Sciatic pain is common, with up to 40% of people in the UK experiencing it at some point in time. The symptoms of sciatica can vary from person to person depending on the cause. Sciatica literally means ‘leg pain’ and refers to pain which radiates from your lower back and down your leg along your sciatic nerve. A misconception is that sciatica is a disorder—however, sciatica is really a symptom of a disorder – letting you know that there is an injury somewhere in your back.
Are you experiencing:
Dull, achy, sharp or toothache-like pain down the leg?
Electric shock-like shooting leg pains?
Burning sensations down the leg?
Numbness and tingling sensations down the leg?
There are many possible causes of sciatic pain, which is why a detailed comprehensive exam is required before we can treat you. It’s important that we rule out any physical trauma or underlaying pathology, it is very unlikely but if you are to fall into one of those two categories, we would need to refer you. However, the majority of sciatica is caused by structural imbalances and mechanical issues of the spine; something we specialise in and can help with.
Posture is a key indication of your structural health. If your posture is deviated from normal, then your spine is also deviated from the normal healthy position. This places significant pressure on your joints, muscles, bones, discs and nerves.
Common causes of Sciatica
Some of the more common causes of sciatica we see on a regular basis are disc herniations, Piriformis syndrome and Degenerative disc and joint disease. Spinal stenosis and Spondylolisthesis are also possible causes of sciatica, with serious conditions such as cancer, infection and fractures being possible but fortunately very rare.
Disc Herniations
Disc herniations are one of the most common causes of sciatica that we see at New Body Clinic.
The discs act as shock absorbers between the vertebrae of your spine. They consist of an outer annular portion that is tough connective tissue, and a soft, gelatinous interior part.
When the outer annular portion gets torn it allows the soft jelly-like interior to escape and push out into the space where spinal nerves exit your spinal cord. When the herniated segment of disc creates direct mechanical pressure on the nerves it can cause the symptoms described as sciatica.
Piriformis Syndrome
The piriformis muscle is a flat, narrow muscle that runs from the lower part of the spine through the glutes to the top of the thigh. The sciatic nerve passes underneath the piriformis muscle. If this muscle becomes tight, weak or dysfunctional it can lead to compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve which can cause pain or numbness in the buttock and down the back of the leg.
Characteristically there is usually a focus on pain in the buttock itself and a worsening of pain when walking up the stairs or when sitting for long periods. There is often restricted hip movement as well. People often describe the feeling as:
Aching
Burning
Numbness
Pain
Tingling
Shooting
Advanced Biostructural Correction (ABC) Treatment for Sciatica
At New Body Clinic we find that ABC is the best approach for the treatment of Sciatica since it:
it reduces nerve tension
it reduces the stress at the level of the nerve "pinch"/irritation
it helps to heal disc herniations/prolapses quicker
it improves the overall function of the body
Abnormal posture has been associated with the development and progression of many spinal conditions and injuries including Sciatica and disc injury. Improving your posture, i.e. correcting the alignment of the bones in the body, returns the stresses to normal, re-establishes the original alignment which is the only true way to correct and fix the underlaying cause.