Sciatica

The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body, formed by spinal nerve roots L4, L5, S1, S2, and S3. Irritation of the sciatic nerve can lead to pain that radiates from your low back to your buttock and down the back of your leg. Some people with sciatica will experience numbness, tingling or muscle weakness.

不要忽視坐骨神經痛病徵，痛症嚴重可致癱瘓

絕大多數的坐骨神經痛患者會有腰背痛病徵，腰椎旁邊有明顯的抽痛、灼痛、鑽痛等等。常見病徵包括：

下背部、臀部和腿部的中度至重度疼痛。
下背部、臀部、腿部或腳部麻木或虛弱。
疼痛隨著運動而惡化；運動力喪失。
腿部、腳趾或腳部有“針刺狀”的感覺。
姿勢的改變可能會加重或減輕疼痛。坐下、試圖站起來、長時間站立、向前彎曲脊柱、扭轉脊柱和/或咳嗽時，坐骨神經痛可能會感覺更糟。步行、在骨盆後部區域使用熱敷或進行骨盆鍛煉時，疼痛可能會得到緩解。

痛楚最先從臀部開始，然後沿著小腿後外側伸延至腳背及下肢。如果忽視不理，可能會造成腳部肌肉萎縮，腳踝乏力，影響步行及大小便機能。嚴重時還可能令下肢癱瘓，或要接受手術治療。

長期受坐骨神經痛影響的患者因為經常令馬尾神經受壓，有機會令會陰部位麻木，影響排便或排尿功能。嚴重患者還可能會有下肢癱瘓的情況出現，如情況加劇時更可能會有大小便失禁等情況，嚴重影響日常生活及個人自理能力。雖然坐骨神經痛並不是病症，是由其他病症引起的病徵。但此症狀亦可能對人體及生活有非常大的影響，所以絕不能輕視初期症狀，延誤治療的後果可以非常嚴重。

Delays in treatment: a great danger to patients

For severe cases, complications like absence of lower limb reflexes and muscle atrophy would exist. For chronic cases, conditions would deteriorate and develop Cauda-equina Syndrome which may cause incontinence.

Why sciatica hurts

Sciatic Pain may be caused by prolapsing intervertebral disc, osteophytes or intervertebral foramen stenosis would cause compression on the nerve roots. In addition, sports injury, repetitive motions and improper posture would also give rise to sciatic pain.

如何預防坐骨神經痛?

預防坐骨神經痛需要從生活習慣開始：

在站立、坐著甚至睡覺時練習良好的姿勢，以盡量減少對下背壓的壓力。
減肥，如果超重，減輕你體重對神經的壓力。
停止吸煙，吸煙可能會導致椎間盤問題。

Taming the pain of sciatica

The type of Spine and Physiotherapy therapy provided depends on the cause of the patient's sciatica. A sciatica treatment plan may include several different treatments such as ice therapies, ultrasound, TENS, and spinal adjustments.

Spinal adjustments free restricted movement of the spine and helps to restore misaligned vertebral bodies to their proper position in the spinal column. Spinal adjustment helps to reduce nerve irritability responsible for causing inflammation, muscle spasm, pain, and other symptoms related to sciatica.