Sciatic Pain
The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body, almost the
size of a finger, and is composed of several nerves in the low back that join
together near the hip joint. This nerve traverses through the pelvic cavity and
down the backside of the thigh to innervate tissues in the thigh, lower leg, and
foot.
Inflammation of the sciatic nerve, know as sciatica, can be brought about by many causative factors including drug injections near the hip join, fractures or dislocations of the hip, misalignments of the low back vertebrae or sacroiliac joints, disc disorders or even prostate inflammations. The type of pain is as varied as its causes and may be perceived as tearing, sharp, numbing, burning, tingling, or prickling. Sciatica usually follows a pathway from the low back down the back of the leg. The pain however can also sometimes be felt down the side or even the front of the leg. In any case, usually the more severe the sciatica, the further down the leg the pain travels.
The pain can be so intolerable that even strong pain killers bring little or no relief. Its sufferers have a difficult time finding a comfortable position to sit in or stand in and may have periods of intermittent or restless sleep in acute cases. If sciatic pain persists over a long period of time, the leg muscles may begin to atrophy (shrink in size) and a characteristic limp may develop. Fortunately, most sciatic pain responds favorable to conservative therapy such as manipulation or distraction therapy.
