6: CONDITIONS/ SCIATICA:

Sciatica is an acute pain in the lower extremity of the body which is a result of an irritation of the sciatic nerve. Sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in a human body which begins from the root in the lumbar region of the spinal chord and goes up to the buttock area where it sends nerve endings to the legs. The sciatica pain mostly begins from the low back area and goes behind the thighs and radiate below the knee. This pain is also known as the sciatic nerve pain.

CAUSES OF SCIATICA: While sciatica is generally caused by the lumbar disc herniation pressing directly onto  the nerve, any other cause of inflammation or irritation of this nerve can reproduce these symptoms of sciatica. Apart from a pinched nerve in the disc, the other reasons of sciatica also include irritation of a nerve from the adjacent bone, muscles, tumors, and any kind of internal bleeding, injury, infections and many other such causes. Sciatica may also occur during pregnancy because of the irritation of this sciatic nerve.

SYMPTOMS: Sciatica causes numbness, pain, tingling radiation or a burning sensation starting from the upper buttock and the lower back and goes down to the rear of the thigh and  to the back of the leg. The end result is a pain in the leg. Sometimes the same pain radiates in the region of the hip and it feels like hip pain. While sciatica generally gets associated with the lumbago which is the lower back pain, it can also occur without the lower back pain. Severe sciatica surely can make the process of walking very difficult, if not impossible at all. Many a times, the symptoms of the sciatica pain gets aggravated by a lot of walking or wrongly bending but gets calmed by lying down. The relief in the pain because of the changed positions can be complete or partial.