Sciatic Nerve Pain: Symptoms and Treatments

by Symptom Advice on April 20, 2011

It is crucial to know the reasons why sciatic nerve pain happens in order for you to know their proper treatments. The Sciatic nerve is known to be the longest nerve of the body. when this nerve gets swollen or gets squeezed, a symptom called the Sciatica occurs. The pinched nerve is called the compressed nerve.

Sciatic nerve pain is caused by a lot of reasons. Some of the more popular and well known ones include a disc belonging to the Lumbar Spine that gets herniated. this happens when the spinal disc center is compressed against the nerve roots of the spinal cord. Spinal Stenosis is also a well known cause. this is when the nerve roots are pressured against the spinal cord because the gap of the spinal canal gets narrowed. On the other hand, Spinal Osteoarthritis occurs whenever the nerve is irritated by some factors like the bone, piriformis syndrome, and a few more. another cause of sciatic nerve pain is Spondylolishtesis. this is when the vertebrae becomes misaligned and causes an impairment of the sciatic nerve. Pregnancy, muscle strain and Piriformis Syndrome are three other causes of sciatic nerve pain.

The presence of these symptoms results to a sharp pain that begins from the lower portion of the back and then goes down to the back of the legs, the knee and the foot. What is unique about this kind of pain is that it is only felt on the half side of our body and always in the place where that nerve impairment is located.

Generally, the treatment of sciatic nerve pain is through conventional methods. however, not all of these treatments are effective. In order for the patient to be relieved of the pain, massage therapy should be done numerous times together with a few stretching exercises for the purpose of concentrating on the spastic muscles and calming them as well. There are pain medications and muscle relaxants that some doctors prescribe. Anti-depressants can also help in pain management in the same way that steroid injections made epidurally are used to lessen inflammation and nerve pressure. while these medications are very efficient, they also carry significant side effects thus patients are allowed a maximum of three injections per year.

The method of sciatic nerve pain treatment can either be natural, conventional, minimally invasive or through surgical means. whatever be the case, all they aim for is to relieve the patient from sciatic nerve pain. it all depends on how the patient prefers to be treated.

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