Why A Nerve Disorder Called Sciatica Affects 80% Of Us - And What You Can Do About It
Posted on May 20, 2007 and filed under Neck and BackBrian is a healthy 35-year old male who exercises regularly and eats right. He avoids saturated fat, gets his blood pressure checked regularly and is fairly active. Lately, however, he has been experiencing a strange pain extending from his lower back all the way down his leg. “Uh-oh”, he thinks to himself. “What is happening to me?” This pain has been getting worse for the last few weeks and now something must be done. Frightened, Brian calls his doctor and goes in for a check-up. His doctor performs a routine examination and then turns to Brian, “You have what is called ‘Sciatica’. Have you ever heard of that?” Brian shakes his head. “Well”, his doctor explains, “It’s a irritation of the sciatic nerve that runs through your lower trunk region all the way down your leg. It’s not too serious at this point, but it can get worse if left untreated. I’m going to recommend you see a physical therapist to get it under control. Sciatica is something that responds very favorably to physical therapy. Let’s make a follow-up appointment in about 8 weeks or so”.
What Is Sciatica Anyway?
Later at home, Brian does his homework on Sciatica. Here is what he found: First of all, sciatica is a nerve disorder that creates lower back and/or leg pain. This is a result of the sciatic nerve being pinched or irritated. This nerve (the sciatic nerve) branches out of the spinal cord and eventually fuses into one thick nerve about the diameter of your index finger. This nerve then travels down through your buttocks, down the back of your thighs and finally separates into different nerves once past the knee. As you can imagine, the sciatic nerve is very large. That’s one of the reasons sciatica is so common. With sciatica, the sciatic nerve is normally pinched in the lower back or lumbar region, but the compression can be anywhere. Ultimately, though, it’s the pressure on this nerve root that actually results in sciatica.
How Does The Sciatic Nerve Get Pinched?
Not usually sparked by a traumatic event or injury, sciatica more often develops as a result of general wear and tear of the structures of the lower spine. Sciatica can be the result of herniated discs, irritation or inflammation associated with arthritis, bulged discs or the narrowing of the spinal canal itself. In some cases I’ve also seen sciatica caused by a tight piriformis muscle. This is a muscle underneath your gluteus maximus muscle. If this muscle is tight, it can compress the sciatic nerve. This is because the sciatic nerve runs either through this muscle, underneath this muscle or on top of this muscle. Bottom line, any condition that causes irritation or a pinching of the sciatic nerve can cause sciatica.
How Long Does It Take To Heal?
The majority of people who experienced sciatica get better with time. Normally, it only takes a few weeks or months to recover. Sciatica affects men and women equally and normally strikes people from 30 to 50 years old. However, the good news (as Brian’s doctor confirmed) is that sciatica responds very well to non-surgical treatments.
Symptoms Of Sciatica
One of the reasons I focused on sciatica this month is because I want to take the confusion out of some of the symptoms you might be experiencing with this condition. Because I know the symptoms can be scary. For instance, some people think they might have scoliosis, others think they’re “dying”, or that they have any other number of very dangerous conditions. Also, the symptoms will differ depending on the location of the pinched nerve. For example, your pain may be centered in your lower back but someone else might have pain trailing down the leg. In other
cases, people will experience the pain all the way down to the feet. So symptoms of sciatica can vary greatly from person to person. Some may experience debilitating symptoms, others just a slight tingling sensation down their legs.
Other Common Symptoms
- Pain in the buttocks that gets worse when you sit.
- Burning or tingling down the leg.
- Low back pain (which may also be present with leg pain). However, the back pain is usually less severe than the leg pain.
- Weakness, numbness or difficulty moving the leg and /or foot.
- Constant pain on one side of the buttocks.
- A “shooting pain” that makes it difficult to stand up.
With sciatica, normally the leg is involved. Sometimes the pain is described as a “tingling”, “burning” or “prickly” sensation. However, if left untreated sciatica will grow worse and become a chronic problem. This is very important for you understand. In fact, the longer you delay treatment with any condition, the longer it will take for treatment to heal that condition. As the old saying goes, “If it’s caught early…”. So, yes, sciatica can lead to permanent damage, which is why it is so important to get it looked at. And when the symptoms do finally disappear, that pinched nerve can still take another six months to fully heal. Some sufferers also have occasional flareups. These should be checked by a doctor to ensure they don’t progress into full-scale sciatica again.
How Long Do The Symptoms Last?
How long the sciatica remains a problem for you depends on how long it takes for you to “rebuild” the support structures in your back. You see, you have to rebuild your core muscles to support your back. Of course, you if you have this type of pain in the first place, you should call your doctor first and then follow up with your physical therapist. This is especially true if the pain lasts more than two or three days. Your physical therapist will most likely put you on a structured pain management program using physical therapy and exercise. Sometimes surgery is needed, but that depends on how severe, frequent and debilitating the pain is. The bottom line with everything is that, left unchecked, the symptoms can get worse over timeand become a chronic problem. And nobody wants that. The symptoms of chronic sciatica are NOT pleasant. They include the inability to control your bowel or bladder, an ever increasing weakness in your legs or loss of sensation in your legs and/or feet. So get it checked.
How Do You Treat Or Prevent Sciatica From Striking You?
The best way is to bounce back from sciatica is by building your body’s core. A strong and supportive core relieves pressure on the sciatic nerve, which is the main reason sciatica strikes. Your “core” is defined as the group of muscles, tendons and supportive structures that extend from your lower chest all the way down to the middle of your thighs. This means your abdominal muscles, your obliques, your quadriceps, the muscles of the lower back and your gluteus maximus (among others) are all part of your core.
Only YOU Can Build Your Core
The ultimate responsibility to build your body’s core rests with YOU. This is something nobody else can do for you and it’s not something that comes out of a bottle in the form of a “magic pill”. The sooner you realize that, the closer you are to a healthy and supportive core. However, we can help. In our clinic, for instance, I have developed a unique Four Phase Program that helps alleviate the pain of sciatica and at the same time builds a strong core. Here are the steps a patient with sciatica typically goes through: First, we work on flexibility and range of motion. This is the most basic step for any exercise program and also one of the most important. In this phase, I also teach you exactly your core muscles are. Learning what your core muscles are allows you to more effectively target those core muscles in the next phases. Next, we move into what I call the Static Phase. This uses exercises with no movement at all. You are either sitting, standing, lying on your back or on your stomach. In this phase - the Static Phase – you learn how to contract those core muscles and increase your neuromuscular knowledge and awareness. You discover how to get these muscles into the exercise. Next, in Phase Three, we move into what we call the Dynamic Stage. Here, you recruit your core muscle groups and start to incorporate upper extremity movements and lower extremity movements. We give you about five basic positions where you move your arms and legs through different patterns. But with each exercise, you still maintain that core stability. And to further build your core, we introduce resistance (or weights), sometimes in the form of resistant tubing. Finally, we’re ready for Phase Four - the Functional Stability Phase. This phase includes exercises that are part of your daily activities and everyday movements. So here, we add more rotation, more complex moves, and more advanced exercises. Once this last phase is complete, you are ready for life again! You will have a strong, supportive core and this, in turn, will dramatically reduce your chances of developing sciatica.