Sciatica

How to fight the nagging pain of sciatica?

Sciatica is an attack on the nerve roots, or symptoms associated with the compression of the sciatic nerve, which is the largest peripheral nerve in the human body. When it occurs, we feel strong pain in the loins and numbness of the spine, often accompanied by tingling limbs and leg pain.

The causes of sciatica may be many: hypothermia, for example, when we lie on cold ground, excessive physical effort, when weak abdominal muscles and back muscles cause the bulging of the intervertebral discs. Pressure on the sciatic nerve can also be associated with diseases such as cancer, diabetes, obesity or being caused by inflammation in the body. Most often, however, sciatic pain causes degenerative changes in the spine, its discopathy, distortion or loss of the disc.

How to recognize the onset of sciatica?

You will recognize sciatica after acute, stabbing, even painful back pain, which radiates across the loins, thighs or feet. It may occur suddenly, for example when a heavy object is tilted or raised. The pain, which increases when sneezing, coughing or laughing, is strong enough to cause paralysis, and the person affected can not even get out of bed. Additionally, the patient may also experience:

• sensory disorders (tingling, itching, numbness),
• muscular paresis,
• problems with defecation.

Is it sciatica?

If we have a problem with determining whether the pain that nags us is actually sciatica, we can do a simple test. All we need to do is check the presence of the so-called Lasegue’s symptom: put your back on a relatively hard surface and try to lift one straight leg. If we can not do it because of sudden, severe pain, then we have sciatica.

How to fight the pain?

In the treatment of sciatica, besides pharmacology, exercises on the extract and intramuscular injections are also used. Massage is also important – for example, therapeutic spine massage – and physical therapy. Patients also feel relief after heat treatment, iontophoresis, electricity or magnetic field therapy.

Treatment should be supplemented with rest, for example in a spa centre. Specialists recommend mud treatment as well as sulphur baths to prevent relapse.

Stretching and strengthening exercises also prevent relapse. Perform them slowly and gradually, increasing the number of repetitions over time. Note: exercises are recommended only after an initial period of rest after pain.

How to avoid sciatica?

Sciatica is a painful, debilitating condition, and its treatment is protracted and expensive. It is best to look after the health of the spine in advance and avoid the first symptoms of pain.

Prevention of sciatica consists in the implementation of simple habits that relieve the spine, for example:

• in the car sit down so that the whole thigh is on the seat,
• do not lift heavy objects when we could just push them,
• when lifting something from the ground, squat with a straight back,
• sleep stretched out, on a hard mattress with a small pillow under your head,
• when getting up bend the spine as little as possible,
• do not cross your legs while sitting,
• it’s best to rest on the stomach,
• do not slouch while working at the computer and change position frequently,
• when carrying shopping, distribute the weight evenly between both hands,
• instead of carrying a heavy bag, if possible, use bags or suitcases on wheels.

Such activities may appear to be time-consuming, but they bring much more benefits than taking supplements, which are treated as shortcuts in the prevention of various ailments, and often do not bring satisfactory results. In the prevention of spine complaints, but not only, regular physical exercise is invaluable. The so-called cat’s ridges work especially well for him. Also important are back strengthening exercises and, more specifically, ones that target the paraspinal muscles of the back, as well as the abdomen. Their efficient functioning relieves the spine and causes us much less pain in this area.

Anyone who has experienced sciatica knows that it is better to prevent and preempt spine problems rather than to later suffer and undergo long-term treatment. Especially if its health is positively impacted by every day, easy-to-implement habits Learn them and put them into practice as soon as possible, before it’s too late.