Sciatic Nerve Pain: What You Need to Know.
Have you been dealing with pain that radiates down the back of your leg recently? Or perhaps you’ve experienced some numbness or tingling that extends all the way down to your foot? If so, it’s possible that you’re suffering from sciatic nerve pain, or sciatica, as it is commonly called. This issue occurs when the sciatic nerve is compressed, and can negatively impact your quality of life.
Want to know more? Read on to get the lowdown on the problem which crops up for huge numbers of people (an estimated 40 percent of the adult population) throughout their life.
Symptoms of Sciatic Nerve Pain
Sciatic nerve pain needs to be diagnosed by a medical practitioner, who will give you a thorough physical exam, take your medical history, and run a few tests. Note that often people think they have sciatica, but instead have non-specific lower back pain that stems from some other issue.
One of the most common indicators of sciatic nerve pain includes unilateral leg pain (from the lower hip and buttocks down) that is much more intense than pain in the lower back, if there is back pain at all. Another is pain radiating through to the foot or the toes.
If you’re presenting with sciatica, then you will typically also have numbness and paraesthesia (an abnormal sensation like tingling, pricking, tickling, or burning of the skin) in the same distribution. Sciatic nerve pain also has localized neurology (i.e., limited to one nerve root), and, when undergoing the standard “straight leg raise” test, you’ll find your leg pain increases.
Other signs that you might be suffering from sciatica include feeling weak in the knee of your effected leg (and likely throughout your entire leg); and pain that is difficult to localize when trying to show a practitioner. If, for example, you have muscular pain because of shortened and tightened muscles, you can usually press firmly on your muscles and find particular trigger spots that affect your pain level. When you can’t do this though, it increases the likelihood that you have sciatica.
If you’re not training for a marathon or racking up lots of hours on the treadmill or pavements every week, you may find that there’s a good chance your pain stems from sciatic nerve pain, rather than the less-common piriformis syndrome (which has similar symptoms and is common to athletes).
Another sign that you might have sciatica, and actually something that is an indication of a surgical emergency, is if you find yourself losing total control of your bowel and bladder movements. While this only happens in very rare sciatica cases (when the spinal column puts extraordinary amounts of pressure on the sciatic nerve), it can lead to permanent damage to bowel and bladder function and needs to be immediately addressed.
Causes of Sciatic Nerve Pain
While there are different things which can potentially compress your sciatic nerve and lead to pain as a result, there are some common causes that crop up time and again. One of the major ones is a lumbar herniated disc.
A herniated disc (also referred to as a slipped disc, pinched nerve, bulging disc, ruptured disc, or protruding disc) occurs when the soft inner material of the disc herniates, that is, leaks out, through the fibrous outer core of the disc. When this happens, the contiguous nerve root is irritated or pinched. The most common symptom of lumbar herniated discs is actually sciatica.
Another cause of sciatic nerve pain is lumbar degenerative disc disease. People who have one or more degenerated discs in their lower back will suffer from weakened discs which go through excessive micro-motions, causing inflammatory proteins from the inside to become exposed. In turn, this irritates the nerve root(s) in that particular area.
While some level of degeneration in discs is part of the aging process, those with the degenerative disc disease will have much more weakness and pain as a result. In addition, spinal degeneration can lead to osteophytes (bone spurs), which can also press against the sciatic nerve and cause pain.
Some of the other common reasons why you might develop sciatica are arthritis in the spine and other inflammation, lumbar spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the spinal canal), and isthmic spondylolisthesis (when a small stress fracture allows one vertebra to slip forward on another).
Treatment Options for Sciatic Nerve Pain
There are multiple treatments options for sciatica, but it is important to speak with specialists to determine the cause of your nerve pain, and then the best course of action to remedy it and deal with the pain.
Short-term relief from sciatica can usually be found through a carefully-managed medication regime. Interventional procedures, such as spinal injections, are also often used to reduce the pressure on the sciatic nerve that is causing the pain in the first place. Some sufferers can also find relief from treatment options such as chiropractic care, acupuncture, yoga, and massage.
For others though, surgery is required in order to give any long-lasting, extensive relief. There are numerous minimally-invasive (and often outpatient) procedures which can be performed. These tend to result in short recovery periods and effective results.
Some persons never go through that of pain (as severe as others) because of certain new advancements – research continues to help give hope for those in need! The conditions for which bring pain are many but that of the loved ones always do what they hope is best and at times! I have been diagnosed with medical conditions since my early years. Presently I have had some very painful days but being my condition there’s not a cure thats been found – I continue to ask that of others for prayers for my entire family, for many reasons – in my case that of ongoing prayers for my pain especially on that of days like 16th May.
A lot of great info! Thank you for bringing attention!
I have felt this pain before, it is horrible!! While I was pregnant with my youngest two, and even sometimes still. I had 3 csections so I believe this is the cause of it.
Thanks for the info! My husband has dealt with this for quite some time. Poor guy!
Sciatica nerve pain is really horrible. It can be debilitating. Thanks for educating us
Thank you for sharing. I am very thankful that we don’t have this.
My husband has this issue also.
You review was very thorough!! From the symptoms, to the causes, to relief treatments! The way you wrote about it, it almost sounds like you were talking from experience! I hope NOT!!
Thanks for sharing!!
Super helpful post! Thanks 🙂
Thanks for the info!!
Thanks for all the info.
I am going to check into this , I had Polio as a child and I have sciatic nerve pain, this looks like something that may help me, I will look into it, Thanks
Thanks for sharing helpful and informative article. I hope and pray that I will never need it but definitely passed it on to a few friends who are suffering.
My boyfriend has this problem, he suffers a lot from it.
I’ve been through this, and you don’t want to!! I still have pain on and off.
I just found I have this in both my hips,it’s crippling at times due to other conditions I have on top of it
Not something I’ve ever had to deal with… thank heavens – it sounds terrible!
I didn’t know any of this. thanks for the info
I’ve dealt with sciatica for years unfortunately .
I don’t have this problem but I do have MS which causes the nerve endings to become damaged. There’s no cure for MS, so I don’t know if any of these treatments would help at all. Thanks for the information.
I suffer from a lot of pain from a compression fracture of my back in my youth, but after reading this, maybe more has changed. Maybe it’s time to get another thorough check-up of my back. Thank you for this informative article.
I have sciatica that comes and goes. It can be painful for a few days and then goes away.
having m.s.brings pain
I have pain that radiates to my leg it could be this, thanks.
I have Sciatic Nerve Pain. I get shots from the doctor every few months which help a lot. I’ll have to look into the acupuncture and massage treatment options. Thank you for the informative article.
i feel soo bad for anyone suffering with this sure sounds like it is painful
This sounds like a painful condition.
I have family members who suffer from this. It is debilitating at times.
Oh my goodness. I used to have excruciating sciatic pain. It lasted for years and I was very young too. Oddly, it went away on its own. I don’t think that is the norm and I count my blessings.
Aw man!! Ive heard that this can be the worst!!
My daughter has been troubled with sciatic pain for a while. This past weekend it became acute and she ended up in the emergency room. Its painful.
Awful to have this kind of pain.
My husband’s pain is from degenerative disc disease. He is seeing two doctors for it. It is very painful at times.