If you have symptoms of sciatica, see your doctor. You can try to prevent sciatica by exercising, maintaining good posture and lifting safely.
For roughly 3 out of 4 people4, sciatica symptoms, show improvement over the course of a few weeks. However, if your symptoms are persistent and last longer —or if they get progressively worse over time—it's probably time to see a doctor to explore your treatment options.
Physiotherapy treatment has been shown to help with pain from sciatica by reducing inflammation and relieving muscle tension. The aim is to relieve the symptoms of sciatica so that you can get back to the activities you enjoy without pain.
Since sciatica is a nerve disorder, involving a neurologist in the diagnosis and treatment of the condition is beneficial. When conservative methods fail to relieve pain symptoms, a patient may be referred to a neurosurgeon or orthopedic surgeon.
For example, if your sciatica is mild and you are looking for ways to relieve the pain and improve range of motion, you should see a physiotherapist. If you have a moderate case of sciatica and want to speed up your recovery, you might want to see a physiotherapist first and then see a chiropractor.
Normally sciatica improves within a 4-6 week timeframe, however it can sometimes be a lot longer than this.
However, a possible complication of sciatica is chronic (long-term) pain. If there's serious damage to an affected nerve, chronic muscle weakness, such as a “drop foot,” might happen. That's when nerve damage causes numbness in your foot, which makes normal walking difficult or even impossible.
The most common cause is a herniated disk in the lower spine. Another risk factor is spinal stenosis, a condition that causes the spinal column to narrow. Doctors do not know why some cases of sciatica become chronic. Many acute and chronic cases happen because of a herniated disk.
To treat sciatic pain, your doctor may prescribe pain relief medication as a first-order treatment. After the pain subsides, they can explore restorative options with you. They may also prescribe pain relief medication for lingering soreness after physical therapy sessions or other sciatic nerve treatments.
Alternating heat and ice therapy can provide immediate relief of sciatic nerve pain. Ice can help reduce inflammation, while heat encourages blood flow to the painful area (which speeds healing). Heat and ice may also help ease painful muscle spasms that often accompany sciatica.
I get this question a lot in practice and amongst family members “can physio make sciatica worse”, and the short answer is “no, a physio cannot make sciatica worse”.
One of the big red flags for diagnosing sciatica is that the pain is usually limited to only one side of the body. Other red flags that indicate sciatica include pain when standing or sitting, numbness in the legs and weakness or numbness when moving a leg or foot.
Sciatica becomes chronic if it lasts longer than 6 weeks and does not improve. Doctors usually recommend waiting for the issue to resolve without medical treatment unless the pain is excruciating or lasts for more than 12 months.
It affects your legs
One of the reasons sciatica gets so much attention is because the sciatic nerve's roots feed into the legs, and we use our legs a lot. Patients may perceive sciatica as being more painful than a compressed root in a less active part of your body, such as in the torso.
Even though it probably hurts to some degree, walking is actually good for sciatica. Dr. Shah points out that walking promotes blood flow throughout the body, and can even make the nerves more resilient.
Chiropractors often use a combination of chiropractic adjustments and medical massage to effectively heal most sciatica patients without the use of drugs or surgery.
Massage therapy is a proven way to relieve sciatica pain. A 2014 study even found that deep massage can even be as effective as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in reducing low back pain, one of the symptoms of sciatica.
When you're in pain, it can seem tempting to rest more and to avoid moving the affected areas. However, with sciatica, pain will eventually increase with prolonged inactivity and decreased motion and so it is important to stay active as much as possible.
Sciatica healing can be conceptualized as having three phases. The focus in the first phase is getting rid of the symptoms of pain, numbness, tingling, and other paresthesia. Pain may lessen while the abnormal sensations are still being experienced.
Sciatica can be a persistent injury. Once it is established it usually requires treatment to alleviate the pain and then prevent it from returning. We typically see improvements in sciatica within 1-2 sessions, and the average number of sessions needed is 5-6.
Acupuncture works by relaxing tight muscles, improving blood circulation, regulating the nervous system, and releasing neurotransmitters to reduce pain. Acupuncture has been shown to be an effective treatment for sciatica without the side effects of prescription pain medications like NSAIDs and muscle relaxers.