Sciatica

Sciatica pain can come on suddenly or gradually, and if left untreated, it can cause serious, debilitating pain and decreased mobility. At Ascension Spine, Pain, and Sports Medicine, in East Brunswick, New Jersey, Mahmud Ibrahim, MD, and the team take a natural, whole-person approach to relieving sciatica symptoms and addressing the underlying causes of sciatica so you get long-term relief. To learn more, call the office or request an appointment online today.

What is sciatica?

Sciatica is a set of symptoms that originates in your lower back and often travels down the back of one buttock, into your leg, and may even affect your foot. Your sciatic nerves are the largest nerves in your body, running from your lower spine through your buttocks and down the back of each leg. When these nerves become affected by an underlying spinal condition, you feel pain anywhere along the entire length of the nerve on either side of your body.

Typically, sciatica symptoms affect one side of your back and leg, but not both sides at the same time.

What underlying conditions can cause sciatica symptoms?

Sciatica pain is most frequently the result of lower back problems, such as:

• A lumbar herniated disc
• Bone spurs
• Spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spine)
• Spondylolisthesis (slipped vertebra)
• Degenerative disc disease

What are the symptoms of sciatica?

The team at Ascension Spine, Pain, and Sports Medicine often sees men and women with sciatica nerve pain and symptoms that include:

• Burning, tingling, or sharp, shooting leg pain
• Continual pain down one side of your buttock and leg
• Lower back pain
• Difficulty sitting comfortably
• Difficulty walking
• Weakness or numbness in your leg, foot, or toes
• Constant dull ache down one side of your leg
• Radiating pain from your lower back through your leg and into your foot

How is sciatica treated?

Typically, in the early stages of sciatica pain, many adults attempt to relieve pain with ice, heat, and anti-inflammatory medications or muscle relaxers. Over time, taking medication for sciatica continues to mask the symptoms without addressing the underlying medical condition.

Ascension Spine, Pain, and Sports Medicine takes a more comprehensive approach to treating the specific underlying causes of your sciatica pain so you won’t have to depend on medications to get long-term pain relief.

Some of their treatment methods may include:

• Spinal manipulation
• Physical therapy
• Massage therapy
• Osteopathic manipulative medicine
• Regenerative medicine therapies
• Nerve treatments
• Nonsurgical treatments
• Rehabilitation therapies

If you suffer from frequent sciatica pain and want long-lasting relief without dependency on pain medications, call the Ascension Spine, Pain, and Sports Medicine office or request an appointment online today.