Learn more about sciatica
Sciatica
Back pain affects roughly 1 in 6 Australians. That’s roughly 3.7 million people! Back pain can occur anywhere on the spine, but lower back pain is the most common. Occasionally some people can develop sciatica causing severe pain in the back and down the back of the leg.
Our osteopaths will examine your lower back and surrounding areas to determine the cause, provide a diagnosis and give you a plan to get you moving again.
What is sciatica?
Sciatica is a condition that can produce pain in the back, down the legs or both along the path of the sciatic nerve.
The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the body that originates in the lumbar spine and runs down the back of the thigh and lower leg.
The pain that people can experience differs in severity from a mild constant ache to an intense burning pain or electric sharp pinching pain. Pins and needles or numbness in the legs can also occur with muscle weakness also occurring in the affected leg. Sciatica typically occurs in only one leg.
Your osteopath will try to find the cause of your pain to adapt a treatment approach specific to you.
What causes sciatica?
Sciatica is caused by a compression of the sciatic nerve at some point in it’s pathway. This usually occurs in the spine from a disc herniation or a bone spur in your spine.
We will determine to find through our examination your specific cause and develop a treatment plan specific to your sciatica.
Possible causes
What causes your pain?
These are some of the specific conditions that impact your sciatica.
Sciatica at The Osteo Collective
How we help.
Assessment
Your practitioner will start by asking you questions about your pain. This will be followed by a physical assessment testing the range of motion of your lower back, palpating the surrounding muscles and performing some special tests. We will discuss with you our diagnosis and develop a plan with you to help you and your pain.
Treatment
Treatment with our osteopaths is a hands-on approach. After determining where, why and how you have developed your pain we will use a combination of soft tissue techniques, stretching, mobilisation and other joint related techniques. We also consider what you do day to day and develop a home treatment plan for you to implement.
Prevention
No one wants regular, recurring nagging chronic pain. Our exercise physiologist is the person to help with prevention. Improving your strength, function and flexibility, along with lifestyle changes will help prevent any future re-injuries.
Ask us anything
Free call with an osteopath.
Which service is best for me? Can you help with chronic low back pain? Do you treat sports injuries? People ask us all kinds of questions before visiting The Osteo Collective. Do you have a question for us? Get in touch.
