Sciatica Relief Information for Lower Back Pain Sufferers

Missing work, fun with family/friends and giving up your favorite activities are all miseries that sciatica sufferers cope with on a daily basis. If you've been struggling with the pain, weakness, and reduced mobility of sciatica, you are on a mission to find information on sciatica relief.

What Is Sciatica?

Before we get into treatment, what is sciatica? Sciatica pertains to the symptoms which take place in the sciatic nerve pathway, including numbness, lack of feeling in the affected area, and reduced range of motion. These symptoms can occur in your lower back, buttocks, the back of your legs, and in some cases, your feet.

What actually causes the symptoms differs from one person to another, although usually the origin of the issue is in the lower back. Disc complications including deterioration, herniation, bulging, narrowing of your spinal canal, and arthritis can result in compression of the nerve roots. This leads to irritation and inflammation -- sciatica.

More often than not a life time of neglect causes the spinal condition -- bad posture, being a couch potato --basically, lack of exercise in general. Once the symptoms appear, you'll find that they are worse when you spend a prolonged amount of time sitting, standing, sneezing, coughing, or doing repetitive straining or twisting. Treatment includes using hot /cold pads, medication, physical therapy and alternative practices such as acupuncture. The three treatment options below are commonly used to treat sciatica.

Treating Sciatica with Medication:

Several types of medication are often used for sciatic pain including popular over the counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Prescription medications, including but not limited to muscle relaxers (to decrease muscle spasms) and antidepressants (for people suffering from chronic and severe lower back pain) help to ease symptoms. In some severe cases, steroid medication is injected into the area around the spinal nerves but with minimal success.

Treating Sciatica with Surgery:

Surgery has been used in cases where pain continues for more than six weeks, despite the use of other treatment. The objective of the surgery is to fix the problem with the sciatic nerve. For an example, if an individual has a herniated disc which is putting pressure on the sciatic nerve, surgery may correct the problem and relieve the pain.

Treating Sciatica with Exercise:

Even though sciatica pain may make it difficult to stay active, prolonged bed rest can do you more harm than good. Listen to your body and find the positions and activities that are comfortable for you, but keep moving. If the pain lasts more than a couple of weeks, you may need to talk to your doctor about physical therapy. The right exercises will help minimize the pain. A physical therapist can also suggest a conditioning regimen that will help prevent the pain from returning.