Hip and lower back pain can come following an irritation of the sciatic nerve. This pain can spread out downwards and can affect the limbs and the feet. It is something lots of people suffer from, and the pain can alter your daily habit.
It is deep in the butt that the sciatic nerve is located. Due to its proximity to the piriformis muscle, squeezing or swelling of the tissue can cause an irritation of the nerve and strain.
This muscle links the top of the femur to the spine, and it’s the primary muscle that enables external movement of the foot, upper leg, and hip from the body. The sciatic nerve goes underneath the piriformis muscle.
Nevertheless, in multiple cases, the sciatic nerve passes right through the muscle, and this results in sciatica symptoms caused by what is called as piriformis syndrome. This leaves patients with discomfort in the lower back and hip region that won’t disappear, and it can eventually results in lousy movement and balance.
It is determined that 4 out of 10 people will get sciatica or irritation of the sciatic nerve.
The leading cause of sciatica is, as mentioned earlier, constriction in the piriformis muscle, or swelling, both caused by trauma or spasm. Consulting your doctor is strongly recommended, as there may be other more serious causes.
Sciatica treatment requires physical therapy, drugs, and can even lead to surgery. The oral over-the-counter medications offered to people who struggle with sciatica pain include acetaminophen, aspirin, or NSAIDs (ibuprofen, ketoprofen, or naproxen).
Patients can also be given muscle relaxants, antidepressants for chronic lower back pain, and pain medications for more severe pain.
In other words, if the entire treatment is taken into account, the therapy can last for so long as the nerve is inflamed. This suggests that if you fail to do anything extra about your sciatica, you will possibly spend years on medications.
According to a recent research study, physiotherapy for back pain can be just as effective as medical surgery.
Recent researchs have found that physiotherapy is ‘equally as effective’ for decreasing back pain as an surgical operation.
Findings show it is especially useful for helping to fight symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis– the leading root cause of back pain among the age group above 50.
This condition inflicts acute pain, tingling and numbness in the lower back, butt and legs, and in many cases can be so painful people have trouble walking and regulating their bladder and bowel functions.
It happens due to the compression of nerves in the back. This occurs because the spinal canal narrows with age as discs, vertebrae, muscles and ligaments wear away.
Scientists in the US carried out their study into physiotherapy for back pain since the year 2000.
Dr Jeffrey Katz, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said: “The study demonstrates that both surgery and physiotherapy are acceptable choices; the patient who goes down either path ends up in a similar place a year or two later.”
Even though it is conventional to operate on patients over the age of 50 with lumbar spinal stenosis, Dr Katz thinks it will be more effective to try physiotherapy first.
Lumbar spinal stenosis is the leading reason for surgery in the senior age group, so opting for physiotherapy as a treatment will help to reduce complications.
Study researcher, Dr Anthony Delitto– of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh– said: “Surgery is a risky procedure, with about a 15% complication rate, and half of those are life-threatening.
” It isn’t a life-risking procedure to do physiotherapy.”
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