Osteopath for Sciatic Nerve Pain
Osteopath for Sciatica: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment Options
Are you searching for an osteopath for sciatica to help relieve nerve pain in your lower back, leg, or foot? In this article, we explore sciatica symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and treatment options, plus how osteopathy can support your recovery.
Osteopath for Sciatic Nerve Pain
Lumbar radiculopathy, or the more commonly used term of ‘sciatica’, refers to the symptoms of pain, tingling and numbness. These arise from nerve root compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve (NICE 2020). You will experience pain in the buttock, back of the leg and/or feet of one side. Do you suffer from a sciatica nerve problem?
Sciatica symptoms are:
Shooting, burning or stabbing pains typically occur in the buttocks, the back of the thigh, leg and/or foot, depending on where the sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated. Moreover, depending on the severity, you can always experience pain occasionally. Tingling, such as pins & needles, and numbness are commonly felt in the back of the leg. Feeling of weakness, and you may experience difficulty walking.
Moderate to severe pain in the lower back, buttocks and down your leg.
Numbness or weakness in your lower back, buttocks, leg or feet.
Pain that worsens with movement; loss of movement.
Pins and needles feel in your legs, toes, or feet.
Sciatica Pain is Typically Worse
Prolonged sitting,
Standing up for two long
Turning over in bed
Coughing
Sneezing (This will increase pressure in your abdominal region, causing pain.)
Sometimes straining on the toilet may be difficult.
In other words, sciatica will affect the majority of your day-to-day activities.
Will Sciatica Always Give Back Pain?
No, you can experience sciatica with or without low back pain. Usually, you will just experience pain in the back of one leg (not both legs). You are less likely to have sciatica if you have Osteopathy for lower back pain with no pain referrals into your buttocks or legs.
Is There Anywhere Else I May Experience Pain From Sciatica
Yes you may experience pain on the front of your thigh, Osteopath for hip pain or leg. Also, sciatica symptoms could be a searing pain on the sole of your foot. There have also been cases on the web of the foot, between the first and second toes.
NHS Sciatica Advice (2020)
You should visit your GP or hospital if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:
You have sciatica on both sides
Experience weakness or numbness in both legs that is severe or getting worse
You have numbness around or under your genitals, or around your anus find it hard to start peeing, cannot pee or cannot control when you pee – and this is not normal for you
Do not notice when you need to poo or cannot control when you poo – and this is not normal for you
These could be symptoms of a more serious nature, which may need to be treated in hospital as soon as possible.
Common Causes of Sciatic Nerve Pain
In 90% of cases of sciatica (NICE 2020), disc herniation/s of your intervertebral disc/s in your lower back is the cause. Intervertebral discs are between each vertebra; they act as shock absorbers and prevent the vertebrae from rubbing. The discs contain a gel-filled inner layer (nucleus pulposus) surrounded by a hard fibrous outer layer.
Therefore, you can injure or strain your discs, causing part of the gel-filled nucleus to herniate out of the fibrous outer casing (herniated or prolapsed disc). When you have a disc herniation, this may compress onto the sciatic nerve, which in turn causes symptoms in the buttock, thigh, leg, and/or foot.
Common causes of a disc herniation:
Strenuous physical activity
Heavy lifting
Accident
Trauma
Less Common Causes of Sciatic Nerve Pain are:
Spinal stenosis
This is a spinal canal narrowing, which is more common in the elderly.
Spondylolisthesis
This is where a vertebra slips forward or backwards on another vertebra, subsequently compressing part of the sciatic nerve. Degeneration causes abnormal bony growths to develop (osteophytes or bony spurs).
Sometimes, bony growths can impinge on the sciatic nerve where the nerve exits the vertebrae, irritating the nerve, which causes symptoms.
Spinal trauma or infection.
Moreover, spinal tumours; however, sciatica caused by a spinal tumour is extremely rare.
Piriformis Syndrome
The sciatic nerve travels down from your lower back through your buttocks into your leg. It passes alongside the piriformis muscle. When this deep muscle of the buttock becomes really tight or spasms, it can irritate the sciatic nerve, resulting in sciatic-like symptoms.
Poor Posture
Sitting incorrectly, with more weight on one hip than the other, can irritate or compress the sciatic nerve. Especially if this is a constant long-term habit.
Sciatic Nerve Pain Diagnosis
It’s not necessary to see your GP to gain a sciatica diagnosis. Manual therapists (Osteopaths, physiotherapists or chiropractors) can diagnose sciatica by taking a full case history.
Common Questions Asked To Diagnose Sciatica
What is the nature of the pain?
How long has your pain lasted?
When did the symptoms and pain start?
What were you doing anything particular when you first noticed the pain?
Have you previously injured the back or hip area?
Have you noticed any decrease in the strength of the leg or foot?
After that, they will perform a physical examination with testing and then explain the cause of your pain. Sometimes, imaging such as X-rays or MRI is required to gain further information on the exact cause of the nerve irritation.
Sciatica Treatment
Many treatment options are available, and it is up to the individual to make an informed choice as to which avenue they wish to pursue. Treatment length depends on the cause of sciatic pain and the patient’s ability to heal. Herniated lumbar discs account for less than five per cent of all low back problems but are the most common cause of nerve root pain (‘sciatica’). Ninety per cent of acute attacks of sciatica settle with non-surgical management. Surgical options are considered for more rapid relief in the minority of patients whose recovery is unacceptably slow (Cochrane 2007).
Osteopath for Sciatic Nerve Pain
An Osteopath will provide non-surgical hands-on treatment. Then they will address the whole posture to get other areas moving more freely (typically the upper back and hips). Also, to reduce pressure on the lower back and intervertebral discs, to optimise the body’s natural healing response. Improve blood flow and circulation to the affected area, which helps optimise the inflammatory processes. If the patient is experiencing a lot of pain, then using a more gentle approach like Cranial Osteopathy is an option we use at Wellthy Clinic.
Osteopath for Sciatica
Our Osteopath will use a combination of muscular stretching, joint articulations and joint manipulations (only when appropriate) techniques to increase movement and function. Also, bespoke progressive exercises (muscular stretching and strengthening). Furthermore, lifestyle, basic nutrition, and hydration advice to optimise healing times to support you back into activity.
How Long Does Sciatica Last on Average?
Typically, the prognosis for patients with sciatica depends on the cause of the nerve compression and the patient’s ability to recover. For some, it could be 6-8 weeks, but for others, it could take longer.
How Long Will Sciatica Take to Heal?
Typically, the prognosis for patients with sciatica depends on the cause of the nerve compression and the patient’s ability to recover. For some, it could be 6-8 weeks, but for others, it could take longer. Starting a structured rehabilitation plan as soon as possible is advisable to optimise recovery.
What is the Best Pain Killer for Nerve Pain?
If you choose to see your GP, they will prescribe medications to help reduce your pain. These can be painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs. Similarly, muscle relaxants, antidepressants and anticonvulsants, depending on the severity of your symptoms.
Epidural Steroid Injections:
Your GP may refer you for a steroid injection to help you with your pain. A corticosteroid or local anaesthetic will be injected into the epidural space around your spinal cord. Consequently, this may give you temporary relief from your sciatic symptoms, giving you a window to perform rehab exercises. This helps by reducing the inflammatory response around the sciatic nerve. Currently, steroid injections are not advised as they weaken the immune system, which would make you susceptible to COVID-19.
Surgical options
Some people will have surgery, but this should be discussed with your GP or a consultant. The two main types are discectomy and laminectomy. A discectomy is where part or the entire damaged intervertebral disc that is compressing the sciatic nerve is removed. A laminectomy is where the back part of one or more of your lumbar spine vertebrae (lamina) is removed to create more space for the sciatic nerve. Therefore, it reduces the likelihood of the nerve being compressed.
How do you Treat Sciatica at Home?
At Wellthy Clinic, we are big fans of meaningful movement as it helps increase blood flow to optimise inflammatory processes. Also, it increases waste removal (lymphatic drainage), improves the functionality of joints, strengthens muscles, and empowers you to feel a little better. Rest is the best option for the first 2 weeks, then light stretching for 2-4 weeks. After that, introduce body weight strengthening exercises with stretches at 4-6 weeks. Graded exercises will be prescribed, changed and progressed by your Osteopath as part of a structured rehab plan.
Nutrition for Sciatica
Always stay hydrated by drinking at least eight glasses of water daily (2 litres daily), little and often. Hydration status will directly affect the height of your intervertebral discs. Therefore, dehydration will affect your discs and your ability to recover. Eliminate caffeine, alcohol, squash, fizzy drinks and energy drinks. These will not help with your hydration status, which is essential for your recovery. Moreover, adopting an anti-inflammatory diet by eating more anti-inflammatory foods and reducing foods with anti-inflammatory content is a good start.
Is Heat or Ice better for Sciatica?
We suggest heat. Acute inflammation is a normal process; therefore, we want to encourage further blood flow to the region to aid and encourage the inflammatory processes. In other words, we want to work with the body to optimise healing. Ice feels good short-term as it reduces the inflammatory process, but doesn’t address the cause of the problem. So, for us, we believe this isn’t the best long-term solution.
Why Choose Wellthy Clinic?
If you're looking for a natural, whole-body approach to sciatica pain, seeing an osteopath for sciatica may be the solution. At Wellthy Clinic, we combine osteopathy, Pilates, and nutritional therapy to help reduce pain, restore function, and support long-term recovery.
Sciatic Nerve Pain References
Cochrane Systematic Review (2007) The effects of surgical treatments for individuals with ‘slipped’ lumbar discs https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001350.pub4/full?highlightAbstract=sciatica%7Csciatic
Cochrane Systematic Review (2016) Non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs for sciatica https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012382/full?highlightAbstract=sciatica%7Csciatic
NHS (2020) Sciatica available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sciatica/
NICE (2016b) Low back pain and sciatica in over 16s: assessment and management. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng59
NICE Sciatica (lumbar radiculopathy) National Clinical for Health and Care Excellence https://cks.nice.org.uk/sciatica-lumbar-radiculopathy#!topicSummary
Matthew Glithero
Matthew Glithero is an Osteopath (MOsT), Sports Massage Therapist, Pilates instructor with a background in Sports Science (BSc).