What is sciatica?\u00a0 Many people experience it at some point in their life.\u00a0 Sciatica is characterized by stabbing pain radiating over the course of the sciatic nerve.\u00a0 It can feel like achiness running down the outside of the leg, a pinch in the hip area that shoots up into the back, numbness in the hip and leg, inability to balance. \u00a0We all know it doesn’t feel good.<\/p>\n
Back pain is unfortunately a pain that we all experience at some point. \u00a0And it often lasts longer than expected because of the large number of functions the low back and pelvis muscles perform.\u00a0 It can be hard to find the “one” muscle that causes the dysfunction. Only looking at a textbook definition of sciatica will start the process of eliminating back pain but may or may not take away the pain.<\/p>\n
One can experience sciatica if any of the spinal nerve roots in the low back are compressed.\u00a0 The nerves of the lumbar plexus (low back) can become compressed by a herniated disc, before they reach the sacral plexus, or through trauma such as a blow to the buttock where the nerve travels to innervate the hamstring.\u00a0 Nerve root compression is the case with “true sciatica”.\u00a0 Many people experience piriformis syndrome.\u00a0 This occurs when the piriformis, a lateral rotator of the hip- clamps down on the sciatic nerve and causes the pinched nerve sensation.<\/p>\n
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Sciatic Nerve<\/p><\/div>\n
The sciatic nerve is the thickest and longest nerve in the body and supplies the entire lower limb except the middle portion of the front of your thigh. \u00a0It has branches that supply both sensation and muscle functions along the nerve pathways.\u00a0 The nerve originates at lumbar vertebra L4-L5 and the Sacrum S1-S3, courses down the back of the leg, and then divides into two nerves which then innervate the entire calf.\u00a0 The tibial branch (the tibia is the shin bone) innervates the back and medial side of the calf as well as the small muscles of the bottom of the foot.\u00a0 The common fibular branch (outside of the calf) innervates the front and lateral portions of the calf and the muscles that lift the toes and the foot.<\/p>\n
Any injury or impingement of the nerve can cause either loss of motor function or sensation all along the lower limb.\u00a0 The flexors of the lower limb originate from the first four lumbar vertebrae L1-4 while the extensors originate from the last lumbar vertebra L5 and the sacrum S1-4.<\/p>\n
Injury to the first part of the sciatic nerve can result in lower limb impairments. \u00a0\u00a0The leg is rendered almost useless if the nerve is transected.\u00a0 The hamstrings are paralyzed and all foot and ankle movement is lost.\u00a0 If the nerve -tibial branch-is damaged at the knee then one will experience footdrop.\u00a0 The calf muscles become paralyzed and cannot point the foot and a shuffling gait develops.\u00a0 Because of its superficial location at the knee lying too long on your side on a firm mattress can also potentially cause foot drop.<\/p>\n
Regaining balanced muscular strength will help combat sciatica along with some specific massage or manual therapy performed by a professional. \u00a0Lunges, squats, calf exercises, core training, stretching the back, abdomen, hips and legs are all great points to begin the recovery process.\u00a0 Be mindful of the pain however and don’t force yourself into greater pain and dysfunction.\u00a0 Keep in mind if your daily activities are not varied one can experience strength discrepancy between flexors and extensors of the lower limb.\u00a0 A well-balanced exercise regime will keep your muscles healthy and allow your joints to move freely.<\/p>\n
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What is sciatica?\u00a0 Many people experience it at some point in their life.\u00a0 Sciatica is characterized by stabbing pain radiating over the course of the sciatic nerve.\u00a0 It can feel like achiness running down the outside of the leg, a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[38,40,39],"class_list":["post-195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-healthandfitness","tag-low-back-pain","tag-nerve-pain","tag-sciatica-pain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230,"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions\/230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kivatherapeutics.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}