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How to Treat Sciatic Nerve Pain

If you’ve ever felt a shooting, burning pain radiating down your lower back, buttocks, and into one or both of your legs, you may need to find out how to treat sciatic nerve pain. Often, one of the first steps in finding relief from your discomfort is simply knowing the anatomical source of your discomfort. Let’s begin with an overview of the spine.

Sciatica Overview

Our spine is made up of a series of stacked vertebrae, intervertebral discs, ligaments, tendons, and muscles. The intervertebral discs cushion vertebrae above and below, and they also play a large role in protecting the spine and lending flexibility to the spine’s movements. However, these discs are one of the most likely parts of the spine to degenerate or be injured. Some common conditions that arise in the spine are herniated disc, bulging disc, and spinal stenosis. With these conditions, intervertebral discs, either through tearing or protrusion, intrude on the foramina, or the open spaces through which our spinal nerves travel. This puts stress on the nerves, which is what causes uncomfortable symptoms of numbness, tingling, weakness, localized pain, and traveling pain.

In the lumbar (lower) region of the back, there is a nerve fiber called the sciatic nerve. It is the longest nerve in the body and, although it begins in the lower back, it travels all the way down through the legs and to the feet. You may have heard people describe sciatica as a pain shooting down through their buttock and one leg—this is not a condition itself, but rather a way to describe radiculopathic pain that is a symptom of neural compression.

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Treatment Options

When you speak with your doctor about how to treat sciatic nerve pain, he or she will most likely recommend a regimen of traditional treatment, such as physical therapy, hot and cold compresses, plenty of rest, pain medication, or possibly steroid injections. However, if your pain becomes severe and threatens to decrease your daily quality of life, you may want to consider a lower back operation.

Laser Spine Institute (LSI) offers a variety of procedures aimed at nerve decompression. We employ the latest endoscopic technology to perform minimally invasive procedures that are a welcome alternative to the risks and lengthy recovery periods of traditional, open back operations. Contact us today for a free review of your MRI or CT scan.

Please note: Laser Spine Institute currently does not perform endoscopic procedures on the thoracic spine.