Sciatica Symptoms and Sciatic Nerve Pain
The sciatic nerve is formed from the lower segments of the spinal cord. Sciatic nerve pain occurs when there is damage to the sciatic nerve. Sciatica can be very frightening especially if you don’t realize what is wrong…
The sciatic nerve is formed from the lower segments of the spinal cord. Sciatic nerve pain occurs when there is damage to the sciatic nerve. It occurs due to a pinched nerve near a disc at the spinal cord or a bone. The pain runs from the buttocks down the back of the leg.
Sciatic nerve pain occurs where there is damage to the sciatic nerve located at the back of the leg. This nerve controls the muscles of the back of the knee and lower leg and provides sensation to the back of the thigh, part of the lower leg and the sole of the foot.
Common symptoms of sciatic nerve pain include:
- Cramping sensation of the thigh
- Shooting pains from the buttocks down the leg
- Tingling or pins and needles sensations in the legs and thighs
- Burning sensation in the thigh
Sciatica can develop in almost anyone with an age ranging from 30 to 50 year old patients. The sciatic nerve, like most other nerves, performs two basic functions, first it sends signals to your muscles from the brain, and second it collects sensory information from the legs and passes this back to your brain. When people normally refer to sciatica, it is not necessarily a problem of the sciatic nerve; it is a problem of the nerve when it is being pinched as it exits from the spine.
The sciatic nerve is commonly injured by the fractures of the pelvis or other trauma to the buttocks or to the thigh. . This pressure is created due to prolonged sitting or lying in a particular position, which gradually injures the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve may also be harmed by pressure from such as tumor or bleeding in the pelvis. Depending on where the sciatic nerve is affected, the pain may also radiate to the foot or toes. The following sensations may occur as a result of sciatica:
- Pain at the back or leg that is worse when sitting.
- Burning or tingling sensation down the leg
- Difficulty moving the leg or foot due to weakness or numbness
- A constant pain on one side of the rear that makes difficulty to stand up.
Precautions to be taken:
Sciatica can be very frightening especially if you don’t realize what is wrong. You begin to feel that you may become crippled, although most of the time sciatic nerve pain can be treated effectively. For the first few days it is very important to stay off your feet. Getting up and down repeatedly causes the nerve to become more irritated. Warm water soaking can be very soothing but prolonged heat draws the inflammation in, keeping the swelling high. Most doctors tell their patients to apply ice packs directly on to their lower back area for about twenty minutes, every couple of hours. Although this can feel like a torture, the cold pack reduces swelling.
Treatment:
Some doctors prescribe medicines but medications can be highly addictive. Surgery is not considered as a good alternative as it only helps about one in a hundred people. Surgery has also been known to cause even more damage in many cases. Only open back surgery can correct sciatica but it also may bring with it high risks and many complications. There is also another treatment that is the laser spine treatment where the protruded disc is removed with laser so that the spinal cord or the nerve root is no longer impinged.
| By Jayashree Pakhare Published: 1/11/2008 |