Sciatica
This is not a disease or condition of itself – Sciatica describes the symptoms (what YOU feel!) that a patient can experience if something affects the Sciatic Nerve in some way.
The sciatic nerve is the largest single nerve in the body, and enables movement and sensation throughout the buttock, thigh and leg. It arises from a number of ROOTS in the lower back (the LUMBAR spine).
What you experience will depend on what’s actually happened to the nerve, or one of its roots.
Symptoms
These can be numbness, tingling, pain, burning sensations or weakness in some movements. Often the pain is described as “deep,” or “sharp” and can be intermittent or continuous. It’s often worse at night and can disturb sleep. If it’s severe and caused by underlying injury, there can also be a degree of muscular spasm.
Can Osteopathy or Manipulative Therapy help?
It depends on the cause, but we treat many patients suffering from Sciatica – here’s a table showing some of the causes, and what we might do about it, although treatment is often similar and can be applied to different cases.
| Cause | Treatment |
| Ruptured or herniated disc pressing on a nerve root | Soft tissue work (various types of massage, or Muscle Energy Techniques) to relax affected muscles and encourage normal movement.
Mobilisation to open the space where the root emerges and help to remove the pressure. Ultrasound to reduce inflammation and encourage healing. |
| Injury to a facet joint, causing inflammation in the region of the nerve root | Soft tissue work (various types of massage, or Muscle Energy Techniques) to relax affected muscles and encourage normal movement.
Mobilisation to open the space where the root emerges and encourage fluid drainage. Ultrasound to reduce inflammation and encourage healing. |
| Bony overgrowth through the development of arthritis – this can irritate nerve roots or trap them. | As above, with variation in kinds of mobilization depending on which positions and movement relieve the pain best |
| Piriformis spasm – this is spasm in an important muscle in the buttock which runs over the sciatic nerve and can exert pressure on it. | Mostly soft tissue work and Muscle energy work to restore normal tone to the muscle.
Gentle stretching. Occasionally, acupuncture. |
| Shingles – this is a virus which affects the nerve roots – if these are in the lumbar spine, sciatic symptoms can arise | We wouldn’t normally treat this until the virus is receding, when soft tissue treatment to reduce spasm in the muscles can be helpful in restoring normal function. |
| In all cases, patients are encouraged to keep moving and to undertake a series of home-exercises (not necessarily straight away) to help them recover. | |
There’s a useful video clip on the causes of Sciatica on an American Spine-Health site at this address http://www.spine-health.com/video/sciatica-interactive-video
If you’d like to discuss sciatica and potential treatment with us, just give us a call.
