Impacting up to 40% of people at some point in life, sciatica is an extremely common nerve condition and cause of lower back pain. It often flares up with movement and general physical activity, which can make day-to-day activities challenging.
Thankfully, it’s often possible to cure sciatica permanently with a combination of non-invasive treatments, like physical therapy and lifestyle adjustments. In this article, we’ll explore these treatments, along with surgical options, to help you get on the path to sciatica relief.
What is Sciatica?
Sciatica is a common condition resulting from inflammation of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve extends from the lower back through the buttocks and down the backs of the legs. When it’s compressed or irritated, it triggers radiating symptoms in the lower extremities.
Symptoms of sciatica include:
- Pain that may feel dull, achy, burning, sharp, tingling, or severe and debilitating
- Weakness in the legs
- Sharp pain in one area of the leg or hip
- Numbness, tingling, or a “pins and needles” sensation along the sciatic nerve
- Worsened symptoms when you stand, sit, walk, sneeze, cough, or laugh
What Is the Quickest Way to Stop Sciatica?
The quickest ways to stop sciatica are to rest, apply ice, take pain medication, and perform gentle stretches.
- Resting for a short period after experiencing sciatica symptoms can provide relief. This is especially helpful if your symptoms flared up after long periods of walking or physical activity. Lie down for a few minutes to alleviate pressure on the spine, but avoid prolonged bed rest, as it can ultimately worsen your symptoms by contributing to muscle stiffness and weakness.
- Cold therapy is an effective home remedy for forms of back pain, including sciatica. The cold causes blood vessels to constrict, reducing blood flow to the area. This brings down inflammation while providing a temporary numbing effect.
- Over-the-counter pain medications, like ibuprofen and acetaminophen, may provide quick relief from sciatica flare-ups, although results vary from person to person. If your symptoms are severe, your physician may recommend prescription-strength options, like muscle relaxants and anticonvulsants. However, it’s important to consider the risk of dependence on medications, and that they don’t address the root cause of sciatica symptoms.
- Gentle stretches can help stop sciatica by relaxing tight muscles and improving spinal alignment to reduce pressure on the sciatic nerve. It’s important to start slowly and not push too deeply into a stretch, as doing so could cause further injuries. Some of the best stretches for sciatica include:
- Cat-Cow: This yoga pose is a great way to gently stretch your back muscles and engage the core muscles.
- Piriformis stretch: To stretch the piriformis muscle, sit on the edge of a chair and place one ankle over the opposite knee, creating a figure 4 shape. Keeping your back straight, gently lean forward until you feel a stretch in your hip and lower back.
- Spinal twist: For this stretch, lie flat on your back with outstretched legs. Bend one leg and draw it toward your chest, then allow it to fall over the other leg, creating a gentle twist in the spine. This stretch improves back flexibility and can help alleviate pain.
- Seated hamstring stretch: Tight hamstring muscles can worsen sciatica pain. To stretch your hamstrings, sit on the floor with one leg extended, with the other foot resting against the middle of the extended leg. Reach toward your foot, keeping your back and leg as straight as possible. Breathe into the stretch.
Can You Permanently Heal Sciatica?
Yes, you can permanently heal sciatica with the proper treatment. Around three out of four people with sciatica experience relief within a few weeks.
Your ability to permanently heal sciatica will depend on a few factors, including:
- Severity: Mild to moderate cases of sciatica are more likely to fully recover than severe cases. If sciatica is left untreated and becomes severe, it can lead to permanent sciatic nerve damage.
- Lifestyle factors: A variety of lifestyle factors, including smoking, activity level, and diet, can affect your ability to permanently recover from sciatica.
- Age: With older age, the body’s ability to repair and regenerate damaged tissue diminishes. So, when older adults develop sciatica, it may take longer to fully heal. In some cases, the issue becomes chronic and may require surgery for complete symptom relief.
What Makes Sciatica Worse?
Various factors can make sciatica worse, including:
- A lack of physical activity
Inactivity can worsen sciatica by contributing to stiff, weak muscles, a reduced range of motion, and poor circulation. Physical activity, on the other hand, strengthens your muscles, promotes mobility, and boosts blood flow throughout the body. Blood flow is crucial to your sciatica recovery, as blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the sciatic nerve, promoting tissue recovery.
- Heavy lifting and high-impact exercise
While it’s important to remain active with sciatica, stick to low-impact exercises, and avoid weightlifting. High-impact exercises, like running and heavy lifting, can place excessive impact on the lumbar spine. These, along with activities that involve deep spinal twists (like golfing and gymnastics), can lead to worsened sciatica symptoms.
Sleeping on your stomach or in a twisted position can strain the sciatic nerve. Try to sleep on your back with a pillow under your knees, or on your side with a pillow between your knees.
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- Sitting for prolonged periods
Sitting for long periods puts significant pressure on the lumbar nerves, including the sciatic nerve. This is because your lumbar spine must support more of your body weight in a seated position. If you have to sit at a desk during the workday, try to stand up and walk around or stretch at least once per hour.
- Wearing unsupportive footwear, like high heels
Your shoe choice can make a significant difference in the severity of your sciatica flares. High heels, for example, cause the hips to shift forward. This position can place added strain on the sciatic nerve and exacerbate your symptoms.
Stress is known to worsen sciatica, especially if you experience chronically elevated stress levels. When you’re stressed-out, the brain may fail to send adequate oxygen to the sciatic nerve. As a result, you may experience pain, weakness, numbness, and tingling in the lower extremities.
What Is the Most Successful Treatment for Sciatica?
The most successful treatment for sciatica is typically physical therapy, gentle exercise, heat/cold therapy, and lifestyle adjustments.
When these conservative methods fail after several months, surgery may be considered to restore the patient’s quality of life. However, surgery isn’t required in the vast majority of sciatica cases. Physical therapy is often sufficient to alleviate pressure on the sciatic nerve by improving muscular support for the spine, increasing mobility, and reducing inflammation.
When surgery is needed for sciatica, the surgeon may suggest discectomy, laminectomy, or foraminotomy. These forms of spinal decompression surgery remove the disc or bone tissue that’s compressing the sciatic nerve. This alleviates sciatica symptoms while allowing the nerve to heal.
Your doctor can evaluate your symptoms and recommend a personalized sciatica treatment plan. If your symptoms don’t resolve within a few weeks of at-home care, see a specialist promptly, as leaving sciatica untreated can increase your risk of eventually requiring surgery.
