Sciatica or sciatic pain refers to pain or irritation to our sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve travels on each side of the lower back through the hip and buttocks region down each leg. Pressure or compression of this nerve can cause pain that can be felt in your lower back or in the leg and cause severe discomfort such as sharp shooting pain or even leg weakness.
At Bellevue Pain and Wellness, in Bellevue, Washington, Robert Bowers MD and Marshall Kim APRN, offers various customized treatment care plans to treat sciatica and other back or leg pain conditions. To explore your options for sciatica treatment, call Bellevue Pain and Wellness or book online today.
Sciatica is pain in the distribution of the sciatic nerve that affects the lower back or legs, sometimes on one side at a time, and other times both sides simultaneously. Sciatica is also known as lumbar radiculopathy or lumbar radiculitis.The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the body and comes from nerve roots from three nerve roots of the lower back and two nerve roots of the sacrum. The nerve travels through the pelvis and down each buttocks and then down the back of each thigh and calves. The sciatic nerve carries sensory and motor signals from and to the hip and legs and the spine. The motor portion helps you stand or walk. The sensory portion helps you feel sensation in your legs. The sciatic nerve splits into two nerve branches, the common peroneal nerve that runs on the outer knee down to the foot and the tibial nerve that runs down the back side of your calf to the heel and sole.
Sciatica is used as a term that refers to anything that affects the sciatic nerves. These may compress or irritate the sciatic nerves.
Causes of sciatica include:
Some risk factors for getting sciatica include:
Sciatica symptoms are often alarming to patients as they may affect your leg which are vital in day to day functions.
These symptoms include:
Sciatica symptoms may improve over time depending on the cause but may also become chronic if the cause is constant.
The team at Bellevue Pain and Wellness will perform a thorough medical history, a physical examination, and previous treatments. They will order and review the results of necessary CT’s or MRI’s or other imaging and tests as necessary. Using this, they will form a diagnosis based on their findings.
With an accurate diagnosis, the team can create a treatment plan that considers the underlying cause, risks and other conditions. After your evaluation, the team plans your treatment using a customized plan utilizing a combination of in-office treatments as well as prescription and nonprescription medications. Most cases of sciatica respond well to these conservative treatments and do not need surgery.
Please call our office if you have concerns or symptoms of sciatica or lumbar radiculopathy. Our office staff is adept and skilled at diagnosis and treatment of sciatica and can also help with surgical referral if necessary. Most causes of sciatica can be treated and symptoms can be alleviated.