Can You Get Sciatic Nerve Pain In Both Legs

Can You Get Sciatic Nerve Pain In Both Legs

Can You Get Sciatic Nerve Pain In Both Legs

Is The Weight Of Pregnancy The Reason Why So Many Pregnant Women Get Sciatica

The QUICKEST Way to Get Sciatic Leg Pain Relief

Its true that sciatica is common in pregnancy but increased weight is not the main reason why pregnant women get sciatica. A better explanation is that certain hormones of pregnancy cause a loosening of their ligaments. Ligaments hold the vertebrae together, protect the disks and keep the spine stable. Loosened ligaments can cause the spine to become unstable and might cause disks to slip, which leads to nerves being pinched and the development of sciatica. The babys weight and position can also add pressure to the nerve.

The good news is there are ways to ease sciatic pain during pregnancy, and the pain goes away after birth. Physical therapy and massage therapy, warm showers, heat, medications and other measures can help. If you are pregnant, be sure to follow good posture techniques during pregnancy to also ease your pain.

How Is Sciatica Treated

The goal of treatment is to decrease your pain and increase your mobility. Depending on the cause, many cases of sciatica go away over time with some simple self-care treatments.

Self-care treatments include:

• Appling ice and/or hot packs: First, use ice packs to reduce pain and swelling. Apply ice packs or bag of frozen vegetables wrapped in a towel to the affected area. Apply for 20 minutes, several times a day. Switch to a hot pack or a heating pad after the first several days. Apply for 20 minutes at a time. If youre still in pain, switch between hot and cold packs whichever best relieves your discomfort.
• Taking over-the-counter medicines: Take medicines to reduce pain, inflammation and swelling. The many common over-the-counter medicines in this category, called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , include aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen . Be watchful if you choose to take aspirin. Aspirin can cause ulcers and bleeding in some people. If youre unable to take NSAIDS, acetaminophen may be taken instead.
• Performing gentle stretches: Learn proper stretches from an instructor with experience with low back pain. Work up to other general strengthening, core muscle strengthening and aerobic exercises.

Sciatica In Both Legs

Sciatica in both legs, also called bilateral sciatica, is less common than symptoms that exist in only one leg, called unilateral sciatica. Bilateral sciatica comes in two distinct forms: true spinally-motivated pain and pain that is sourced outside of the lumbar and sacral nerve roots, often known as pseudo-sciatica. The latter type of pseudo-sciatica is actually far more prevalent than true spinally-enacted symptoms.

Sciatica is one of the most common chronic pain conditions and has a well-deserved reputation as an agonizing and cruel form of suffering. A large percentage of patients with severe sciatica cite their pain as the worst and most debilitating health issue they have ever faced. Many of these patients can not work, while some can barely stand, sit or walk comfortably for any length of time. The worst cases are usually self-confined to bed for long periods of time, since this is the only way for the victim to cope with the extreme misery of bilateral sciatica.

This essay explores the causes and symptoms of sciatica in both the left and right leg simultaneously. We will contrast spinal sciatica against pseudo-sciatica and also explain how the condition is both similar and different than unilateral sciatica.

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When Should Someone Seek Medical Care For Sciatica

• The pain is not improving after several days or seems to be getting worse.
• If the affected person is younger than 20 years of age or older than 55 years of age and is having sciatica for the first time
• The affected individual presently has cancer or has a history of cancer.
• The affected individual has lost a large amount of weight recently or has unexplained chills and fever with back pain.
• The affected individual is HIV positive or uses IV drugs.
• Someone has trouble bending forward after more than a week or two.
• The affected individual notices weakness is getting more pronounced over time.

Go to a hospital’s emergency department if any of the following occur along with sciatica.

• The pain is unbearable, despite trying first aid methods.
• The pain follows a violent injury, such as a fall from a ladder or an automobile crash.
• The pain is in the back of the chest.
• The affected individual is unable to move or feel his or her legs or feet.
• The affected individual loses control of his or her bowels or bladder or has numbness in his or her genitals. These may be symptoms of cauda equina syndrome .
• The affected individual has a high temperature .

Note: Piriformis Syndrome Feels Like Sciatica But It Isnt

There is a muscle where the thigh bone meets the buttocks called the piriformis. When this muscle becomes tight, it can irritate the sciatic nerve, causing similar pain, but this isnt truly sciatica, where the nerve is compressed.

Why does this matter? The treatments for piriformis syndrome and sciatica are different. Your chiropractor will be able to diagnose what the root cause is and whether or not you have sciatica.

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What Causes Bilateral Sciatica

Rarely, will sciatica occur on both sides. When it does occur it is often due to a large central disc herniation that compresses the nerve roots between the disc and theposterior arch a vertebra.

There may also be multiple disc herniationat separate levels of the lumbar spine that will compress differentsciatic nerve roots. When bilateral sciatica is present the symptomswill be noticed in both legs with varying degrees of intensity orcharacter.

If the sciatica is extremely severe on one side thesciatica on the opposite side may go unnoticed if it is relativelymild in nature.

Tips For Natural Sciatica Relief

When an episode of sciatica strikes, there are natural options you can try if you are concerned about long-term medication use and potential side-effects:

• Try yoga or stretching. ;Yoga can help with your flexibility and can help to strengthen your back. ;Targeting the piriformis muscle can be of particular benefit for sciatica sufferers.
• Get up and get moving. ;Sitting for long periods of time can shorten muscles and ligaments and lead to overall stiffness and pain. ;Incorporating more movement into your day is beneficial for sciatica patients, and has other obvious health benefits as well.
• Reduce inflammation. ;Getting regular exercise, eating a healthy, balanced diet, getting ample sleep, and quitting smoking are some of the best ways to reduce inflammation that might be contributing to sciatic nerve irritation.

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When Is Surgery Considered

Spinal surgery is usually not recommended unless you have not improved with other treatment methods such as stretching and medication, your pain is worsening, you have severe weakness in the muscles in your lower extremities or you have lost bladder or bowel control.

How soon surgery would be considered depends on the cause of your sciatica. Surgery is typically considered within a year of ongoing symptoms. Pain that is severe and unrelenting and is preventing you from standing or working and youve been admitted to a hospital would require more aggressive treatment and a shorter timeline to surgery. Loss of bladder or bowel control could require emergency surgery if determined to be cauda equine syndrome.

The goal of spinal surgery for sciatic pain is to remove the pressure on the nerves that are being pinched and to make sure the spine is stable.

Surgical options to relieve sciatica include:

Microdiscectomy: This is a minimally invasive procedure used to remove fragments of a herniated disk that are pressing on a nerve.

• Laminectomy: In this procedure, the lamina that is causing pressure on the sciatic nerve is removed.

Mindbody Sciatica Shin Pain

This Weird Trick Relieves Sciatic Nerve Pain

In the many letters you send to us, I recognize that the majority of you with mindbody sciatica pain in the shins fall into one of 2 possible categories.

The first are serious runners who are often impaired from performing up to their ability by this chronic leg pain. Although structural diagnoses are common, and might include shin splints and a variety of soft tissue disorders, statistics cite that many are actually psychosomatic pain syndromes enacted through regional ischemia. Runners, in general, are very prone to these mindbody conditions.

The second category of mindbody shin pain sufferers typically includes people who stand as part of their jobs, often in one place for many hours. Once again, structural issues can create pain which may or may not be related to standing.

However, given the application of knowledge therapy to route out the often work-related emotional issues at the real heart of the pain, the symptoms usually completely resolve.

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What Are The Causes Of Sciatica Pain

Sciatica pain is caused due to irritation of the roots of the lower lumbar and lumbosacral spine. Usually when the sciatic nerve becomes pinched it gives rise to sciatica pain. Below are the causes for such pinched sciatic nerve.

• Herniated or bulging disk in the spine.
• Overgrowth of bone on the vertebrae.
• Lumbar spinal stenosis which may be understood as narrowing down of the spinal canal in the lower back.
• Degenerative disc disease.; It may be understood as degeneration of at least one of the inter-vertebral discs of the spinal column. Discs act as cushions between the vertebrae.
• Spondylolisthesis. It is a condition where one vertebra slips forward over another vertebra giving rise to sciatica.
• Sciatic nerve pain in pregnancy is also common.
• Tumor can also lead to sciatica though it is a rare occurrence.
• Sometimes diseases like diabetes also damage the sciatic nerve giving way to sciatica pain.

Other minor causes of sciatica may include being overweight, not exercising, wearing high heels, sleeping on a very soft mattress etc. In fact, these are not the direct causes of sciatica pain but may worsen the condition of sciatica lower back pain.

Do You Know What Causes Your Sciatica

Sciatica may have a variety of causes, each of them requiring a slightly different treatment. Whether or not surgery would get rid of your sciatica will depend on why the sciatic nerve is inflamed in the first place. Possible reasons may include:

• A;herniated disc;in your lower back
• Spinal stenosis; narrowing of the space inside the spinal canal
• Spondylolisthesis slipped and misaligned vertebrae
• Degeneration of the spine;due to wear and tear, which may result in bone spurs
• A;cyst or a tumor in the spine

• Although most of these causes can be addressed with surgery, it is rarely the first line of treatment. The type of surgery would depend on the problem.

  In addition, sciatica-like pain may result from irritation of the sciatic nerve by the piriformis muscle in the buttock. This condition is called piriformis syndrome and rarely requires surgery.

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  Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care Brings Lasting Sciatica Relief

  When sciatica strikes, the natural reaction is to treat the lower back with either medications or various therapies. ;While this might be good for providing some temporary relief, it might not address the root cause of the issue. ;If your atlas is not positioned properly, it can be playing a role in how your lower back feels and functions. ;Over time, this can contribute to the onset of sciatica symptoms if left unaddressed.

  Secret #: Mindful Meditation

  

  You might be rolling your eyes at this one, but that simply means that you have never tried mindful meditation to control chronic pain. We understand if youre skeptical, everyone is before they try it.

  While this practice wont heal an underlying problem, it is a way to help control pain, especially chronic pain, and it is scientifically proven. Even those who only dabbled in this type of meditation found substantial pain relief, so you dont even have to be a guru to reap the benefits.

  Mindful meditation is shown to reduce pain levels by as much as 57%. Those who really master the art can reduce their pain by 90%. This works by soothing the brain patterns that are altered by pain, so that you no longer feel pain with the same level of intensity as before.

  If you want a more complete explanation of how mindful meditation can help to change the way your brain observes pain and how to practice this ancient method, you can find more information here.

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  When Sciatica Symptoms Become Dangerous

  As I mentioned, most sciatic nerve problems are temporary and heal naturally or with conservative intervention, such as pain medication, physical therapy, gentle home exercise, and time. In extreme cases, such as spinal stenosis or osteoporosis-related vertebrae collapse, surgical intervention may be necessary to assure theres enough room to avoid nerve compression.

  However, there are two classes of sciatic nerve condition that may have serious and lasting impact on your health. Each of these should, if suspected, be treated as a medical emergency.

  Can Chiropractors Help Sciatica

  Yes! Chiropractors can help sciatica! An important step in working out how to help patients with sciatica is trying to understand what the underlying cause of the sciatica might be.

  This allows us to target the treatment at the true cause, allowing long term improvement and injury prevention to occur, rather than just masking the symptoms. Therefore, the exact treatment you might experience for your sciatica will differ to someone elses.

  Seeing as Chiropractors are expertly trained to assess and treat problems related to the musculoskeletal system, we can help with all of the causes of sciatica mentioned above.

  • Weakness or numbness in both legs that is severe and getting worse
  • Numbness under or around your genitals or anus
  • Difficulty starting or stopping a stream of urine, or lack of control when you pee
  • Not noticing when you need to poo or not being able to control when you po0

  These could be symptoms of a serious back problem that needs to be treated in hospital as soon as possible to prevent permanent damage occurring. This would be very rare, but it is worth being safe than sorry when it comes to your health!

  If you want to learn more about the treatment techniques we offer and how they can help you,;you can learn more here.

  Or visit our;;for tips and advice on recovering from pain and living your best life!

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  When Should I Contact My Healthcare Provider

  Get immediate medical attention if you experience:

  • Severe leg pain lasting more than a few hours that is unbearable.
  • Numbness or muscle weakness in the same leg.
  • Bowel or bladder control loss. This could be due to a condition called cauda equina syndrome, which affects bundles of nerves at the end of the spinal cord.
  • Sudden and severe pain from a traffic accident or some other trauma.

  Even if your visit doesnt turn out to be an emergency situation, its best to get it checked out.

  The Indirect Results Of Nerve Compression

  Sciatica Leg Pain Reveals Pinched Nerve: How to Relieve It Now

  Another reason you may be feeling pain in one of your hips is that when you have a pinched nerve in your back that affects one side of your lower body, you tend to favor that side. The pain may alter the way you move, which can place added stress on your already hard-working hips.

  So, if your hip pain is more of a dull ache and youre also experiencing some of the more classic signs of sciatica, the two are likely related.

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  First Step: Find Out Why You Have Sciatica Pain

  Getting relief from sciatica takes some detective work. First, try to find out the cause. Then you can take steps to address it. This might require a visit to your doctor and some sessions with a physical therapist.

  Causes of sciatica include:

  • Spinal stenosis .
  • Injury to the sciatic nerve from a fall or accident.
  • Tumor or growth near the sciatic nerve .

  The cause of your sciatica affects what positions or activities bother you, Sieberth says. This will also determine which sleeping positions work for you. For instance, someone with;a bulging disc;may find back sleeping comfortable, while someone with stenosis might prefer side sleeping.

  Are There Any Signs Or Symptoms To Be Concerned About

  Sciatica is rarely a sign of a serious problem, although the pain can be very unpleasant.;The pain experienced does not mean more damage is occurring; it’s more a reflection of the fact the nerve root is very good at causing pain if it is irritated.;

  However if you experience the following complaints you should seek urgent help via your nearest emergency department for urgent assessment.

  • Inability to pass urine when you feel the need to go

  • Inability to stop a bowel motion or leaking

  • Numbness in or around your back passage, buttocks or between your inner thighs

  • A change in ability to get an erection

  • If you have pain in both legs and/or worsening weakness in the legs

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  Pain Relief And Treatment

  The primary goal of initial treatment is;the relief of pain. Treatment and relief options for sciatica include:

  Moderate activityBed rest had traditionally been recommended in the treatment of sciatica but this is no longer the case. Research has indicated that bed rest does not tend to speed recovery and may in fact hinder it. It is now recommended that heavy physical activity should be avoided, but moderate activity should be maintained. It is thought that maintaining activity assists with overall recovery by helping to reduce inflammation.MedicationsPain relieving medications such as paracetamol and ipuprofen are commonly used to treat sciatic pain. In cases where muscle spasms are thought to be the cause, muscle relaxant medications may be recommended. When pain is severe the use of opioids may be necessary. Other medications that may be used are low-dose anti-depressants to reduce nerve stimulation, and cortisone injections near the spine to reduce pain and inflammation.

  
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