What Causes Sciatica
Demystifying Sciatica Pain
Sciatica occurs when a person suffers pain arising from the compression or irritation of their sciatic nerve. This is the longest nerve in the body. The sciatica nerve starts from behind your pelvis, moves through the buttocks, and goes all the way to the bottom of your feet. Sciatica pain is normally felt around a person's buttocks and legs. While the pain may disappear in a few weeks, in some cases, it can last for up to one year. Read on for information on what causes sciatica, the symptoms, and treatment for the condition.
What Causes Sciatica?
In many cases, sciatica arises due to a slipped disc also known as a herniated disk. A herniated disk arises when soft inner material of a disk leaks out through the outer cover of the spine and pinches or irritates the nerves.
Other causes of sciatica include:
- Lumbar spinal stenosis
- Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
- Degenerative disc disease
- Piriformis syndrome
- Isthmic spondylolisthesis
What Are the Symptoms of Sciatica?
The symptoms of Sciatica range from:
- Numbness
- Pain
- A tingling feeling that moves from the lower back and moves down to one of the legs to your foot
- Weak calf muscles
Sciatica pain can be mild or very painful and could be aggravated by coughing, sneezing, or sitting for extended periods of time. While those suffering from sciatica also experience general back pain, sciatica pain usually affects the behind and legs more than the back.
What Are The Risk Factors of Sciatica?
Some of the risk factors associated with sciatica include:
- Age: Changes affecting your spine as you age like bone spurs and herniated disks can cause sciatica
- Obesity: When a person increases stress on their spine, excess body weight contributes to spinal changes resulting in sciatica
- Occupation: A profession that involves twisting the back, having to carry heavy loads, or sitting in a driving position in a car or truck for long periods.
- Diabetes: This is a condition that affects how your body utilizes blood sugar and heightens your risk of suffering from nerve damage.
- Prolonged Sitting: People who are used to sitting for extended periods or are used to a sedentary lifestyle have a high likelihood of developing sciatica when compared to active people.
How is Sciatica Diagnosed?
Physicians usually diagnose sciatica by going through a person's medical history and by conducting a physical examinations. The symptoms and particular examination tests help health care experts to diagnose sciatica. In severe cases, X-rays and tests like MRI scans and CT scans may be used to determine the main cause of sciatica.
How is Sciatica Treated?
While a majority of the cases of sciatica disappear in a few weeks time, some require treatment. Some home remedies include using hot/cold packs, exercising, and taking painkillers for back pain. Further treatment may be required in severe cases and may include:
- Psychological support and therapy
- Stronger painkillers
- An exercise programme supervised by a physiotherapist
- Manual therapy performed by chiropractors, physiotherapists, and osteopaths
- Anti-inflammatory injections
In some cases, surgery is used to rectify the spine problem.
How Can You Prevent Sciatica?
You can reduce your risk of suffering from sciatica through:
- Regular exercises
- Using special lifting technique while at work
- Adopting a good posture
- Stretching before and after you exercise
Top 5 Routes for "What Causes Sciatica"
- Mayo Clinic A health resource that covers research on different medical conditions.
- Spine Health.com This website provides highly useful, informative, and comprehensive resources for understanding and seeking treatment for neck and back pain.
- NHS.uk A website dedicated to providing an indepth coverage of health conditions and how they arise, and how they are treated.
- MedicineNet.com A website that provides health related articles for researchers, students, and a general audience willing to educate themselves about different medical conditions.
- WebMD.com A website that act as a source of information related to medical research and health conditions.
Similar Routes
What is a Route?
A route is a gateway to learning. Routes.com's mission is to go beyond search results by curating summaries and top "routes" for today's most popular subjects. Learn More
Suggest a Route
Are we missing a subject you think should be given a route? Suggest a new route. Learn More
Contribute
Become a routes.com contributor. Submit your route today! Learn More
Other Routes Like This
Pain Relief For Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is one of the most common types of arthritis. This condition causes joint stiffness and pain. OA develops slowly, overtime and may affect different joints. However, it is more common in the spine, feet, hips, knees, and hands. Although there is no cure for osteoarthritis, the symptoms can be relieved after a few years. Here is an overview of what osteoarthritis is, causes, risk factors, symptoms, and pain relief methods. Osteoarthritis is a type of arthritis characterized by the disintegration and gradual loss of the cartilage in a person's joints. Cartilage is the protein substance that cushions the bones of your joints. Cartilage...
HIV Symptoms In Women
HIV, which stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus that is spread through certain bodily fluids. These include semen, blood, rectal fluids, pre-seminal fluids, vaginal fluids, and finally breast milk. It is very common for it be transmitted when people share needles, practice unprotected sex, from contamination in blood transfusion and from mother to child during the process of pregnancy, birth of the baby and breastfeeding. It then travels a person's blood stream and attacks their immune system to weaken it. HIV is never transmitted through liquids like tears, saliva or sweat as long as it is not mixed with blood of an HIV-positive person....
Causes Of Arthritis
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) puts the number of adults who have been diagnosed with arthritis to 52.5 million. Arthritis can ruin a person's ability to engage in daily tasks. Early diagnosis of arthritis can help prevent irreversible disability and damage. Here is a look at what arthritis is, the causes, the symptoms, risk factors, and treatment options. Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints. A joint is the point where two bones meet. A joint helps move the parts connected by two bones. Arthritis often features joint pain which is also known as arthralgia. When an inflammation involves four joints and more it is known as polyarthritis....