Sciatica can be incredibly painful- it’s a nerve’s job to be sensitive so when the nerve itself is in trouble it’s no wonder even simple movements can be unbearable. Along with pain, many people with sciatica experience altered sensations (pins & needles, numbness or other odd feelings) and even weakness of the affected leg; these are signs that the nerve can’t function properly.
Sciatica itself is a descriptive term meaning pain related to the sciatic nerve- but importantly it doesn’t explain why the nerve is irritated. For some people this may be caused by an injury to a disc in the lower back, or perhaps bony changes in the spine. It’s important to know what is causing the problem in the nerve to be able to best plan a treatment approach.
Our osteopaths will listen carefully to your story and can perform a full examination to determine what the underlying problem irritating the nerve is and give you a good explanation of the problem. We will work with you on a treatment approach to settle the pain and a longer term management approach to restore as much function as possible- nerves can continue to heal for a long time (years!) so there are often gains to be made even if the original injury was a long time ago. We will always focus on what you want to achieve- we all have different goals in life and it’s important to tailor the goals of treatment to what’s important to you. We love helping people find more ease and confidence in their body after the distress of sciatic nerve pain.