The word Sciatica is a liitle opaque, isn’t it? What does it mean?
The condition named “Sciatica” derives from the “Sciatic Nerve”. This is a major nerve in your leg, and supplies sensation, nerves and power to your muscles, mainly below the knee.
The nerve starts in your low back, passing from your spinal cord to your leg. It runs through the lower buttock, the back of the leg, and eventually into the calf and foot.
If it is irritated, or injured, at any point along it’s course, you feel pain along the course of the nerve below that point. This is classic “Sciatica”, pain in the buttock and back of the leg.
If you look at the above graphic, you can see that the nerve to your leg (“Sciatic Nerve” in red) has to squeeze through a small hole to get out of your spine and down into the leg. The blue shock absorber between the bones of your back (vertebrae) can get swollen (“slipped disc”). The nerve is signalling pain from your leg to your brain. If the nerve is irritated along it’s course, the brain thinks the trouble is where the nerve comes from - down the back of your leg. So the Sciatic Nerve is injured in your back, but you feel it down your leg. This is called “referred pain”, and explains why you get pain, pins and needles or weakness down your leg. These symptoms may be vague, come or go, or be quite severe.
Like back pain, treating Sciatica first requires us to know what is injured.
Osteopaths are famous for treating low back pain and sciatica. We bring a “holistic” view to it (looking at the whole of you and your life)
Working on this right now!
The word Sciatica is a liitle opaque, isn’t it? What does it mean?
The condition named “Sciatica” derives from the “Sciatic Nerve”. This is a major nerve in your leg, and supplies sensation nerves and power to your muscles, mainly below the knee.
The nerve starts in your low back, passing from your spinal cord to your leg. It runs through the lower buttock, the back of the leg, and eventually into the calf and foot.
If it is irritated, or injured, at any point along it’s course, you feel pain along the course of the nerve below that point. This is classic “Sciatica”, pain in the buttock and back of the leg.
If you look at the above graphic, you can see that the nerve to your leg (“Sciatic Nerve” in red) has to squeeze through a small hole to get out of your spine and down into the leg. The blue shock absorber between the bones of your back (vertebrae) can get swollen (“slipped disc”). The nerve is signalling pain from your leg to your brain. If the nerve is irritated along it’s course, the brain thinks the trouble is where the nerve comes from - down the back of your leg. So the Sciatic Nerve is injured in your back, but you feel it down your leg. This is called “referred pain”, and explains why you get pain, pins and needles or weakness down your leg. These symptoms may be vague, come or go, or be quite severe.
Like back pain, treating Sciatica first requires us to know what is injured.
Osteopaths are famous for treating low back pain and sciatica. We bring a “holistic” view to it (looking at the whole of you and your life)
Working on this right now!
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