Sciatica

What is sciatica?

Sciatica is the name given to a condition where some of the nerves that control the lower half of your body get compressed.

This can be through disc bulges, swellings and also wear and tear of the bones & discs.

Pain isn’t the only symptom of this problem, other things can be tingling, numbness, burning, shooting & stabbing pains.

There will also be a noticeable weakness in some of the leg muscles and you may find that you have to walk, sit or sleep differently to accommodate the pain.

What are the traditional approaches to treating it?

If you are unlucky enough to have this problem, then going to the doctors will usually follow a process of:

• Trying drugs

• Given a telephone consultation with a physiotherapist

• Being prescribed exercises to try for between 6-12 weeks

• If that doesn’t work, the Physios in the NHS may bring you in for an appointment

• They will either give you new exercises or recommend a scan

• Following the scan, you will either be sent back to your GP or referred to a specialist who may be looking to do surgery.

In our experience this can help some people, however if you have some serious structural problems then even surgery may not be able to correct the issue, leaving you with the option of taking medication to alleviate the symptoms for the rest of your life.

What can you do to try and fix it?

1. Try using an ice pack, rather than a hot bath

Typically, pressure on the nerves is caused by swelling. Going in a hot bath will temporarily get rid of the pain, but it will end up encouraging more swelling, so you’ll end up reaching for a heat pack/hot water bottle. Try using ice.
We recommend using an ice pack every 2 hours, for 20 minutes. Just make sure you wrap a tea towel or something similar around the ice pack first so you don’t get burned.

2. Try very gentle stretches

When you have sciatica, whilst you may not feel like it, very gentle stretches can help loosen joints and muscles that may have stiffness or spasms respectively. The key to stretching is how long you hold it for, 30 seconds is enough time, and also making sure you don’t push yourself too hard. It can actually cause more damage if you adopt the ‘no pain no gain’ attitude.

3. Try using a TENS Machine rather than using drugs

Unfortunately it doesn’t matter how ‘safe’ a drug is, they always have side effects. In our experience, a great at home remedy is using a TENS machine, as this blocks the pain signal going towards the brain. It is important to remember that pain is an indicator of a problem, so whilst you ay feel like you can go and play with your kids, go for a long walk or change the bedsheets, try to avoid anything that would have caused the pain had you not had the TENS machine on. When you do use a TENS machine, less is more. Pop it on a very low setting, just enough for you to feel it and leave it on for at least ten minutes before you try and do anything. It is the gentle signals that block the pain signals, not how much of the ‘electricity’ you can handle.

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Sciatica

Whilst All This May Improve Some Of The Symptoms, It Is Very Rare That It Can Actually Fix The Cause Of The Problem

That’s exactly why we have a dedicated sciatica assessment where we can find the exact cause of the problem and fix it.

All you have to do is fill out the form below and we will contact you to perform a thorough examination, take sEMG scan, do a computerised postural analysis and formulate a plan of action to get rid of your pain ASAP.

Book Your assessment

Pay online and get your Assessment, Scan, Postural Analysis, Bespoke Report & First treatment for just £45