User talk:Sciatic nerve pain

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What is Sciatic Nerve Pain ?
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Having constant pain due to sciatica can drive anyone up the wall. Most people will do anything just to get rid of the pain. There are a few options that one can utilize to get reel relief from sciatica pain. There are pain killers, anti inflammatory medicine, muscle relaxer medicine, exercise, surgical procedures and non surgical procedures that can be used.

Surgery is the most radical and invasive procedure that can be done but it is seldom necessary to perform surgery to cure sciatica pain. In milder cases you can relief the pain with over the counter medicine like Ibuprofen or Aspirin. Mostly doctors will prescribe anti-inflammatory medicine for a start.

When no results are apparent with above mentioned medicine stronger medication such as Codeine will be prescribed. It is important to note that such medicine should be taken with care as it can lead to addiction.

Another form of pain relief comes with muscle relaxers. This form of medicine can make you drowsy and therefore should not be taken while driving for obvious reasons.

Exercise is another form of pain relief and has a positive effect in the long term on sciatica pain. Exercise causes the muscles to get stronger and to relax more. This in effect reduces the pressure that the muscle exerts on the sciatic nerve, causing a long term cure from sciatica pain. This is why it is commonly believed that exercise is the best way to alleviate sciatica pain.

After exhausting all other options a doctor may suggest surgery. This is a last resort option and should only be considered after all other avenues have failed. There are a few different surgeries' that might be considered depending on the type of sciatica pain that is experienced.

1. Microdiscectomy is done by removing material from a herniated disc to remove pressure from the root of the sciatic nerve that is being compressed thereby relieving the patient of pain.

2. A Lumber laminectomy is done by removing material from the "lamina" area of a vertebra creating more space for the nerve bundle in the spinal column.

3. An Open discectomy or commonly known as a Discectomy is a very invasive and old procedure which involves removal of muscle bone and other tissue to alleviate the pain caused by compression of the sciatica nerve. This procedure is not recommended because there are better options to consider. Options like Microdiscectomy, Endoscopic Discectomy, and Laser Discectomy. These are all procedures done creating the same result with different instruments and methods.

4. The last option and not so commonly used is Spinal fusion. It involves binding together some of the vertebrae to stop chafing like movement on the sciatica nerve. The disadvantage is that it severely reduces a person's movement within the spinal column. This is only done as a last resort after osteoporosis set in and nothing else can be done to stop the back pain caused by the sciatic nerve being irritated.

It is important to note that although there are a lot of options not everyone will experience the same results from using them.The best is to consult with your medical practitioner and together decide on the best course of action for your case.

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Osteopathy and Sciatic Nerve Pain
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If you are suffering from an intense lower back pain in which the pain extends to your buttocks and legs, you may be suffering from sciatic nerve pain. This type of pain, often called sciatica occurs when the nerve called sciatic becomes compressed or irritated. The irritation may either be acute which lasts for less than a month or it can be chronic which lasts for more than two months.

Your nerve called sciatic is the longest nerve in the human body. It originates from a person's lower back and extends down to the feet.

The pain caused by this nerve being compressed may vary according to the extent of compression. Sciatic pain may be characterized by shooting and burning pains along the back, buttocks, and legs of a person. A person experiencing sciatic pain may also feel pins-and-needles, weakness, tingling, and numbness in that specific area.

The most common causes of this type of pain is a herniated disc in the spine that leads to the compression or irritation of the sciatic nerves. Other common causes of this kind of pain include muscle spasm in the buttocks which causes nerve compression, pregnancy, and other spinal disc injuries.

If a person is experiencing this type of nerve pain, an excellent Osteopath can assist by working to treat the associated pain and also the cause of sciatica. What an experienced Osteopath will do before treating a patient with sciatic nerve pain is to first identify if the pain the patient is feeling is true nerve pains. Next step that a good Osteopath will do is to assess as to what the cause of this nerve pain as it will help in the formulation of the tailored treatment that will be used for the patient. For the next step, a good Osteopath will examine your pelvis and spinal area to identify and action the most appropriate treatment technique. Fortunately, once your muscle spasms have been relieved, the sciatic nerve pains are usually relieved as well.

Sciatic nerve pain can also be a warning symptom of a disc injury. Here the patient may have to also consult with a general physician. Nonetheless, an experienced and knowledgeable Osteopath may still assist the patient by applying minimal treatments for the pain management and by advising the patient about exercises to strengthen the spine.

Suffering sciatic nerve pain is painful. You should not delay seeking treatment from an osteopath or other manual practitioner, as generally the longer you leave a pain, the longer and more expensive it is to treat in the future.