Sciatica

Sciatica means leg pain. Sciatica is caused by irritation of the sciatic nerve often as it passes through the joints of the back. This can be caused by injury to the discs between the bones of the back or by stiffness or aging of the joints. In the vast majority of cases the pain will resolve in time, however, it is often possible to speed things up with treatment.

The most important thing is to establish what is causing the pain and to exclude any rare conditions (see below for symptoms). Once the cause is established it can be treated with the appropriate strategy, which may include;

• Joint manipulation
• Spinal mobilisation
• Taping of the spine to offload painful structures
• TENS for pain relief
• Education regarding painfree positions
• Reeducation of movement to reduce the stress on painful joints and muscle
• Soft tissue treatment

If one or more of the following apply to you, contact your GP today to seek medical advice;

• You are younger than 20 or older than 55 when you get the problem for the first time.
• The pain follows a violent injury, such as a road traffic accident.
• You have had cancer in the past or at present.
• You are on steroids.
• You are a drug abuser, or have HIV.
• You are generally unwell in yourself.
• You have lost significant weight recently.
• You continue to have great difficulty bending forwards.
• You have developed a number of problems in your nervous system (eg numbness, loss of power, etc).
• You have developed an obvious structural deformity of your spine.