Sciatica
Sciatica, And Everything You Need To Know About It
Sciatica is a backache condition that spread along the sciatic nerves. This unbearable condition radiates the lower back thoroughly through your hips and the buttocks, and it goes down to each of your leg. Sciatica normally affects only one side of your body.
The condition commonly occurs when a herniated disk or another body part such as the bone spur narrowing the spine or on the spine compresses the sciatic nerve or a part of it. This mainly causes inflammation, numbness and pain on the affected leg. Sciatica sometimes appears as a severe condition in the back. However, it can be treated with a few weeks of treatment. Although the treatment is non-operative in most of the cases, people suffering from severe Sciatica, that lead to bowel, bladder changes or leg weakness might need surgery.
The Symptoms of Sciatica:
A pain that radiating from the lower spine to the buttocks, that eventually reaches the back of your leg is a major symptom of Sciatica. A person suffering from this condition may experience a sensation throughout the pathway of the sciatic nerve. However, it mainly follows the path from the lower back to the buttocks.
From a mild sensation at the pathway of the sciatic nerve to a sharp, burning condition to indescribable pain, Sciatica can escalate very quickly. It gets worse with coughs and sneezes. Sometimes the prolonged sitting can also induce this pain. Sometimes when you get up from a prolonged sitting position, you may feel like an electric shock or a jolt. In most of the cases, one side of our body mainly gets affected by it.
A lot of people suffering from this condition may also experience numbness, a tingling or muscle weakness in your affected leg or foot. In many cases, the sufferer feels numbness in one leg and excruciating pain in the other.
The most common causes of Sciatica:
As we have described it earlier, one of the main reasons for this condition is when your sciatic nerve gets compressed with the Herniated disk or a bone spur on the spine. However, there are cases when the nerve gets damaged by a disease such as diabetes or is compressed by a tumour.
Now a few details about the Risk Factors of the disease:
Age is one of the most widespread factors of Sciatica. Why? With age, our body structure usually keeps growing. Age-related changes of our spine, the herniated disk or the bone spurs become one of the most common causes of Sciatica.
- Obesity is another very risky factor in Sciatica. Obesity increases the stress on your spine. Excess obesity can lead to spinal changes and thus can lead to Sciatica as well.
- Occupations that make you keep twisting your back can be a reason for Sciatica. People who mainly carry heavy loads on their back or driving a vehicle for a long time can lead to Sciatica too. However, there is not any proof to support this statement until now.
- Diabetes can affect the uses of your blood sugar level. It can also make you a future candidate for the disease.
So, these were a few things you should know about Sciatica. Consult your general physician or a doctor to know more.
