Sciatic pain

Sciatic pain can bother a person so much that you have to call an ambulance. Difficulties in walking, cohesion in the movements, inability to work and live fully - that's what is the sciatic pain.

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Diseases that provoke sciatic pain

Sciatic nerve affected by neuralgia. Symptoms of this disease - gluteal pain that pushes into the thigh (its posterior surface) even reaches the stop. The leg in this case grows numb and does not react even if it is pricked with a needle. Muscles of the legs are weak, almost paralyzed, they can be cramped.

Sciatic pain can be of a different nature: sharp or weak, lasting a long time and passing for a short time.

A characteristic feature in sciatic pain - the doctor tries to straighten the patient's leg, which lies, but straightening does not work, the muscles of the legs contract, and the patient experiences pain in the buttocks and thigh.

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What causes sciatic pain?

Its culprit is the sciatic nerve, the largest in our body. It starts from the nerve plexus of the sacrum, then its path passes under the muscular tissue of the buttocks on the back of the thigh. When the sciatic nerve reaches the popliteal dimple, it splits and goes slightly higher.

Thanks to the sciatic nerve, we feel our feet, the skin on them, their muscles. The sciatic nerve helps to carry out impulses (including painful ones) all over the foot area. He participates in the muscles that move the trunk and hips.

Thanks to this nerve we can move the shin and lift the feet.

Causes of compression of the sciatic nerve

When the sciatic nerve is squeezed, doctors call it a tunnel syndrome.

This situation is provoked by inflammation and chronic diseases of joints, kidneys, as well as culprits - flat feet, traumas (even past ones) or injections into the muscle of the buttocks, carried out unsuccessfully. Have you seen people sometimes drag their feet after a shot? This is a temporary inoperability of the sciatic nerve, which was hit with a needle and immobilized the entire leg.

When the sciatic nerve is affected or squeezed , it can lead to severe pain in the area of the feet, the inability to walk. Not a strong, but constant pain in the buttocks and giving up in the leg can disturb a person after injuries, fractures. Then the movements can be difficult even with a little pain. If you do not go to the doctor for treatment, the muscles can gradually become atrophied, because they are constantly affected by the bulging parts of the vertebrae.

If the skin is too dry, small sores open and worried about the pain in the buttocks and feet - you need to see a doctor for additional examination. These may be symptoms of a pinch of the sciatic nerve.

Diseases that accelerate or slow down the metabolism can also interfere with the sciatic nerve. These are diseases such as violations of the thyroid gland, poisoning, after which the person was not treated, strict rigid diets.

There is also a special kind of herpes that affects the sciatic nerve in the most negative way. When herpes, there are lichen, which are located around the perimeter of the sciatic nerve and give pain. Without an examination, it is quite difficult to determine the cause of these pains.

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Whence and why does the pain of the sciatic nerve arise?

The first reason that the sciatic nerve worries us with pain is the pressure on it. This can be determined by the symptoms. For example, a sharp pain in the leg and buttocks (this means that one of the spinal roots of the nerve plexus of the sacrum is compressed). This pain can be exacerbated even if a person begins to cough or sneeze.

The same sharp pain occurs when the disc is deformed and hernia in it.

In addition to pain, a person experiences the following: the sensation in the leg disappears (already on the first day of inflammation or squeezing of the sciatic nerve). Muscles are weak, they do not react to anything, pain grows, and osteochondrosis can only exacerbate the course of the disease.

The root is squeezed even more and it hurts. If the nerve roots are infringed by growing sharp denticles in the area of the discs and vertebrae, and the person does not consult a doctor, tolerates, then the muscles gradually atrophy, lose their properties.

How to determine that the sciatic nerve is deformed and inflamed?

To do this, you can apply several types of diagnosis, which will give a full picture of your disease.

Radiography

It should be done in the area of the lower back and sacrum. Radiography gives an opportunity to get an accurate picture of the condition of the vertebrae, determine whether they are deformed and whether there are sprouts that press on the nerve roots.

During radiography it is good if a person does not lie, but does flexion and extension of the legs (this is called functional tests). With such tests it is possible to identify with greater probability violations in the state of the spinal canal, discs, sciatic nerve, and adjacent vertebrae.

If the picture is unclear, you will need a contrast agent that is injected into the spinal canal. Then it's easy to see if there are any deviations in his condition.

Computed Tomography (CT)

With this method, you can perfectly see the state of not only the bones, but also the vertebrae, and the discs located between the vertebrae.

If there are tumors between the discs or near them, traces of injuries, they can immediately be identified by CT. Like the method of treatment in this case.

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

This method of diagnosis allows you to get a picture of the state of the spinal cord, vertebrae and muscle tissue around them. If the sciatic nerve is injured or squashed - the diagnosis will show it.

Electromyography

This method of diagnosis will give a characteristic of the sciatic nerve and nerve endings that are nearby, with the help of electric pulses. Also, the doctor will see an accurate picture of muscle activity or atrophy, as it will check their impulses with currents of different strength.

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