Back Pain and Sciatica

December 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Take it from someone who knows, back pain is bad, but I have never, ever experienced any more excruciating pain that sciatica.  In my experience, sciatica felt like a red-hot iron was pressing against the back of my leg, 24-7.  I’m know that there was some back pain involved as well, but frankly I really didn’t notice it that much back then.  Back and sciatica is the subject of the article below.  It mainly relates to athletes, but offers some good advice for all of us that suffer from back pain and sciatica.

Sciatica is a common problem for many people, including athletes, and can lead to pain that will radiate from the lower back to the leg. Sciatica is essential not a medical condition, but rather a severe symptom, caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve. It is important for an athlete to recognize the symptoms of sciatica, because it can hinder his or her athletic ability, and eventually lead to severe back or leg complications.

Here is what every athlete should know regarding the symptoms and treatment of sciatica, so that he or she can get a diagnosis, and continue to play sports as desired.

Sciatica Symptoms

An athlete needs to be very aware of the symptoms of sciatica, in order to prevent

Back Pain and Sciatica

Back Pain and Sciatica

the condition from getting worse. Some of the most obvious symptoms of sciatica include lower back pain, pain that radiates down to the legs, and a feeling of pins or needles in the legs. The pain in the back might be sharp at times, especially if an athlete is playing sports, and it will get worse if he or she continues the activity. An athlete might also notice that the pain increases while coughing, sneezing, and even sitting down after strenuous activity. If an athlete chooses to lie down, he or she might notice the pain eases, especially if he or she is lying on a certain side of the body. There will also be noticeable pain if an athlete puts pressure on a certain part of the lower back, and he or she might be able to feel a small lump in the back. Muscle spasms might also accompany the lower back pain, and an athlete will be able to feel the spasms occur, especially if he or she is sitting down at a table or desk. The spasms might only last a few seconds, but can last hours, and it will feel like a knife being stuck into the back. An athlete might also notice discomfort or pain in the leg, which will get worse after he or she stops physical activity, and spasms could also occur in the leg.

Sciatica Treatment Options

Treatment options that are available for sciatica are fairly general in nature, but an athlete should always seek medical advice if the pain persists. The persistent pain could be a sign of a herniated disc or other serious medical condition, and an athlete should stop all physical activity until the medical condition is treated. One of the most common treatment options for an athlete with sciatica is bed rest. An athlete should stop all participation in sports during this time, and focus on lying in bed, and in a position which can relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve. An athlete could also choose to take anti-inflammatory medications, which can relieve the inflammation around the sciatic nerve. Prescription pain medications or over-the-counter pain medications can be used to alleviate the pain associated with sciatica, and a back brace can be used to apply support to the lower back. An athlete should also seek out a sports doctor if the sciatica does not improve, since a sports doctor can help provide treatment specifically to help him or her get back to normal activity, especially if the injury was sports related. A sports doctor can determine the exact cause of the sciatica, use mobilization treatments for the spine, prescribe medications, and can give an athlete a sports massage. A sports massage can help relieve the pressure around the sciatic nerve, and can be beneficial for any other sports injuries. An athlete might also consider doing simple exercises to alleviate the lower back pain, which can help provide flexibility to the muscles, and take pressure off of the sciatic nerve. An athlete should focus on back exercises and leg exercises, since these are the specific regions that sciatica hits the hardest. If an athlete gets proper treatment, then he or she will be back playing sports within a matter of a week or two.

So, if you have been involved in some physical activity or exercise and start experiencing a sharp, hot pain down the back of your leg, then you are probably the unfortunate recipient of sciatic pain.  The following video will give you some suggestions for immediate treatment and, hopefully, some relief.

Back Pain and Sciatica

If, however, you are not a lot better in a few days, then you probably need to see a doctor who may prescribe some physical therapy and some pain medication.  Back pain and sciaticaare not fun, so don’t be afraid to seek some professional medical help to lessen your suffering and give you some relief.

To view the original source of this article, please click here.

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Filed Under: Back Pain Medications, Better Back News, Chiropractor Medicine, Chronic Back Pain Management, Cold Therapy Treatment, Low Back Pain Specialist, Lower Back Pain Remedies, Orthopedics Surgeon, Primary Causes of Lower Back Pain, Sciatica Nerve, Treatment Options Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Back Pain Specialist With New Procedure

December 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There are many different causes of back pain and as many ways to treat those causes as described in the article below by a back pain specialist.  Dr. John Shiau also describes a new procedure that he has been perfecting that can be of help to back pain sufferers whose pain is located in a specific area of the body.

Did you know back pain is the second most common reason patients visit their physician, trailing only the common cold? Back pain may stem from a variety of issues, including injuries or chronic conditions. This can be a painful and debilitating ailment that previously often was treated with lengthy, traumatic surgery.

Fortunately, this is no longer the case, and new, innovative medical procedures are available to relieve pain.

Back Pain Specialist

Back Pain Specialist

Some back pain derives from the sacroiliac (SI) joint, located in the bony pelvis between the sacrum and ilium. The pelvis acts as a central base through which large forces are transferred and dissipated. The primary role of the SI joint is to provide stability for the pelvis and bear the load of the upper body. It is commonly reported in clinical literature that up to 25 percent of all lower back pain is caused by the joint.

There are risk factors associated with lower back pain and many are directly associated with lumbar disc injury. They include smoking, poor physical condition, positive family history and occupational lifting.

The cause of SI joint pain is likely a disruption of the movements between the left and right SI joints, from either too much or too little movement. Symptoms of SI joint disruption and dysfunction include: Pain in the lower back, pelvis/buttock, hip/groin and lower extremities, including numbness, tingling and weakness; poor sleeping habits; unilateral leg instability, and sitting problems.

How is it determined that the patient is suffering from SI joint pain and not another ailment? A physician will deliver an injection with either fluoroscopic or CT guidance to ensure a needle is accurately placed in the joint.

If, following the injection, the pain has decreased a significant amount, it can be concluded the SI joint is either the source or a major contributor to lower back pain. If the level of pain does not change, the SI joint is not the primary cause.

LESS INVASIVE OPTION

If the injection proves your pain is the former, then minimally-invasive surgery may be the solution. The iFuse implant system requires a small incision and uses a guide pin to place titanium implants across the SI joint. The small implants are designed to stabilize the joint and prevent improper movement, allowing stable healing through minimization of micro-motion.

Generally, three iFuse implants (small, titanium rods approximately the size of your small finger) are used in the procedure. In contrast to the placement of screws across the SI joint, the iFuse implants are designed to maintain their implant position over time.

Post-operatively, you will need to use crutches, a cane or a walker for three to six weeks, depending on your doctor’s recommendation. He or she will advise you on resuming daily activities as healing and symptoms allow. Depending on your occupation, you may be able to return to work at this time. You will also need to have X-rays taken at six months and one year to assess progress.

If you suffer with back pain and are looking at options to relieve that pain, surgery should usually be your absolute last choice.  But if you are considering surgery, then the less invasive that surgery is the better.  Talk to more than one back pain specialist and get various opinions before making your final decision.

To view the original source of this article, please click here.

 

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Filed Under: Back Surgery Procedures, Better Back News, Low Back Pain Specialist, Lower Back Pain Remedies, Orthopedics Surgeon, Primary Causes of Lower Back Pain

Back Pain Muscle

December 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Back pain can be caused by several things, among those strained muscles or muscle spasms.  But what you may not know about is how your back pain can be impacted by the piriformis muscle.  This little known back pain muscle is explained in the following article as well as how it can impact your back problems.

Low back problems resulting in sciatica certainly get their fair share of publicity. In fact, they’re the most frequently diagnosed conditions e  ach year in the United States.

But what you may not know is that many cases of buttock and leg pain are caused by the piriformis muscle. It’s a muscle that lives deep inside your hip joint which can become tight or spasm and cause pain in a very similar fashion to sciatica.

Back Pain Muscle

Back Pain Muscle

If you have pain in this area you should be examined at your first available opportunity to prevent a sudden worsening of the disorder. Because diagnostic accuracy is necessary to produce the best clinical outcome possible, your clinician will need to perform a variety of clinical tests to both your hip and back before initiating treatment of any kind.

Piriformis syndrome can be extremely painful and can linger for months. It can substantially impact your daily life in the absence of formal treatment, so read on to see some of the more common features of piriformis syndrome and whether or not you need to be seen in a clinic.

Piriformis syndrome, unlike sciatica, often worsens throughout the day. Sciatica is classically caused by mechanical problems in the low back that frequently ease with a little movement, a change in position or with walking. But because piriformis syndrome is muscular, it will likely worsen with increasing activity.

Symptoms are typically felt deep in the buttock in addition to other places in the leg. Classically, symptoms of sciatica emanating from the low back migrate to different places in the leg throughout the day. Piriformis symptoms tend to show up more consistently in the same place without much variation.

If you have stiffness anywhere in your hip you’re a candidate for acquiring the condition. If you have trouble getting your shoes on, crossing your legs when you sit or experience stiffness when bending forward, you’re going to have to take some steps towards regaining your mobility.

“Throbbing” and “toothache-like” pain are the two most common symptoms associated with piriformis syndrome. You may get a sharp pain or two if you move the wrong way, but generally speaking, most people describe piriformis syndrome with adjectives that suggest it feels unrelenting.

A limp is a telltale sign that you need to get checked out. It indicates that the surrounding musculature of your hip, leg and trunk are unable to maintain your normal gait. Limping invariably leads to more limping and thus more pain, so get checked out quickly — a limp can be notoriously difficult to chase away.

Don’t sit directly on your wallet. Where your wallet sits in your seat pocket is exactly where the piriformis muscle lives. Prolonged compression on the muscle will pinch a portion of the sciatic nerve — which lives right underneath the muscle — and give you a case of piriformis-induced sciatica.

If you have ever had sciatic pain, then you know how much discomfort the piriformis muscle can cause.  Educating yourself about this back pain muscle can hopefully help you prevent some of your back problems.

To see the original source of this article, please click here.

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Filed Under: Chiropractor Medicine, Lower Back Injuries, Lower Back Spasms, Orthopedics Surgeon, Sciatica Nerve

Back Problems Disc Pain

November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you are dealing with back problems/disc pain caused by degenerative disc disease or perhaps a bulging disc, then the following article should be of interest to you.  There have been some new procedures developed to deal with back disc problems.  These procedures which are minimally invasive should make you able to get back on your feet sooner.

Back pain is a fact of life for millions of Americans, and only the common cold keeps more people home from work. And while most back pain will go away on its own, pain that’s caused by a torn or ruptured disc can be chronic, and debilitating. Before now, the only option for repairing a disc tear was traditional—or “open”—back surgery, a procedure that involved general anesthesia, a hospital stay, and a lengthy recovery. But today, surgeons can repair a torn disc with very little trauma, and have you back on your feet the same day, says Kaixuan Liu MD, PhD, chief surgeon at Atlantic Spinal Care in Edison, N.J.

The anatomy of a tear
When doctors talk about disc tears, they’re really talking about ruptures in the annulus fibrosus, the tough outer shell of each vertebral disc that contains a soft, gel-like inner material called the nucleus pulposus. Discs are located between each of the vertebrae in the spine, where they provide stability and act as shock absorbers.

Back Problems Disc Pain

Back Problems/Disc Pain

Disc tears are generally caused by disc degeneration, the standard wear and tear that our bodies experience as we age, and/or an accident or injury. If the nucleus moves into the torn space, the condition becomes a disc herniation. Some tears can go unnoticed, but if the nucleus comes into contact with the spinal cord or nerve roots, you’ll experience pain in the area surrounding the damaged disc and may also feel pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, or spasms in other parts of the body.

There’s also new research suggesting that the pain from a torn disc might be caused by a chemical process, Dr. Liu says. “Studies are finding that tears in the outer annulus stimulate the growth of blood vessels and nerve cells in the area, which help create an inflammatory reaction.”

Treatment options
While some patients experience significant disc tear symptoms, others have no sign at all, and can be completely unaware of the tear. Even in cases where a torn disc is causing pain or other problems, doctors recommend conservative measures such as rest and targeted exercises—surgery is always a last resort, most often necessary for only the roughly 10 percent of patients who don’t respond to conservative treatment.

But if you do require an operation, there’s good news, says Dr. Liu. “The surgery we use to repair disc tears today, called a discectomy, is much less traumatic than it was even a few years back.”
During a traditional “open” discectomy, he explains, the surgeon must make a large incision (typically 5 to 6 inches long) and then cut through the muscles surrounding the spine in order to reach the affected disc. Not surprisingly, that type of operation involved long recovery times and large doses of pain medication. (Open surgeries also involve an increased risk of complications, such as infection.)

Today, surgeons can repair the tear with a lot less trauma. “We perform minimally invasive surgery using a small video camera called an endoscope, which lets us see the spine and surrounding tissue without making a big incision,” he says. In an endoscopic discectomy, the makes a very small incision, typically less than ¾ in. long, then inserts a small metal tube about the size of a pencil. The tube allows him to use the camera and surgical instruments to make the repair without cutting or tearing the patient’s muscles, which ensures less pain and risk of complications and a much shorter recovery time. In fact, most people leave the hospital the same day, and are back to their normal activities in about six weeks.

“Endoscopic procedures are making it possible for patients to find relief from the pain of disc tears and other spinal problems without having to endure a painful, complicated surgery,” Dr. Liu says.

So, if you have been suffering with back pain due to degenerative disc disease or a ruptured disk and have been afraid to undergo back surgery, you might consider this new minimally invasive procedure.  It definitely sounds interesting and worth a try.  If you have had back problems due to disc pain, then this may be the way to go.

To see the original source of this article, please click here.

 

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Filed Under: Back Surgery Procedures, Better Back News, Lower Back Pain Remedies, Orthopedics Surgeon

Orthopedics Surgeon

August 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

OrthopedisOrthopedics surgeons (also known as orthopedists) are physicians who specialize in the skeletal structure of the body.  Orthopedists are able to prescribe not only medications, but also physical therapy.  There are also some injections that they can administer to certain areas of your joints and muscles to help relieve the pain. And, in the worst possible cases, orthopedic doctors will be able to perform surgery.

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Filed Under: Orthopedics Surgeon Tagged With: , ,