The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the human body. It runs from the lower back, through the buttocks, your hamstrings and into the lower leg. Sciatica means pain in the leg, numbness or any kind of weakness in the lower back. There can be many reasons for a leg pain such as an injury to the leg or it can be due to the main nerve which travels in the lower back. Many times, it is not diagnosed properly and hence it will take a lot of time to respond to the treatment or in some cases, it may not respond at all. 

Symptoms of Sciatica: 

You will experience pain in the lower back only on one side of the body. 
The pain continues from the lower back to the sciatic nerve. 
Rarely, you will see the pain on both sides of the body or buttocks. 
The pain is very sharp. 
In some cases, the patient may experience a needles or pins sensation in the leg and in some cases, it is weakness or numbness in the lower back. 
The pain gets so severe that you will not be able to walk or even stand. 
If you have lower back pain combined with leg pain, then lower back pain is not going to be as severe as the leg pain. With the help of the symptoms, your doctor will be able to diagnose sciatica but in order to know the exact cause and origin of this pain, you will have to undergo other tests and examinations. 
Physiotherapy for Sciatica: 
There are many surgical treatments available for sciatica, but it is always good to go for non-surgical treatments. So you can opt for physiotherapy. You will be able to see better and long lasting results with this treatment. As it involves a thorough assessment of it on which the treatment protocol is laid. 

Physiotherapy involves four phases: 

Pain relief 
Restoration of normal flexibility 
Restoration of full functionality 
Prevention of recurrence 
In sciatica, it is due to unbearable pain, you seek treatment. So that has to be treated initially. When you can see that the pain is under control, then the physiotherapist will start working on the range of motion for your joints. The muscle tension will be reduced and muscle strength will be improved. In the third stage, your physiotherapist will start working on restoring the normal function of your body, especially your legs and your lower back. In the last stage, the physiotherapist will help you with some exercises that will stop its recurrence. Usually, sciatica will return after some time but taking a little care at the early stage can prevent it.

Physiotherapy For Sciatica - Why Is It The Best Treatment Option?

The sciatic nerve spreads down the spine till the legs. The pain in this nerve can feel like sparks running down your leg (by and large only each one in turn) or cause pain in the lower back. Anything that puts weight on or aggravates this nerve can cause pain that shoots down the back of one butt cheek or thigh. The amount of pain can increase gradually. Sciatica may feel like a gentle ache, a sharp sensation or extreme uneasiness. Sciatica can bring feelings of shivering, numbness and weakness.

Sitting, standing up, coughing, sneezing, lifting, or straining for a very long time, might aggravate pain. Now and then, individuals experience numbness or shivering in the leg, too. Some of the most regular symptoms of sciatic pain include:

1. Lower back pain
2. Pain in the back or leg when sitting
3. Hip pain
4. Burning sensation in the leg
5. Numbness or trouble moving the leg or foot
6. Continuous pain on one side of the back
7. Shooting pain that makes it hard to stand up properly

The most common causes of sciatic pain include:

1. Lumbar spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal channel in the lower back)
2. Degenerative disk sickness (breakdown of discs, which go about as pads between the vertebrae)
3. Spondylolisthesis (a condition in which one vertebra slips over another)
4. Pregnancy
5. Muscle spasms

Some of the most effective exercises for sciatic pain relief are as follows:

1. Pigeon Pose is a typical yoga posture. It attempts to open the hips. There are various types of this stretch. The first is the leaning back pigeon posture. If you are beginning your treatment, you have to attempt the leaning back posture first.

2. While on the back, raise your right leg up to a right point and hold it with both hands behind the thigh and lock your fingers. Take your left leg and touch your lower leg against the knee. Hold the position for a minute.

3. Sit on the floor with your legs stretched straight before you. At that point twist your right leg, putting your lower right leg on top of the left knee.

Bend forward and incline your abdominal area toward your thigh. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds and after that switch sides.

4. Kneel down on the floor on all fours. Get your right leg and bring it forward so that your lower leg is on the ground. Your right foot has to be ahead your right knee while your right knee stays to one side. Stretch the left leg out the distance behind you on the floor, with the top of the foot on the ground and toes pointing backwards.

5. Lie on your back with your legs facing outward and your feet flexed upward.

Wrap your hands around your knee and delicately pull your right leg over your body toward your left shoulder. Hold it there for 30 seconds and afterward push your knee so your leg comes back to its initial position.

Sciatica Pain and Ways to Deal With It

The longest nerve in the body is the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve starts from the lower part of the spine, through your hip to the back of the leg. So when it is said sciatica, we refer to pain in this nerve. Since the nerve covers the spine, hip and leg, sciatic pain is felt in the areas through which it passes. The lower leg muscles and sensation in the legs, thighs and feet are controlled by this nerve.

Symptoms usually include
1. Pain that radiates from the lower back to the hip and to the leg
2. Sharp, tingling, dull, constant or burning pain
3. Loss of bladder or bowel control
4. Sneezing or coughing increases pain
5. Moving the leg gets difficult so usual activities like walking, sitting and standing become painful

Homeopathic remedies are easy and gentle on the body. Homeopathy aims to boost the body's immune system so it can fight all its weaknesses. The following remedies may prove to be useful:

A) ammonium muriaticum: it is taken for chronic pain in the heel or for chronic backache or when straightening the knee gets difficult as hamstrings contract. It is also taken for limping.

B) bellis perennis: in periosteum injuries, stiffness and deep aches in the spine bellis perennis is used. It is also used for tailbone injuries. It is also helpful for nerve pains during pregnancy.

C) calcarea fluorica: if the vertebra degenerates after trauma to the spine, then calcarea fluorica can be useful.

D) cicuta: the worst back injuries with serious trauma and muscles spasms are treated with cicuta.

E) hypericum: hypericum is suggested for tailbone injuries, temporary paralysis, spinal concussions and for sharp pain that tingles and moves upwards.

F) rhus tox: if after lifting weights, overexerting muscles and exposure to anything wet, you feel tearing and burning pain, then rhus tox is beneficial. Cramps that get better after heat application, but get worse after exposed to the cold are also treated with rhus tox.

G) ruta: stiffness and pain from back injuries, twisting the wrong way and bruises are prescribed with ruta.

Best Homeopathic Remedies for Sciatica Pain

Sciatica pain arises from the sciatic nerve which is the single largest nerve in our body. It consists of individual nerve roots, which branching out from the lower back of the spine to the back of each leg and combining together forms the sciatic nerve. The origination of the sciatic pain lies in the lower back of the body and radiates down the buttock to the sciatic nerve.

Causes of the sciatica pain

Arthritis: If an individual is diagnosed with arthritis, then he or she can expect a throbbing pain or numbness down till the leg.
Herniated disc: Another cause could be a herniated disc in the lower back of the body.
Spondylosis: Spondylosis in the lower back would also be a reason for the development of the sciatica pain.
PIVD/DISC bulge
Other causes are a spinal injury, diseased degenerative disc, infection on and around the lower back. The pain would worsen, if an individual is in an occupation where he or she has to stand or sit for hours at length. The lifting of heavy things would strain the sciatic nerves as well.

How to identify sciatica pain?
Sciatica pain varies from infrequent to a constant throbbing down the lower back. So initially it is difficult to detect whether it is sciatic pain or not. But when the constant pain in the lower back leads right down till the toes and foot, it is really time for an individual to get in touch with a doctor. The pain can give a burning sensation almost searing making it difficult for the person to stand up or walk properly. Along with the pain, one can feel fatigued. An involvement of the spinal cord is rare in the sciatic pain but is possible.

Treatment for sciatica pain
Sciatica can be treated in both surgical and non-surgical way. Surgical treatment is rare as sciatica tends to respond well with non-surgical treatments. If the pain continues for over a month despite treatment, surgical treatment will be considered. The non-surgical pain treatment would include physical exercises and oral medications along with natural treatment.

Medications: Painkiller medications prescribed by the doctor can be used to reduce sciatica. Medicines like aspirin, non-steroidal or oral steroids can help reduce the pain.
Steroid injection: Epidural steroid injection acts faster as it is injected in the affected area, thus providing relief from the pain quickly.
Exercise: Early morning exercises can be quite helpful.
Percutaneous Endoscopic Discectomy: The surgical treatment of Percutaneous endoscopic disc dissectomy constitutes a large part of interventional pain physicians and it has evolved considerably in terms of surgical technique and instrumentation. Percutaneous endoscopic discectomy is a relatively new technique for removing lumbar disc herniation. It involves using an endoscope to visualize the disc removal. The discectomy is performed through a posterolateral approach using specially developed instruments. The advantage of percutaneous endoscopic discectomy is that the disc is approached posterolaterally through the triangle of Kambin without the need for bone or facet resection thus preserving spinal stability. The procedure is day care and is done under local anaesthesia.

Sciatica Pain - 5 Ways You Can Treat It!

Gridhrasi is what Sciatica is known as in Ayurveda. It is the disorder that causes mild to agonizing pain in the sciatic nerve or neuralgia. These nerves, emerging from the pelvis, run along the hamstring and may cause intense pain in one or both the legs when a person suffers from Sciatica. Sciatic pains fill your life with misery as the simplest of daily activities cause sudden and excruciating pain. There are two types of sciatica i.e. true sciatica and pseudo sciatica. Sciatica may be caused due to bulging disc or herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, piriformis syndrome, pregnancy or trauma etc. 

According to Ayurveda, Sciatica is caused due to impairment in Vata i.e. the dosha responsible for the functional ability and movement of the body and also in some cases due to impairment in the Kapha i.e. the dosha that is responsible for body fluids and lubrication. Ayurvedic herbs that improve the symptoms of Sciatica are:

1. Babunah is also known as Bitter Chamomile. Not only is it used to relieve and reduce the pain faced by a sciatica patient, but it is also used for treating problems such as rheumatism due to the advancement of age. Compressed bitter chamomile flowers are prescribed for sciatica.
2. Guggul is also known as Indian Bdellium. Since guggulu is well known for its anti-inflammatory properties, it relaxes the sciatic nerves.
3. Rasna is also known as Vanda Orchid. Intense or agonizing pain due to the sciatic nerve issues can be reduced by this ayurvedic herb due to its anti-inflammatory properties. 
4. Juniper oil is extremely helpful when massaged onto the thigh muscles with firm strokes or pressure. It is used extensively in massage therapy for treating sciatica since the extent of reduction in sciatic nerve pain is tremendous. 
5. Jaiphal is also known as Nutmeg. After being mixed with sesame seeds oil, nutmeg is coarsely powdered and then fried till it turns brown. This is then applied to those areas where the sciatic pain is intense for instant relief.
6. Kumari is also known as Indian Aloe. Properties of Indian Aloe are extremely helpful in treating lower back ailments such as sciatica and lumbago.
7. Shallaki is also known as Boswellia or Frankincense. Containing anti-inflammatory properties, shallaki is applied externally to get relief from sciatic nerve pain. 

Ayurvedic preparations such as yogaraja guggulu, Vataganjakusha, Saindhavadi taila are also very useful in treating Sciatica.

Ayurvedic Treatment of Sciatica

While it may be obvious that no form of pain is welcome, it can be said that pain which is felt on account of being affected by sciatica is especially unwelcome. Taking that into due account, the good news is that physiotherapy can go a long way in helping by improving this sort of pain.

The longest nerve in the whole human body is the sciatic nerve, so it can be expected that when there is trouble with this nerve, the pain would be pretty significant. The leg pain which is caused to a person when this nerve happens to be getting pinched is known as sciatica.

There is a range of treatments when it comes to how something as painful as sciatica is to be solved. Now, while it is true that a solution such as making sure there is an amount of bed rest which is sufficient is very important, to say the very least, it is often the case that the person with sciatica would like his or her recovery to be hastened.

In order to make sure that this is the case, physiotherapy is quite useful. There are various forms of physiotherapy which can be made use of, and the decision as to which sort of physiotherapy a person would be best suited to would obviously be part of the subjective assessment of the person by a practitioner who is well qualified and experienced.

Some of the solutions when it comes to physiotherapy being used in order to treat sciatica are quite innovative, to say the very least. For example, there is physiotherapy instrument mobilisation, which is also known as PIM. What this entails is that a mechanical spring-loaded instrument is used in the process which serves the purpose of mobilising the spinal cord of a person along with his or her peripheral joints.

One form of physiotherapy oriented treatment which is used to address the issue of sciatica is real-time ultrasound physiotherapy. It can be said that this is not close to as cutting edge as physiotherapy instrument mobilisation is but it does serve as a rather dependable and useful way to battle sciatic pain. This form of physiotherapy makes use of ultrasound technology to analyse how the muscles function and then using that as a basis to create a list of physiotherapy exercises to be done by the person who is having sciatica. Rather than medicines, physiotherapy improves sciatica by getting a person to use oneself!

How Can Physiotherapy Help With Sciatica Pain?

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