The Secrets Of Healing Sciatica
If you have not suffered sciatica, count yourself fortunate. Sciatica is pain in the sciatic nerve, a thick nerve mass rooted in the lumbar spine that travels from there through the hip and down the outside of the leg, crossing at the knee. The nerve continues to the foot, and pain may occur in varying intensity along its entire length, or in spots. Healing sciatica may be a challenge, depending on its cause. Bulging or herniated discs, stenosis (narrowing of the spinal channel), spinal trauma, and tumors are a few common causes of sciatica.
Symptoms that push patients into investigating how to cure sciatica are numerous. These include a sharp and deep-seated pain that starts in your lower back and shoots through your hip and leg when making certain movements. Numbness or muscle weakness in either buttock or leg can be a sign of sciatica. Pain in the hip, lower back or legs that increases after standing or sitting for some time is another symptom. Anyone who has difficulty moving or controlling their legs or feels a tingling sensation of pins and needles up and down either leg should be examined for sciatica.
Over the counter pain medications containing acedeminophin or aspirin are often helpful in treating sciatica. The application of ice packs over the area where the pain is the deepest can often reduce the inflammation. Some people find relief by alternating heating pads with periods of ice pack therapy. Anti-inflammatory prescription medication may be necessary if the pain proves hard to manage.
Although as the sciatic nerve continues down the back, it branches off into both legs, it is common for only one leg to be much more symptomatic. Patients have described a sensation that is similar to feeling as though their leg is on fire. A painful sciatic nerve can create discomfort that ranges from being mildly inconvenient to becoming almost intolerable in nature. The basis of the symptoms that develop as a result of an inflamed sciatic nerve are primarily attributed to some kind of irritation to the nerve, or of the nerve being pinched or impinged upon. With even a slight injury, the sciatic nerve can become inflamed, swelling can result, thus the nerve tends to become pressed and pain results. The problem with having sciatic nerve pain can become so exacerbated that the nerves and muscles that control a persons bowel and bladder functions may become affected. In such cases, the patient should immediately seek medical attention.
Certainly follow your physician's and physical therapist's suggestions, which can include the following: specific exercises, stretches, cold and heat packs, and taking OTC and prescription pain relievers. However, you may find that there are some additional alternative measures that may help remedy your lower back sciatica, as well.
An herbal remedy called sciatol, containing six natural herbals, is available as a supplement or an essential oil. This preparation offers a cure for sciatica, and is worth a look. Natural is not always safe, so it is a good idea to learn the ingredients and check their safety, but given safe ingredients, any sciatica sufferer will say its worth a try if it results in healing sciatica.
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Tags: slight injury, heating pads, lower back sciatica, Treatment of Sciatica, Health, nerve pain, Pain in the hip, tingling sensation