Posts Tagged ‘sciatica’

The Sciatica nerve is located near the back of our body and can be trapped, pinched and squeezed. It is a long nerve and transcends all the way from the lower back to the foot and has been the major cause of back pain, agony and discomfort for many people, lasting a prolonged time. Most of the times the sciatica pain seems to stay in a dormant mode and even small movements like sitting can cause it to flare up.

Most of the times people fall back on painkillers as a preliminary measure when the sciatic pain becomes a major cause of concern. But these drugs only relieve the pain momentarily and do little to cure the root cause of the problem. These painkillers and muscle relaxants often come with side effects and cause further misery.

Since most people do not want to use painkillers and other drugs all the time, other techniques of treatment of sciatica have come up. Although many people find it tough to start, one of the most popular of them uses exercise and stretching techniques to address the actual problem, which is the sciatica nerve rather than the symptoms of sciatica pain.

Although hot and cold presses when used alternatively give some relief from the sciatica pain but it also does not have substantial effect on the root cause of the pain. As a last resort, in some cases the doctors recommend surgery when the pain is extreme and caused by an injury.

A person suffering from sciatica pain should immediately consult with a doctor and discover the root cause of the problem and so that other relief measures can be found, like exercise of the piriformis muscle which often causes sciatica leg pain. There is actually no fixed treatment for sciatica pain. Many alternative methods like acupuncture or infra-red sauna have worked for different people. Since it is your body, you are the only one to choose between conventional and alternative treatment, but always try to keep an open mind about it.

Simply curing the pain is not enough. You have to try to treat the actual problem once the pain is relieved, otherwise it will surely return and haunt you in the future. Since sciatica pain is a rather new problem many new ideas about Sciatic Pain Relief have come up and some of them can be very effective. For more information on them, go to http://sciatic-treatment.info

The Sciatica pain can be caused even by just sitting in a chair or lying in a bed. Since, sciatic nerve is the longest and fattest nerve in the human body, there are a lot of things that can potentially harm it and lead to severe back or leg ache. The pressure on the nerve can be a result of muscle tightness due to stress and the pain is called sciatica pain.

Sciatica pain varies from one person to another. It can vary from just a trivial ache to a severe pain from a combination of various aches, tingling or numbness, which is treatable. It is always advisable to have the symptoms properly diagnosed by a doctor before deciding upon the treatment. People suffering from diabetes are known to suffer from sciatica more than others.

Diagnosis of the ailment involves performing a whole lot of tests. These tests are performed while the patient is sitting, walking and made to bend and twist in different directions. In severe cases X-ray images are also taken to probe for any physical damage.

Yoga therapy is good for treatment as it helps in loosening the muscles and joints that exerts pressure on the sciatic nerve and for milder cases there are a whole lot of exercises that helps in relieving the sciatica pain. But whatever be the condition of your pain, always remember to take one step at a time and not rush into any exercise or training. Take care not to aggravate the condition more and always carry on the exercise and stretching once the pain has subsided. If the exercises are discontinued after the pain goes away, as lots of people do, the pain and condition is sure to return to haunt you again.

The actual cause of the pain must be addressed while the pain is relieved otherwise it will again return. A lot of new ways of exercising are there for relieving Sciatica and some of them can be very fruitful. More information can be found at http://sciatic-treatment.info

Good news for patients suffering from sciatica for many years, there are certain exercises that have been developed a physical therapist , named Robin McKenzie( known as the McKenzie Method) which can help in abating the pain resulting from sciatic nerve damage and also help in somewhat preventing it. These exercises are developed in ways which can suit the comfort level of an individual. These include positions and stretches which help in relieving the pain in the legs and feet and centralize it in the lower back or produce “centralization of symptoms through extension of the spine or backward bending.

Simply put, for people experiencing lower back pain which runs down the leg (sciatica) the symptoms gets centralized in the butt or lower back. Although the pain in the butt and lower back remains same or becomes worse, the pain lessens or leaves the leg or legs. But with time through centralizing the pain in the butt and lower back, the pain in the butt and lower back will also start to see improvement. Extension of the spine , flexion or forward bending, side bending, and rotation are just some techniques included in the McKenzie exercises.

During sciatica treatment the most important thing to remember is that one should look for positions that reduce the pain furthest away from the spine and centralize it in the lower back. Different positions should be tried for a period of 30 seconds to figure out which is best suited for the individual. Listed below are exercises helpful for sciatica treatment –

1. Lie on the floor in a supine position with stomach up with the aid of elbows while keeping the hips or pelvis down on the floor.    This position should be held for thirty seconds to a minute. Try to bend the upper body to the left, then the right, to gauge which position centralizes the pain in the best manner. This can be done all day long, when the pain worsens.
2. This exercise is rightfully named the “The Cat Stretch” which involves getting one’s hands and knees and then slowly relaxing the back and stomach muscles so that the stomach hangs down and the lower back curves downward, then keeping your head up and looking forward. This position should be held for thirty seconds to a minute.

The next two exercises requires an exercise ball, alternatively one can stack up several pillows instead. The aim is to provide extension to the lower back.

1. Try lying on the exercise ball or pillows on your back which will allow your back to curve backwards. This position should be maintained for several minutes with the head being raised periodically to prevent feeling light headed.
2. Another technique is Forward Stretching, which can be done on an exercise ball or by lying on a stack of pillows and even the arm of a sofa. But this exercise should be done for short bursts of time as forward bending can worsen the problems with the discs in the lower back. Unless advised by therapists or doctors this exercise should not be done for more than a minute.

But what’s disheartening is that doctors today focus on the current condition of the patients rather than preventing sciatica from happening in the first place.

Sciatica often results from the sciatic nerve getting squeezed which in turn causes pain, numbness or a tingling down the leg or the foot. This pain is a result of a nerve in the lower back being poked by one of the spinal vertebrae. But it can also originate in the piriformis muscle because the nerve runs directly through this tissue. The doctor should be consulted while experiencing pain as a result of a herniated disc or other back injury.

Strengthening and stretching the muscles in the lower back may relieve the pain, but caution should be taken not to overdo this as it might a cause further injury. Listed below are some Yoga postures which can be practiced to provide some reprieve to sciatica nerve pain.

1. This yoga pigeon position involves lying flat the back and putting both legs straight up in the air after this, the right ankle should be placed onto the left leg, just above the knee so that it forms a figure of 4 shape then right hand should be placed through the space between the legs and the other hand should be held such that it stretches round the left leg to meet it. After it becomes comfortable to hold the hands together the left leg should be bent in such a way that the right hip starts to stretch. This position should be held for about half a minute.
2. Another technique is to lie down on the back with the left knee up and placing the left foot flat on the floor. The right leg should be brought up as far as comfortable. Also the pelvis should be kept flat. The thigh should be held while flexing the foot so as to stretch the hamstring and calf. Once some tension in the body is being felt, this position should be held for about 10 seconds. This should be repeated a few times after a bit of relaxation. Then the leg should be let down slowly and the same thing should be repeated with the other leg as well.

For patients suffering from sciatica, who have not doing much exercise for past few years, these exercises should be done steadily and slowly. Being hasty might result in further injury. Practicing these exercises regularly will make the body less stiff and also helps strengthening it.

But one thing should be bore in mind that these exercises are not a permanent cure and only helps in relieving the pain temporarily. These problems along with the pain tend to return after some time if the problems are not accessed and addressed properly.