Eager to Learn More About Sciatica Pain Treatment in Hackensack?

June 22, 2021

HARVARD TRAINED back PAIN DOCTORS in New jersey

Our Doctors Point Out 5 Key Factors You Need to Know About Sciatica

The sciatic nerve extends from the lower back through each hip and leg, making it the longest nerve in the human body. Because it traverses such a large section of our bodies, it can easily get pinched or irritated. When it does, patients experience pain in the lower back, as well as discomfort in the hip, leg or foot – a range of symptoms commonly known as sciatica pain.

Sciatic nerve pain is quite common and is bound to happen even more commonly as you age. While it sometimes goes away on its own or with minimum care, there are instances in which you will need to seek the help of a doctor to get to the root cause of the problem.

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Determining the specific cause of the pain will be necessary if you want to get the best possible sciatica pain treatment in Hackensack and eliminate discomfort.

At Pain Treatment Specialists, our highly trained doctors work closely with each patient to identify what is causing the pain and which type of minimally invasive treatment is best suited for their condition.

To help you get a clearer idea of what you may be experiencing, our doctors are here to shed some light on a few important facts about sciatica.

1. Sciatica pain can manifest in different ways

Although sciatica is most commonly associated with low back pain, there are other symptoms patients often report. Pain that radiates towards the lower limbs, weakness in the legs, and numbness in the feet are common sciatica symptoms as well. Depending on the condition that is triggering the pain, symptoms can vary from patient to patient, as well as from one sciatic episode to another.

Looking for information about sciatica pain treatments in Hackensack? Our board-certified sciatica doctors are here to help!

If a small injury to the back is what is causing sciatica pain, you can expect it to go away in a few days with some over-the-counter medicine. However, if there is an underlying condition that causes the nerve to get pinched or compressed, the doctor may recommend epidural steroid injections or other minimally invasive forms of treatment.

2. Age may increase the risk of sciatic pain

As we age, our bodies undergo many changes. As a result of wear and tear, the risk of developing degenerative disc disease, arthritis, or herniated discs increases, which means the chance of experiencing sciatica symptoms also grows. This is especially more bound to happen to patients suffering from vitamin B12 deficiency or diabetes, as well as to those living a sedentary life.

To lower your chances of needing sciatic pain treatment in the future, you need to keep yourself active. Do light exercises every once in a while, walk instead of taking the car whenever you have the option, and take good care of your back. If you need to manipulate heavy objects, avoid putting too much pressure on your back and use your legs for lifting. Keeping an eye on your posture can also help reduce the risk of back pain.

3. “Sciatica” is not a medical condition

Many come to our clinic expecting to be diagnosed with sciatica. This is, however, not a condition in itself, but a multitude of symptoms that can be caused by a range of conditions. If one of these conditions causes the sciatic nerve to be caught between two bones, compressed by a muscle, or injured, it will send sharp pain towards the lower back, hips, and legs, together with other symptoms.

Going to a pain clinic and seeking advice from a trained physician is highly recommended if pain continues to give you trouble. They will perform a physical examination which will provide enough details to put a diagnosis and prescribe the suited treatment.

4. Most treatment options are minimally invasive

Many patients tell us one of the main reasons they have been avoiding a visit to a pain specialist because they fear surgery may be their only treatment option. However, this is not true at all.

While both play a very important role in our clinic, we would more likely send you to a physical therapist before we sent you to an orthopaedic surgeon. That’s because most conditions that cause sciatica pain can be alleviated with minimally invasive procedures and we would not want to put patients through more physical discomfort than necessary.

If minimally invasive treatment does not help minimize discomfort, the doctor may refer you to a spine surgeon, but this rarely happens when it comes to sciatica.

5. Some life habits can worsen the pain

As we already established, there can be many health conditions that cause sciatic pain and the risk of developing those conditions increases with age. Certain lifestyle choices, however, can put additional pressure on the lower back and cause injury to the sciatic nerve or worsen the pain that already exists. Many of these habits have been with us for years, which makes it quite difficult to correct them. It gets about 10 weeks to break a bad habit, so perseverance is key here.

The risk of developing sciatica may be increased by things such as:

Sitting for multiple hours a day
Having a bad posture
Improper lifting of heavy objects
Sleeping on a poor mattress
Excess weight

Among the people that struggle most with sciatica are those who spend a lot of time in a seated position, such as drivers and office workers. That happens because, when you seat, the space between the vertebrae narrows, compressing the soft tissue that separates them and ultimately making it rip.

If sciatica pain keeps you from enjoying daily life, it is time you seek professional help. Book an appointment in one of our conveniently-placed locations: in Paramus on Route 17, near the Paramus Park Mall, in Clifton, NJ, on Route 46 E, past the Ford dealership, and in West Orange, near the Essex Country Club, and in Woodland Park, on McBride Avenue. The doctors at Pain Treatment Specialists are here to bring you much-needed relief so that you can continue to live a healthy, pain-free life.

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