Your Guide to Back Pain Relief

Sciatica

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One of the more common causes of back pain is Sciatica. Yet contrary to popular belief, sciatica is not a specific medical disorder. It is not a specific “problem” in that there is not one thing that occurs to create the sciatica symptoms. Rather, sciatica refers to a very specific set of symptoms that affect sciatic nerves.

Causes of Sciatica

Because sciatica refers to a set of symptoms, and not a specific disorder, it may be caused by several different types of problems – including other back problems. Some of the possible causes of sciatica include:

Interestingly, your own behaviors can cause sciatica as well. For example, sitting on your wallet can misalign your vertebrate, leading to sciatica. Sciatica can be caused by nearly any back related injury or issue that pushes on or near the sciatic nerve.

Symptoms of Sciatica

Sciatica has some very specific symptoms. When something pushes on the sciatic nerve, the pain tends to radiate all the way from your lower back down to your buttocks and possibly all the way through to your legs. The pain can feel somewhat severe, but may differ depending on the degree that the nerve is being pinched. Other symptoms include:
  • Weakness/Numbness – Sciatica often causes a feeling of weakness in your muscles, especially in your legs. It may also cause a feeling of numbness, and these feeling may continue all the way to your feet.
  • Tingling – Though it is possible for tingling to occur in your legs, many people experience the most tingling in their feet.

In some very rare cases, sciatica can lead to problems controlling either or both of your bladder and bowels, but this is very rare. Pain and weakness are the most prominent symptoms of sciatica.It is also possible for cervical spinal stenosis to cause loss of bladder and bowel control, but those are very rare symptoms. In general, spinal stenosis exhibits itself by creating chronic pain when standing.

Sciatica Prevention

Because sciatica can be caused by so many different back health issues, the best way to prevent sciatica is to do your best to avoid all of those issues. However, sciatica itself can be prevented from most environmental factors using the following methods:

  • Exercise: One of the best things you can do to prevent sciatica is to exercise. Building the muscles in your back will help prevent the likelihood of trauma, which should reduce the chances of getting sciatica symptoms.
  • Sitting/Standing Correctly: It’s important that you also sit and stand with a balanced back. That means sitting upright, standing on with your weight balanced evenly, etc.
  • Get a Firmer Mattress: Mattresses that aren’t firm enough tend to lead to bad sleeping posture that can, in turn, lead to sciatica. Mattresses should be medium firm.
  • Lift With Your Knees: Lifting with your back can easily cause trauma to your spine. Lift with your knees to keep your back from getting damaged.
Sciatica can be painful, and often requires some type of treatment when it occurs. The best thing you can do is take steps to keep your back strong and healthy and avoid the behaviors that lead to injury. If you can keep your back healthy, you should reduce the likelihood of sciatica

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