The Treatment Of Sciatica And Sciatic Pain
Sciatica or sciatic pain is the result of pressure on the sciatic nerve, which just happens to be the longest nerve in the body. This meansthat any pressure felt on that sciatic nerve can actually cause anywhere along the length of it, and as the sciatic nerve stretches from the center of the lower back, right down the back of both legs and into the feet, that is a large nerve, and a big area in which to feel.
Once you have had the symptoms of sciatic nerve pain before and have been diagnosed by a medical professional, you will know what sciatic pain feels like, and you will know how to best treat it in the future. The best start you can begin for sciatica is to begin using an ice pack on the center of lower back at the first signs of sciatic nerve pain. Use this cold compress for ten to 15 minutes every hour or so. This sounds like a lot of icing, and it is, but this will keep down the swelling, and as that diminishes, the pain level should too, so it is a sensible thing to do.
Now, there are some who hate using ice packs and will not take the time to do this. That is their decision, but what it will cause is a longer extent of sciatic pain and more time spent trying to get back to normal after it.
This is not fair on the friends and family of a sciatic pain sufferer, but there is little you can do to force someone to ice if they really don’t want to.
Once the pain has lessened a little, then it is time to start doing some gentle exercises. It used to be thought that this was poor decision, and that bed rest was what was required to end the sciatica, but research has now suggested that the back needs to keep moving or else it loses some of its strength quite quickly, and recovery will take much longer. The simple exercise of walking on the level is a good exercise, provided it doesn’t cause more leg pain, and to start with the walking should only be for a few minutes at a time every few hours, on the level, gradually increasing this as the sciatic nerve and your body permits.
Doctors may recommend anti-inflammatories too to help reduce the sciatic pain, and only if after many months of pain there is no noticeable improvement, it may be best to see a specialist, and perhaps even think about back surgery to relieve the pressure. Back surgery is not always straight forward, since damaging the spinal column can lead to paralysis, but the surgery depends on the reason for the pressure on the sciatic nerve. It could be due to pregnancy, weight gain, a bony growth, or a herniated disc to mention just a few causes.
So to summarize, begin icing as soon as you feel any discomfort or pain on your sciatic nerve, and hopefully you will be back coping well with life again in the near future.
No Comments to “The Treatment Of Sciatica And Sciatic Pain”