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SCIATICA

by Jo Day | Mar 8, 2018 | Pain

 

Sciatica

Written by Hayley Robinson Senior Associate Osteopath at Herts Osteopathy, St. Albans.



What is it?

Sciatica is the term used to identify pain in a specific region of the body. The sciatic nerve is a large nerve that exits the base of the spine and supplies the sensation and function of the back of the leg starting from the buttock/thigh/calf and ending at the bottom of the foot. The symptoms can present as pain, weakness, altered sensation or a combination of all three in any of the above areas. It is often described as sharp, shooting, electric shock, deep, unremitting and wave like pain that cannot be reproduced in the area it is felt (most commonly the leg). 

What can it be caused by?

• Disc bulge/prolapse The most common cause of sciatica is from a disc bulge or prolapse causing compression of the nerve as it exits the spine. 
• Spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal) 
• Compression secondary to lumbar spine joint facet irritation and associated local muscle spasm
• Piriformis syndrome- caused by a muscles that sits deep within the buttock spasming which in some cases can cause irritation of the nearby sciatic nerve.

What do we do?

Often when we see patients with sciatica they are in a great deal of pain. Depending on the cause of the nerve irritation is how we determine how to approach and treat the symptoms.
My personal port of call is to calm the area down and provide some relief for the patient. Particularly in acute (early) situations. This will include reducing muscle spasm, gently stretching and articulating the surrounding structures and giving reassurance and home exercise advice that the patient can take away with them.

Areas I look at: I asses the pelvis to ensure it’s aligned, assess the function of the spine as a whole rather then just the symptomatic area. The surrounding soft tissues and what they doing to the symptomatic area. The lower limb (feet/knee/hip positioning) and how they are affecting the function leading up to the spine. Not only this but I also take into consideration predisposing factors such as your job, how you drive, your hobbies, your shoes, your desk set up and even how you carry your bag!

Spinal and pelvic assessment
Osteopathy

 

Too much I hear you ask?
Not at all!! All of this enables me to see you/your life in a bigger picture which will then allow me to tailor a management plan that suits you best. So not only do I take into consideration your physical presentation I consider factor around had in your life that will enable the best approach to managing your symptoms.

Osteopathy



Evidence?


The NICE guidelines ( the National Institute for Care and Guidance) recommends the following under recommendations for non invasive treatment and management of sciatica (1.2.7)

“Consider manual therapy (spinal manipulation, mobilisation or soft tissue techniques such as massage) for managing low back pain with or without sciatica, but only as part of a treatment package including exercise, with or without psychological therapy”
(Nice guidelines taken from www.nice.org.uk )


All of which an Osteopath can offer! 

 

Here is another article illustrating how Osteopathy can treat Sciatica can be found below:
Osteopathy and Sciatica in the news

Feel free to contact us:

admin@hertsosteopathy.co.uk

Tel 01727 400425

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Herts Osteopathy

4 days ago

Herts Osteopathy
Sadly we are seeing more and more Postnatal PGP in this last year. Sadly think it may be the co*id effect on birth outcomes. #postnatalpgpBut you don't need to live with it. 🙏🏻Postnatal PGP is any pain in & around the hips, pelvis, sacrum, coccyx #tailbone glute muscles & deep abdomen which occurs after birth & up to around 1-2 years+ postnatal. More common for those who had PGP during pregnancy and didn't manage to get it treated, but it absolutely can get fixed. It is a multifaceted issue, and so we will address it from a whole body perspective, and by understanding your pregnancy and particularly your labour and initial postnatal period we will be able to get a deeper understanding of your individual causes. Some examples... 💜 Scar tissue, in the perineum from tears or episiotomy or birth trauma can affect tension and imbalance in the pelvic floor muscles which can cause PGP, as well as hypersensitivity of pain fibres in the pelvis. 💜 Combined emotional and physical birth trauma of birth can be held in the pelvis. Our pelvic floor muscles are the most highly reactive muscles to stress and emotion and so can get hyped up, super tight and overactive, causing PGP. 💜 Scar tissue from a cesarean section #csection and altered abdominal muscles loading and acting on the pelvis can cause PGP, and can influence how the fascia of the lower back #thoracolumbarfascia acts on the pelvis and all of the other muscles in the vicinity. 💜 Coccyx pain is super common postnatally (have a look at our postnatal coccyx pain blog for LOADS of extra info on this) and this can also feed into generalised PGP. #coccydynia There are MANY more causes. We will help you find yours, as it is so completely individual. This is how we get you out of pain, by finding YOUR CAUSE. Feel free to message us, or book in for your postnatal MUMMA check Osteopathy appointment. We can help you. We also have a PGP helpsheet on our website with LOADS of awesome pointers to help you day to day too. 💜💜#postnatal #pgpistreatable #fourthtrimester #pelvicfloor #stalbans ... See MoreSee Less

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Herts Osteopathy

4 days ago

Herts Osteopathy
Yesssss Women's Health Osteopathy is AMAZEBALLS.We can help you with... 💜 Pregnancy- birth prep, PGP, optimal foetal positioning 💜 Postnatal-abdominal and pelvic floor rehab, episiotomy, tears and scar tissue release, internal vag*nal and pelvic floor assessment and treatment, diastasis recti, leaking, pain, return to exercise etc etc... 💜 Perimenopause to Post menopause💜 Pain💜 Leaking💜 Prolapse assessment and fascial release treatment 💜 Endometriosis pain and release work post surgery💜 Fertility and pre conception And more.We're here. 💜💖💜💖💜Gotta bring this fun #starjumps reel back. Love it!! 👏🏻💜Want to know more, then click the link on our FB page, website or email us.#womenshealth #prolapse #pelvicfloor #pgpistreatable #fourthtrimester #stalbansmums #stalbans #newmum #backtoexercise #positivebirth #optimalfoetalpositioning stalbansmums Pelvic Partnership #molinari Molinari Institute of Health ... See MoreSee Less

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Herts Osteopathy is at Herts Osteopathy.

2 weeks ago

Herts Osteopathy
And here it is... Part 2 of our Pelvic Floor Chat. 💜Jo our Women's Health Osteopath answering questions all about Pelvic Floor, prolapse, leaking and return to exercise.. Chatting to Grace, founder and awesome pilates teacher, educator and pelvic floor rehab practitioner from @centredmumspilatesIn this second part they discussed return to exercise and high impact, running, and trusting your pelvic floor. #hiitIf you have any questions you want answering then please drop us a DM or email us. We can help. Enjoy 💜💜💜#pelvicfloorlove #returntoexercise #startrunning #couchto5k #getstrong #postnatal #fourthtrimester #rehabyourbody #prolapse #womenshealth #stalbansmums @stalbansmums ... See MoreSee Less

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Herts Osteopathy is at Herts Osteopathy.

3 weeks ago

Herts Osteopathy
#ComeOnEnglandInspiring the next generation. 💜Whatever the outcome, you have done us all proud. Thank you. We will all be watching. 💜👏🏻#football #englandfootball #englandlionesses #thisgirlcan #YouCanDoAnything #womensupportingwomen #womeninsports ... See MoreSee Less

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Herts Osteopathy is at Herts Osteopathy.

3 weeks ago

Herts Osteopathy
Good morning! Welcome to Part 1 of our chat all about Pelvic Floor, Leaking and Prolapse and MORE... With the wonderful Grace from @centredmumspilates who asked Jo to talk and answer questions from her and the amazing ladies on her Pelvic Floor Confidence course group. Grace runs private groups and pilates sessions to help women through return to exercise and understand and love their pelvic floor with really amazing results. This works brilliantly alongside the hands on treatment of Osteopathy. 💜💜💜💜 Enjoy part 1, where we cover so much about scar tissue #episiotomy and effects on prolapse and dysfunction, and even the use of hair bands to help explain why doing kegels can often make things much worse. 🙈🤣Jo is a Women's Health Osteopath and has specialist Women's Health Appointments at Herts Osteopathy. Alongside the Postnatal Mumma Check and Pregnancy Appointments ran by our specialist pre and postnatal Osteopath team here at Herts Osteopathy. 💜💜Follow us for Part 2. Coming very soon!#pelvicfloorlove #womenshealth #prolapse #pelvicfloor #womensupportingwomen #pregnant#postnatal#postnatalcheck ... See MoreSee Less

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Herts Osteopathy is a trading name of Herts Osteopathy Limited (CRN: 11279043) a company incorporated in England and Wales with a registered office address at S10, 16-18 Chequer Street, St. Albans, Herts. AL1 3YD.

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