Since the cooler weather will start to roll in, we start to see a lot more patients at Doylestown Sports Medicine Center with elevated back pain accompanied by a shooting pain down the back of their legs.
If you get a shooting pain down the back of your leg, this may indicate you have a sciatic nerve issue.
This blog post covers very common questions about Sciatica including:
What is the Sciatic Nerve?
What is Sciatica?
What causes Sciatica?
Simple ways to ease the symptoms of Sciatica.
This blog and its information can be beneficial to anyone! But, they are essential reading for anyone over 50 years of age, and especially for those that are looking to get more active as the spring and summer approach.
What is the Sciatic Nerve?
The Sciatic nerve is the longest and widest nerve in the human body, starting from the spine and extending down each leg. It plays a vital role in sending signals between the spinal cord and muscles in your legs. These signals enable your motor function, and facilitates sensory information such as pain and touch from your lower limbs.
What is Sciatica?
Sciatica happens when something presses or rubs against the sciatic nerve. Sciatica is a type of pain caused by an irritated nerve and the pain is often felt in your bottom and can extend down through your feet and in some cases, to your toes.
Sciatica is most commonly caused by a slipped disc, which can put pressure on the sciatic nerve and then causes the pain or discomfort that you're feeling.
However, certain behaviors or factors can raise your risk of developing sciatica. The most common factors for developing sciatica that we see include the following:
Unfortunately, as your body ages, it becomes more likely that parts will wear out or break down.
Certain careers place a lot of strain on your back, especially those that involve lifting heavy objects, sitting for extended periods, or twisting movements.
Repeated poor posture.
Slipped Discs
A "disc" is a small fluid-filled sac that sits between the bones in your back, you have lots of these. It's often better to think of them as little jelly filled donut (except it would probably hurt if someone were to bite these ones) with their purpose of protecting the bones in you back as you move.
As you bend forward, whether you're picking something up, or even sitting with a forward posture, the discs are pinched at the front and the fluid inside of the discs returns to the rear. For example, imagine if you squeeze the jelly donut, the jelly inside will move away from the side of compression.
Now, imagine that you're working at a job where you're required to bend / lean forward and / or pick up objects.
Eventually, the repetitive squeezing of the disc(s) will cause the wall of the disc(s) to wear down, and the fluid will eventually drain (just like our donut). However, instead of having sticky fingers that can be easily cleaned, you now have a shooting sciatic pain as the disc presses the nerve that travels all the way down through the back of your leg.
Easing Pain from Sciatica
The problem is that if you completely rest while you're in pain, not only does the disc stay slipped, but the muscles that control your lower back will become weak, and therefore provide less support to the already problematic and painful are .
Limiting the amount of time that your spend sitting can help too. I know what you're going to say... "sitting doesn't make it worse," but we find that many patients are sitting in a modified or slouched way to avoid triggering their pain.
This makes your pain last longer, and often leaves you with an uncomfortable looking posture- long after the back trouble has gone away.
Don't Stop Walking
Continue gentle exercises as soon as you can - anything that gets you moving safely can help. Gentle walking can work wonders for those suffering from sciatica because regular walking spurs release of pain-fighting endorphins and can reduce inflammation in some cases. Walking is one of the most overlooked forms of exercise; it's simple, it's free, and one of the best ways to get more active, become healthier, and lose weight without too much effort.
Fix Your Posture!
Make sure you have a good posture when sitting and standing.
Bad posture can compress your discs and irritate the sciatic nerve, your speed of walking, length of the stride and initial contact on the floor could be the reason why you’re in so much pain with your back.
Take a slower pace through taking slower steps and make sure you gently roll onto your toes and push off – this will shorten your stride.
When you walk with good posture, you take the stress away from your spine and engage the core abdominal and back muscles as they work in sync to get you moving.
The reality is that we were NOT designed to sit down for 9+ hours a day. Our bodies are not shaped to do so and we don’t have the natural ability to cope with spending all of our time sitting down. Sitting has become so frequent and extensive that I doubt you’ve ever questioned how much of it you actually do.
Alternate Heat And Ice Therapy
By using both heat and ice therapy, this can provide relief for sciatica. Ice helps with inflammation and heat encourages blood flow, but of which are essential to easing painful muscle spasms.
Stretch It Out!
Every day that you wake up and you’re not doing something small to help yourself to stay active, you’ll be getting more and more stiff. You’ll be losing flexibility of vital muscles and joints, and as this happens, you’re more and more likely to suffer from things like sciatica and other life-changing pains.
(Our favorite- totally not biased at all) Physical Therapy
Expert advice, exercises, and hands-on treatment provided by a physical therapists can help improve sciatica and chronic back pain, as well as improve posture and strengthen your back muscles.
If you’re in pain and would like to talk to us about getting some help, some specialist advice, or if you are looking for guidance, remember we are always here to help you…. and we’re offering you a chance to sit down and discuss your specific condition with one of our therapists for free.
If you would like to get one of our limited discovery visits session slots, please click the button below to fill out a short form, or give our office a call at (215) 348-0666.
Do you know someone with aches in their back?
Who do you know that is always telling you about their aches and pains? We would love to help them live a pain-free life too.
That person could be someone who you live with, work with, or an extended friend or family member, who is maybe suffering with some kind of ache or pain that we can fix.