The Sciatica. Main factors and treatment

Sciatica is a disease that is essentially a variant of radiculitis, in which the inflammatory process spreads to the sciatic nerve.

Sciatica is a problem, caused by various causes. Its main symptom is a pain along the sciatic nerve. It must be understood that this is most often not a simple inflammation of the sciatic nerve itself, but the result of exposure of traumatic factors, that I will describe below.

Sciatica is not an independent pathology, but a problem caused by a complication of other diseases and disorders. Mostly, these pathological deseas affect the spine, but not always. One of the main causes of sciatica is spinal osteochondrosis. But osteochondrosis itself does not damage the sciatic nerve. The process of degeneration of the intervertebral discs can proceed imperceptibly and asymptomatically.

The danger is a complication of osteochondrosis - protrusion and hernia of the intervertebral discs, lumbar spondylosis with a significant growth of the bone tissues of the vertebrae and the formation of osteophytes that can injure the roots of the spinal cord. Displacement of the vertebrae relative to each other is also dangerous - spondylolisthesis, in which the roots that form the sciatic nerve are clamped in a narrowed intervertebral foramen and become inflamed.

Not only osteochondrosis can cause sciatica. The fact is that the lumbar spine experiences the greatest load during movements, bending, walking, running and physical exercises, in static poses. This spine part is the most vulnerable and suffers most often. Compared to the thoracic part, the lumbar part is not reinforced with ribs. Due to this, it is more mobile, but also more prone to various injuries. Along with the above causes, sciatica can also cause other diseases - spinal injuries, scoliosis, hyperlordosis, congenital developmental anomalies, tuberculosis, and various tumors.

Sciatica can be triggered not only by diseases of the spine. The sciatic nerve can be secondarily involved in the inflammatory process in inflammatory and voluminous diseases in the small pelvis - inflammation of the uterus, appendages, rectum, intestinal mesentery, bladder, urethra, prostate gland. Additional negative factors leading to the occurrence of sciatica can be metabolic diseases, which, affecting all organs and systems of the body, lead to negative processes in the sciatic nerve itself. Such diseases can be obesity, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, malabsorption of various substances in the digestive tract.

However, it should be noted that sciatica, as a rule, develops with a combination of several unfavorable factors at the same time: compression of the roots of the spinal cord in combination with hypothermia, decreased immunity and general reactivity, or metabolic disorders.

The main symptom of sciatica is a pulling, aching pain along the sciatic nerve, that is, along the posterior outer surface of the buttock, thigh, and lower leg.

It is almost impossible to confuse sciatica with any other disease. Most often, the pain begins in the lumbar part, then goes to the buttock and then to the back of the thigh and along the sciatic nerve to the posterior-outer surface of the lower leg and foot. The pain is paroxysmal in nature, and can be aching, pulling, burning, stabbing, twitching, shooting.

Factors provoking the the sciatica:

• general hypothermia or only the lower extremities;

• too strong physical exersices;

• sharp shocks, shaking;

• back injury, falling on the back, jumping from a height;

• general weakening of the body, past infectious diseases;

• psycho-emotional stress;

• intestinal constipation.

Illness in the zone of innervation of the sciatic nerve can be combined with sensory disturbances - numbness, a feeling of "crawling", burning, tingling, a feeling of tightness in the limb. These disorders may be accompanied by limited mobility in the legs.

Typical for sciatica are symptoms of tension. this means that the pain in the sciatic nerve increases when the head is bent forward or when the leg is raised straight on the affected side.

If sciatica is not treated, or treated incorrectly, lameness can develop in the later stages of the disease. In some cases, muscle atrophy may occur. Such formidable symptoms as dysfunction of the pelvic organs, urinary and fecal incontinence may indicate the depth of the lesion and the development of the cauda equina syndrome.

I should say that sciatica, as a rule, affects the sciatic nerve only on one side. In rare cases of bilateral lesions, the pain manifestations of the disease increase significantly.

Here are the main treatments of sciatica:

• Anti-pain therapy;

• Manipulations to reduce pressure on the spinal roots and sciatic nerve;

• Anti-inflammatory therapy;

• Mobilization of the joints of the spine and limbs;

• Strengthening the muscular corset;

• Measures to prevent osteochondrosis of the spine.

The following physio therapy abd recreation methods are used:

• Manual therapy;

• Osteopathic treatment;

• Physiotherapy procedures;

• Massotherapy;

• Medicamentation;

• Spinal traction;

• Acupuncture (acupuncture);

• Hirudotherapy;

• Therapeutic exercise (LFK).

Manual therapy and recreation are in the first place, because these methods of treatment allow you to eliminate functional blocks in the spine in a short time. Thus, we succeed to eliminate pain, reduce pressure on the roots, and reduce tissue edema.

Special therapeutic massage is an indispensable method of treating sciatica. With the help of therapeutic massage, relaxation of spasmodic muscles, anti-edematous, anti-inflammatory, analgesic effect is achieved. It is necessary to massage the entire back, focusing on the problem area of ​​the spine, as well as massage the affected limb.

Massage course for sciatica takes usually 10-20 procedures for 30-40 minutes (back and leg) daily.