Everything You Must Know To Keep Sciatica At Bay

However, there are times when finding the cause of the pain is not easy.

The Major Symptoms

The first step towards handling this problematic condition is understanding sciatica symptoms and treatment. Before checking out the treatment options, check out the main symptoms below:

  • Burning or tingling feeling down the leg
  • Shooting pain making it impossible to stand
  • Leg or buttock pain that grows more when sitting
  • Constant pain on a particular side of the buttock
  • Difficulty in moving the leg or foot
  • Numbness or weakness in the leg

Though sciatica affects one side of the lower body, it may also extent to the foot or toes. Degree of pain and discomfort varies from individual to individual. While some people find the pain irritating and infrequent, others experience severe and continuous pain.

What Actually Causes sciatica?

As already stated, irritation of the sciatica nerve is the main reason behind this painful condition. However there are some other possibilities as well. Take a look below to know them:

  • Pregnancy
  • Lumbar spinal stenosis
  • Spondylolisthesis
  • Degenerative disc disease
  • Overweight
  • Improper exercising habits
  • Sleeping on extremely soft mattress
  • Wearing high heels

Diagnosis

To diagnose the problem, medical history of the patient is considered by the doctors. After this, examination of hips, back and legs is done to test the flexibility, reflexes, strength and sensation. Some of the other tests are:

  • MRI scans
  • Nerve conduction
  • X-rays
  • CT scans

Treatment

Sciatica treatment Raleighfocuses on treating inflammation and pressure. Some of the popular treatment options include:

  • Physiotherapy to prevent further consequences
  • Anti-inflammatory drugs or oral steroids to settle down inflammation
  • Epidural steroid injections at the origin of the swollen sciatica nerve roots
  • Surgery when all the manual and medical treatments don’t work the expected way

Conclusion

Sciatica is very painful and might damage the nerve permanent if left unattended. However, this is an exception and happens in rarest case. Still, if you have any of the above symptoms visit the doctor right away and get the problem addressed.