthy and balanced diet, don’t live a sedentary lifestyle and have a good 8-hours of sleep every day. All this will save you from the sciatica pain.