When the sciatic nerve is pinched or inflamed, sciatica results. Usually, sciatic nerve pain goes away in a few weeks, but sometimes it might take longer.
One of your body’s major nerves is the sciatic nerve. It links a number of nerve roots that go from your lower back to your feet.
We go through all of your choices for treating sciatica in this guide.
Sciatica: what causes it?
The typical reasons for Sciatica
Many people will have sciatica pain at some point in their lives because it is a common ailment. Sciatica is a form of nerve discomfort or damage brought on by irritation or injury to the sciatic nerve. The largest nerve in the body is the sciatic nerve. It travels from your lower back down through your hips and buttocks, down the back of your thigh, and finally down to your foot.
Sciatica’s most typical root causes include:
- A herniated or ruptured disc is another name for a slipped disc. Your spine’s supple tissue cushion between the bones pushes out at this point. Slipped discs might cause your spinal cord’s room to become smaller because of long-term degeneration or a recent back injury.
- The spinal canal that houses your nerves abnormally narrows due to spinal stenosis.
- One of your spine’s bones slipping out of alignment with the one above it is known as spondylolisthesis. It frequently results from osteoarthritis.
- Back injuries from slips, trips, crashes, or sports injuries
- Piriformis syndrome is an uncommon neuromuscular condition in which the piriformis muscle constricts, pressing on the spinal nerves and resulting in sciatic nerve discomfort.
Symptoms of sciatica back pain
Inflammation, discomfort, and even numbness in the leg are symptoms of sciatica. One leg is often affected at a time. Sciatica symptoms can range from a little soreness to a burning feeling or intense agony. Sneezing, coughing, or movement might exacerbate the symptoms.
Sciatica frequently causes foot, leg, and lower back pain. Find the common symptoms below:
- Stab, searing, or shooting pain that ranges from mild to severe
- Numbness
- Tingling that feels like pins and needles
- Muscle tremor
Contact your doctor right away if your back pain symptoms become more severe. Serious signs incorporate:
- both sides of sciatica
- significant numbness or weakness in both legs
- Numbness in the area of your bottom or genitalia
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
Some sciatica symptoms may be a sign of a more serious underlying medical issue. Cauda equina syndrome and spinal tumours are examples of this.
Risk factors for sciatica
Typical causes of sciatica
A risk factor is something that might make sciatica more likely to occur. These risk elements consist of:
- A lower back or spine injury
- Excess weight
- Working a full-time job
- Smoking
- Damage to your bones, which frequently occurs as you get older,
Treatment for Sciatica methods to ease Sciatica
Even though sciatica might continue longer, it often gets better after 4-6 weeks. Each person is affected differently by it. The following self-care tips can help you reduce sciatica pain and hasten your recovery:
- Where feasible, carry on with your regular activities.
- Avoid being still for too long.
- Regularly do sciatica stretching exercises to increase flexibility.
- Participate in frequent, light exercise since it’s crucial to stay active.
- Consult your pharmacist about taking over-the-counter medications.
- If you prefer to sleep on your side, place a tiny cushion between your knees. A number of cushions should be placed beneath your knees if you are lying on your back.
Additionally, you can use hot or cold compresses to relieve sciatica pain. Keep in mind that ice or cold packs should only be applied to minor ailments like strains or sprains. You can use heat packs if you have a persistent injury.
By easing pressure on the nerve, a physical therapist might suggest particular exercises to aid with sciatica pain. To ease pain and inflammation, physiotherapists can also massage the bones and joints in the affected regions.
Given how challenging it is to manage chronic pain, it makes sense if you experience sadness or depression. It’s critical to get mental health care since a bad mindset can affect how much pain you experience physically. Your level of suffering will be lessened if you have an optimistic outlook.
Your doctor will recommend another healthcare provider to talk about additional treatment choices if your discomfort doesn’t go away. To determine the source of your discomfort, you might require a CT scan or X-ray. A muscle relaxant, steroid injections, or spinal decompression surgery may be used as further therapies. If these don’t work or aren’t right for you, you might be able to get medical marijuana from a doctor who is a specialised prescriber.
Drugs for treating sciatica
To treat sciatica, you can use over-the-counter painkillers. While pain medication won’t permanently heal sciatica, it can make everyday tasks more manageable.
You may purchase pain relief at any drugstore. These consist of:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs), such as diclofenac gel (Voltarol) or ibuprofen pills or gel
- Heat pads or creams that are either medicated or unmedicated
- Codeine and paracetamol combined as co-codamol for momentary relief
Although paracetamol can be used to relieve pain, it is unlikely to be effective in treating sciatica pain on its own.
When standard treatments for chronic pain have failed to reduce pain symptoms, medical marijuana may be an alternative to ease back pain.
Cannabis for medical use and Sciatica
There is little information on how medical cannabis affects sciatica pain. However, there has been an increase in interest in medicinal cannabis since it was made legal for medical use in 2018. Medical marijuana may be a sciatica treatment option if first-line medications have failed to relieve symptoms.
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