If you have ever had it, you will know that sciatica is an extremely painful and debilitating condition. It’s easy to despair when you feel constant pain, but it is worth knowing about a few ways you can get treatment to both alleviate symptoms and prevent reoccurance. For those of you that haven’t heard of sciatica, the symptoms are often pain in the lower back that radiates down the back of the legs as well as numbness and pins and needles in the toes (imagine that – all of the time!!).
Relief for sciatica sufferers can be found in different ways depending on the cause. It is important that you make an appointment with an Oseopath so that they can prefessionally identify and diagnose the problem and prescribe the most appropriate way to settle and rehabilitate the condition.
The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the human body, it runs from the lower back, through the buttocks and branches out all the way down both legs. When the nerve becomes irritated or inflamed this is what is termed ‘sciatica’. Some common causes are injury to the surrounding muscles/ligaments, herniated disc in the lumbar spine, arthritis in this area and narrowing of the spinal canal.
It is important for a practitioner to clinically and orthopaedically examine a client complaining of symptoms that may be attribuated to sciatica, not only to confirm that it is sciatica but also to identify the cause for the the sciatica. Once a diagnosis has been made, treatment can begin. This may include osteopathy treatment to relieve the pressure of the inflammation on the scaitc nerve, by stretching and mobilising the back and hips. Understanding the activities that are likely to make the sciatica worse is very important. This may vary depending on what the cause of the sciatica is, so it is very important to consult a professional so guidance can be sort about the “do’s and dont’s”.
If you think you may have sciatica, avoid delay and consult a professional so that a diagnosis can be determined as soon as possible. Prolonged sciatica can eventually cause irreversable nerve damage and a host of long term problems such as loss of feeling and movement in the affected leg.
Once sciatica has been diagnosed and is being treated, often exercise and movement should form part of the rehabilitation. At Posture Dynamics our team of osteopaths work closely with our Pilates instructors to help teach and perform exercises that are known and appropriate to help alleviate sciatica. Core strength is vitally important as pelvic placement, stability and awareness of neutral alignment plays a major factor in reducing the pressure on the lower back thus helping to settle and stabilise many problems causing sciatica.
The integrated approach from Posture Dynamics allows for the timely fusion of treatment and rehabilitative exercises for a client to follow helping to settle and stabilise common problems causing sciatica. Treatment may involve, Osteopathy, sports massage, acupuncture, pilates and cranial osteopathy. If you would like to learn more about how we can help your specific problem, contact us for a consultation today.