Symptoms of Sciatica

Sciatica is the severe pain, symptoms of which include pain in lower part of the body including lower back, buttocks and legs. It actually arises when any of the spinal nerve roots forming sciatic nerve is compressed or disturbed. Pain in lower part of body is usually a normal symptom of the problem. When the problem gets severe however, muscular weakness, dismal state of mind, tingles sensations and problems in movement of voluntary organs in the lower part of the body.

Diagnosis on the other hand focuses on the symptoms related to patient history, physical examination or neurological testing. The most applicable test considered to be giving accurate results is straight leg rising test. Abnormal reflexes depicted by weak knee-jerk response can also be used as the evaluating tool.

There are certain instances when sciatica gets worse. These include the moments normally after standing or sitting, at night, while sneezing, or coughing or laughing or bending body in wrong postures. It may also get worse while exercise excessive walk or metabolic activity especially if it causes spinal stenosis.

Weather is also a factor which stimulates the pain. In typical situations pain is felt only at one side of the body. Prolonged exposure to a cold weather can worsen the condition. During such situations of emergency when pain overwhelms the body, there are some traditional effective ways to reduce the pain for the instance. First of these methods includes, applying heat or ice on the aching body part. Other one is to take the pain killer medicines mostly having Tylenol in them. Now-a-days there is another proposed solution which is the injection of cortisone medicine into the space around the spinal cord to minimize the inflammation and swelling of the disc herniation to the extent possible, thus reducing the irritation of damaged nerves.

But the better option still is to go for prevention, which is better than cure. Some of the ways to take care of it is to lie in the curled up, fetal position with a pillow between legs while sleeping. In order to relieve pressure moreover, one should place some soft stuff under knees, if he is habitual of sleeping on his back.

In normal circumstances, it can be handled by some traditional methods but if the situation gets worse, unattended by a doctor it can result into sever complications symptoms of which includes loss of leg movement and any sensation in the lower body part.

Patients suffering from sciatica are mostly suggested a bed rest but research has not shown any significant difference between those who take bed rest and those who stay active. Physical therapy on the other hand also has not shown much significant improvement in the condition of patients as compared to bed rest. Elective surgery however has evolved as an effective treatment considering the cause of the pain. It focuses on removal of the underlying cause of the pain. It operates by eventually removing disk herniation. This treatment is found to be with better results for initial years but with no significant improvement after following eight to ten years.