Knowing the Many Causes of Sciatic Nerve Pain

The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the body. When it gets inflamed or flared Sciatica occurs. Most of the time, patients describe it as sharp pain with a bit of tenderness that runs through the lower back, the thighs, behind the knees and legs. In some cases, patients also feel sciatic nerve pain on the top of their feet. When the nerve roots leave the cord, they go out through the holes of the sacrum to form the sciatic nerve where they then pass through the muscles of the buttocks and the thighs.



One of the main causes of sciatic nerve pain is when a spinal disc gets herniated and gets compressed against one of the nerve roots before joining the sciatic nerve. Oftentimes, the pain is so severe that it sends up a reaction of a reflexed pain that involves the whole length of the nerve. To illustrate, pain felt on the knee can be felt in the buttocks and the hips.



One more cause of sciatic nerve pain is called the Piriformis Syndrome. This is when the piriformis muscle expands from the sacrum's side to the top most portion of the thigh bone located at the hip joint while it passes over the route of the sciatic nerve.



Perhaps the most severe sciatic nerve pain to be ever held is that which is caused by a ruptured intervertebral disc. It is one that extends and bulges to the spinal canal and presses the nerve roots which then become irritated. There are no known direct reason why the disc ruptures although sometimes it follows after some heavy lifting and bending. You know that you have a ruptured disc when you feel back pains coupled with muscle spasms. Sciatic nerve pain can easily be detected by a physical exam. To know whether or not surgery is necessary, a CT scan or an MRI is required to also confirm the diagnosis.



The one and most effective treatment for sciatic nerve pain is rest in order for the inflammation of the sciatic nerve to lessen. To relieve a patient of the pain, numerous medications are involved which include analgesics as well as muscle relaxants. Anesthetic agents can also be injected around the spinal cord. A more conservative treatment would also be physical therapy. Today, there are new surgical techniques that are used such as microsurgery and percutaneous removing of some disc fragments.





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