A Guide to Sciatica
One of the most common questions I get asked, by my clients is “is my back pain sciatica?”. So I would like take some time to explain what sciatica or piriformis syndrome is.
Sciatica is the irritation of inflammation of the sciatic nerve, which runs from L3 down through your legs and feet to your toes, so its the longest (and widest) nerve in the human body. The reason sciatica is called piriformis syndrome is that the piriformis muscle (which is in your bum) can compress the sciatic nerve. Because in most people approximately 87% the sciatic nerve passes below the piriformis muscle, in approximately 13% people the sciatic nerve passes in part or entirely though the piriformis muscle. So tightness in the piriformis muscle is a major cause of sciatica and this tightness can be exasperated by prolonged sitting. Other notable causes are trauma to your lower back or your pelvis, a history of herniated disc in your lower back and some systemic diseases e.g. diabetes.
So how can you tell if you have sciatica or lower back pain?
Sciatic is characterised by the presence of one or more of the following symptoms:
- Constant pain in one side of the buttock or back of one leg.
- Sharp or burning pain or tingling radiating down the back of your thigh.
- Pain is worse when sitting for long periods of time.
- Pain may be aggravated by sneezing, stooping or straining.
- You feel that you want to slouch away from the effected side.
- Possible pins and needles or parasthesia (numbness) down leg.
Sciatic pain can begin abruptly or can come on gradually and may vary from infrequent and irritating to constant and incapacitating. While symptoms can be very painful, it is rare that permanent sciatic nerve damage (tissue damage) will result.
The vast majority of people who experience sciatica get better within a few weeks or months and find pain relief with non-surgical sciatica treatment including massage. For others, however, sciatica pain from a pinched nerve can be severe and debilitating.
There are a few symptoms that may require immediate medical, and possibly surgical, intervention, such as progressive neurological symptoms (e.g. leg weakness) and/or bowel or bladder dysfunction.
Related Posts
Why massage in the work place?
Obviously I am a firm believer of massage in the workplace, so I will start by acknowledging my bias on the topic. What people may not know is that during the many years working in IT, I suffered from a verity of neck and shoulder issues. This lead me to go to see a GP, chiropractor, osteopath and masseur. While they all helped, what was most beneficial to me was regular seated acupressure neck & shoulder massage which helped me nip the tension and the problems in the bud. We all know getting a massage feels great. Once your massages starts, the nerve cells in your skin send messages to your brain to release feel-good endorphins . As a result stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline begin to decrease and the other all effect is to boost your mood and give you a natural high. On a physical level the tension and tightness in the muscles begin to release. This means your awareness shifts so your mind and body can function better. Researches find your mind gets de-cluttered helping you to think more clearly, improve your alertness which leads to improve performance. So why not book a massage see>> http://vitalitytherapy.co.uk/booking
Muscle Soreness after exercise
We all know that postural muscles get tired and that creates knots. But muscles also get tired after exercises, this is called DOMS - delayed onset muscle soreness. DOMS is characterised by a dull, aching pain in the affected muscle, often combined with tenderness and stiffness. The pain is typically felt only when the muscle is stretched, contracted or put under pressure, but otherwise the muscle feels fine. The soreness usually increases in intensity in the first 24 hours after exercise. It peaks from 24 to 72 hours, then subsides and disappears up to seven days after exercise. DOMS can be the reason why sporty people feel aches and pains when they are treated if they have recently been pushing themselves when exercising. Unfortunately stretching or warming up the muscles does not prevent DOMS but gradually increasing the intensity of the exercise does. If treatment is desired, any measure that increases blood flow to the muscle, such as hot baths, sauna or a massage may help.
Elbow Pain
Recently we have treated a few cases of elbow pain.
There are two common site for elbow pain, the outside edge of the elbow which is often an indication of tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis and the inside edge of the elbow which is often an indication of glofer's elbow or medial epicondylitis. With both of these conditions the pain may radiate up the arm and / or down along the forearm.
Both conditions can be caused by precise wrist movements from using a mouse or keyboard. As the name suggests tennis elbow can be caused by faulty backhand technique when playing tennis. While golfer's elbow can be caused by poor technique when playing Golf or faulty forehand technique when playing tennis.
In addition tennis elbow can be caused by carrying heavy shopping bags as it causes tension in the wrist extensors.
Most of the cases we see are caused by long hours using computers. The first thing we do is try and establish the cause of the pain, which can be tightness or spasm in the muscles of the forearm, neck or shoulders and then treat accordingly. We can also show you simple stretches to stretch out the muscles of the forearm.
What surprised us, and prompted me to write this blog is that they all the clients had just assumed that elbow pain was something that they just had to lived with. In all the cases we dramatically reduced the pain and in most cases after a few treatments the clients were pain free! So don't sit their in pain, book a massage.
