Sunday, December 25, 2011

What To Do When You Have Sciatica From A Pinched Nerve?

By David Greene


A herniated disc sometimes pushes on a spinal nerve and causes sciatica. The sciatic nerve is actually not one nerve root but a compilation of multiple nerve roots including the fourth and fifth lumbar nerve route along with the first sacral nerve root which combines together into a large nerve call the sciatic nerve.

This is why when the sciatic nerve is being compressed, in layman's terms called a pinched nerve, it is termed sciatica. Typically depending on which nerve root of the sciatic nerve is actually being compressed up around the spinal column, is where the patient will have the pain in his leg anatomically. In order to avoid surgery from a herniated disc, what are the treatment options available in the acute phase of having sciatica?

One of the initial options that helps a lot is going to see a pain management center period of the 1st treatments will probably be a muscle relaxant is physical therapy along with potentially narcotics. Also it is smart to start some Tylenol and anti-inflammatory medications. When these are being taken a gastric protection agents such as Zantac should be included to prevent the gastric ulcer.

Physical therapy may help substantially along with treatment from the chiropractor of spinal decompression therapy to decompress the sciatic nerve. The medications may make life much more tolerable, and if the patient is also having back pain a back brace may help as well.

Narcotic medications a lot of the time did not work very well for the pain of sciatica. If this is the problem then neurontin or Lyrica may also help with the nerve pain.

Along with these medications in the physical therapy interventional pain management injections may also help with pain relief. This could include multiple epidural steroid injections placed under real-time fluoroscopic guidance to ensure accuracy.

This will not fix the herniated disc, but it will bathe the region with steroid medication which can sue the area and provide pain relief by decreasing the inflammation.

Some people are still under the impression that it's a good idea to be on bed rest with a pensioner. There are numerous studies showing that this is a terrible idea and can make the situation worse. And relating as much as tolerable while trying to do most of your daily activities is actually much better for your lower back.

So the combination of medications along with a back brace, physical therapy, chiropractic treatment and spinal decompression therapy, along with interventional pain treatments is the best combination of treatments that we have in this day and age to try and prevent the need for surgery.

Although a discectomy surgery has small risks associated with it, they are real and it is much better to avoid surgery if at all possible. We know that at a years time after surgery, if the patient was able to avoid surgery, the results are equivalent.




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