Do you experience a mysterious leg pain? Are the pain pinches on your lower-back and travel all the way down to one or both legs? The leg agony alone with numbness, weakness, and tingling is also known as lumbar radiculopathy or Sciatica.
How to fix Sciatica can be a real pain in the butt. The pain is so discomforting that sitting down on the affected side or arching forward can send chilling pain all the way to your nerves. The Sciatic nerve is, in fact, the longest and thickest rope-like nerve in the body and helps activate several leg muscles.
This nerve descends through the middle of your hip external rotators, like the piriformis muscle in your buttocks. Most of the time this muscle gets overused and herniated disks too are top culprits, so when your hip rotators tighten up or a disk develops a crack in the spinal canal, the nerve is compressed, resulting in Sciatic pain.
When this happens, for most people it gets better after about 6 weeks, although that’s weeks of pure agony. Others have it worse enduring longer pain for months. So the question is, how to fix Sciatica? When it comes to treatments, there are number of effective options. Some easy and readily accessible and some serious medical interventions.
Exercise and Physical Therapy
In a published study, the Annals of Internal Medicine revealed that physical therapy works just as well as surgery in certain types of lower back pain. Complications are also rare if any. Dr. Jeffrey N. Katz, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, therefore, recommends trying a “well-designed physical therapy program” first before going the hard way.
“Moving is the opposite to what we all do every time Sciatic pain strikes – we all lie down”
How to fix Sciatica faster depends on how well you can tolerate movement. But exercise is important to flex those muscles and increase blood flow to the nerves. A study completed by the Journal of Physical Therapy Science also claims that this helps remove the chemicals that cause the inflammation.
Being physically active even with Sciatic pain can be a challenge but there are simple exercises and easy stretches that can help to loosen hamstrings, flexors and deep glutes (stronger butt muscle).
Home Pain Remedies: Ice, Heat and Pain Relievers
What is better, Ice it or Heat it? How to fix Sciatica whether by heat or cold doesn’t really matter significantly. Actually, both can’t ease the inflammation since the sciatic nerve is way too deep within the buttock and leg. Both, however, can ease the pain. As counterirritants, they distract the nervous system temporarily by giving your body other sensations other than the pain in that area.
You can also try NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) to ease the debilitating pain like ibuprofen or naproxen, but make sure you always seek the advice of your doctor.
Personalized Massage Therapy
Long-term sciatica sufferers strongly advocate massage therapy for Sciatica, because they after get a relief from after the massage. A comprehensive research study conducted by the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), has shown that massage therapy can effectively decrease pain, disability, and depression associated with lower back pain.
It’s also non-invasive, less risky and more tolerable compared to surgery. However, a simple type of self-massage is not enough to soothe the pain. According to Jeff Smoot, vice president of the American Massage Therapy Association, you need to be in the safe hands of a professional who can perform a massage with trigger-point therapy.
How about trying something new to ease the pain? Fix Sciatica safely. Book an appointment online with experienced Massage Sense therapists and start living that pain-free life now. For personalized massage therapy, select a “Sports Massage” to make sure the treatment is tailored to your specific complains.
