A significant percentage of adults experience pain from sciatica at a point in their lifetime. This incapacitating condition affects about ten percent of people with back pain and is often caused by more severe conditions like spinal stenosis. But you don't have to worry as there are effective treatment options for sciatica. Jocelyn Idema, DO, of Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center, offers effective surgical and nonsurgical treatments to treat your sciatica in Washington, PA , and restore mobility. To inquire more about sciatica treatment, call or schedule an appointment online today.
What Is Sciatica?
The condition involves low back pain that originates from pressure on the sciatic nerve. The sciatica nerve is a massive vein from your lower spine down into your hips and down to each leg, providing sensations to these parts. Several conditions can exert pressure on your sciatic nerve leading to inflammation and chronic pain known as sciatica.
What Are the Causes of Sciatica?
Sciatica results when pressure is exerted on your sciatica nerve. A bone spur or herniated disc is the common cause of sciatic nerve compression. Other possible causes of sciatica include:
Other health conditions such as diabetes can also cause sciatica. Other risk factors include:
Older people are more likely to develop herniated discs and bone spurs.
What Are the Common Symptoms of Sciatica?
The major sciatica symptom is radiating pain that affects your lower back. You might also experience a trembling pain that emits down into your hips and legs. Abrupt movements such as a sneeze or cough trigger sciatica pain. As the pain travels to your hips, legs, and feet, you might feel muscle numbness and tingling sensations. If the pain is chronic and is not getting better with home therapies and over-the-counter medications, you should seek a diagnostic assessment or consult with a health professional.
What Are the Sciatica Treatment Options Available?
When you go for sciatica treatment at Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center, the experienced providers provide both surgical and nonsurgical treatments depending on the severity of your condition. Mild sciatica cases can be addressed through non-invasive physical therapy, acupuncture, and epidural injections.
Epidural injections administer steroid medications directly into the area around your sciatica nerve, which helps ease persistent inflammation and pressure off your nerve to treat your lower back pain. If these treatments are ineffective, the doctor can recommend minimally invasive procedures, including laminectomy and microdiscectomy. The provider can also recommend regenerative medicine, which uses stem cells or platelet-rich plasma to help your sciatic nerve heal. The substances stimulate new cells that replace the older cells, decreasing inflammation and nerve compression that causes sciatica.
In conclusion, sciatica is a condition that can cause pain in your life. Do not let sciatica prevent you from enjoying your life. Call or schedule an appointment online with Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center for effective treatment today if you are not physically active due to sciatica.