Sciatica Pain Relief: What is Sciatic Pain?
Sciatic pain is usually characterised by sharp pain traveling down the back of the leg, often beyond the knee and even down to the foot. It may be constant, or it may come on during certain movements such as when bending down to pick something. Commonly, there may be a constant tingling sensation which becomes worse with certain movements. Pain is often described as a deep ache, burning, or traveling pain, and may also be accompanied by loss of strength.
Sciatic Pain, referred to as Sciatica, comes on as a result of irritation of the Sciatic nerve, which starts in the lumbar spine (lower back), travels through the deep Gluteal (buttock) muscles before running down the back of the leg.
There are a number of possible causes for Sciatica. One common cause of sciatic pain is the partial rupture of a spinal disc in the lower back, commonly known as a “slipped disc”, which can result from trauma, poor posture, etc. In this instance, the contents of the disc, a spongy tissue between vertebrae in the spine providing shock absorption, ooze out the outer covering of the disc, and push back into the nerve roots where they attach to the spinal cord.
Another common cause of irritation of the sciatic nerve is tightness of the Piriformis muscle, which is a deep muscle in the Gluteal region. The Sciatic nerve usually runs underneath, through, or in some rare cases, over this muscle. Any chronic tightness of this muscle can lead to the nerve becoming impinged.
It is important to note that there are other factors which could simulate sciatic pain symptoms and so it is important that the health practitioner explores these possibilities as well. For example, there is a trigger point in one of the deep Gluteal muscles, which will often radiate pain down the leg in a similar way as Sciatica does, and yet have nothing to do with the Sciatic nerve whatsoever.
Sciatic Pain Relief
The treatment options for sciatic pain will depend on the causal factors. If you have any sharp pain traveling down your leg, you should consult your doctor, physiotherapist, osteopath or an experienced remedial massage therapist as soon as possible. Your therapist will assess you to find out the most likely cause of your pain, which is some cases may require referral to a radiologist to get relevant scans carried out.
Any minor damage to a lower back disc can usually be corrected and/or managed with proper exercise training to reduce the amount of flexion (forward bending) in the lower back. This will require re-training of deep postural muscles to maintain a good curve in the lower back, known as Lordosis. The exercises will usually involve stretching of the hamstrings, and strengthening of the lower back and deep abdomen core muscles. In extreme cases of disc damage, surgery can be indicated.
If the piriformis muscle is involved, this can usually be treated effectively by a massage therapist with further exercise instruction given to the client to stretch out the piriformis muscle and address any other inherent hip imbalances.
Of course if the pain is coming about from active trigger points, then the therapist will address this first, in which case the situation should resolve very quickly.
Make an appointment with our
massage therapists for Sciatica pain relief
Ravel Therapies
Noe 3, Ayia Phyla
Limassol 3117
Cyprus [map]
Call : 97 783 383
Email : sunil@raveltherapies.com.cy
Disclaimer : Please note that the contents of this article are the opinions of the author only, and do not constitute medical advice. If you have any symptoms of pain, please consider booking in with Ravel Therapies for a proper consultation.
