Sciatica typically means pain or altered sensation in the low back that refers into the leg, knee and foot, naturally each person’s symptoms may differ a bit. There are different reasons behind sciatica:

*Irritation of the Sciatic Nerve (one of the thickest nerves in the body) by compression of surrounding muscles

*Compression of the nerves that supply the leg and lumbar region as they exit the spinal cord by disk bulges, bony growths or degenerated ligaments

*Damage of tissues like muscle, ligament, bones or tendons in the low back which can then refer pain down into the leg

*Additional causes include issues with abdominal and pelvic organs and veins but in comparison to the other causes these are very rare

Because sciatica is virtually always accompanied by lower back agony there are similar risk factors for both Lumbar Region Pain and Sciatica:

An inactive way of living is a big predisposing factor for several reasons, when someone is sitting for extended periods they’ll be supporting the weight of their trunk, shoulder and head mostly on the lumbar region and pelvis. This leads to a position where a relatively little amount of tendons, muscles and ligaments are supporting a significant component of your body weight. As the body favors loads to be spread around so loads are shared, lengthened sitting can lead to over load of areas of tendon, muscles and ligaments which invariably means they get injured and aren’t as good at supporting you later on.

Smoking is a predisposing factor because of the damaging effect on veins. This increases inflammation in the body and over time can decrease the amount of blood delivered to a damaged area by decreasing the flow through damaged vessels.

Folks working in jobs that call for frequent lifting who haven’t been taught (or don’t use) correct technique are also at larger risk.

Treatments include Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Physiotherapy, Acupuncture & Massage.

Analgesics can be somewhat helpful at relieving pain in a few cases.

Joshua Moffat is an Osteopath working in an expert Sciatica centre in Bedford. He spends almost all of his working day precicely diagnosing the reason for a person’s sciatica and then helping them to absolutely get over the problem.