Do you suffer from sharp, shooting pains that start in your lower back and radiate down the thigh into your leg or feet?
Or numbness and pins and needles creeping down your calf towards your foot? You may notice that your symptoms are worsened by sitting or attempting to stand up but are somewhat relieved by walking or applying a heat pack to the lower back and buttocks.
If this sounds familiar, you may be suffering from sciatica. Sciatica is not a diagnosis in itself but rather an umbrella term for symptoms indicating sciatic nerve irritation. The single largest nerve in the body, the sciatic nerve, comprises four nerve roots, which emerge from the spinal joints in the lower back. The nerves merge to form one thick nerve that travels through the muscles of the buttocks, down the leg and into the feet. What causes sciatica?
Sciatica is caused by anything that irritates or compresses the nerve, like the herniation of a disc or a muscle spasm in the buttock region. Sciatica affects between 10- to 40 per cent of the population, typically around 40 years. It is common in people where physically strenuous positions are employed, like repetitive bending over or lifting heavy objects. Nurses, labourers, machine operators and people who sit for long periods tend to be the worst affected. In severe cases, people lose control of their bowels and bladder and experience numbness of the thigh, calf and foot. These are considered medical emergencies and should be attended to immediately. Luckily, less than two per cent of sciatica cases are medical emergencies, and most patients can be successfully treated in four to six weeks with physiotherapy. How does physiotherapy improve sciatica?
