Sciatica
Pseudo-sciatica is common. Fortunately, true sciatica is uncommon. Less than 0.5% of the low back pain sufferers experience sciatica – a pinch or entrapment of a portion of the sciatic nerve root as it exits the spinal column. The sciatic nerve goes down the leg and is made up of 5 nerve roots, the L3 L4 & L5 lumbar nerve roots and the S1 & S2 sacral nerve roots. Any of these nerve roots can get pinched by a herniated disc in the lower lumbar spine and can cause leg pain. Figure 3 illustrates an entrapment of the S1 nerve root by a herniation of the L5-S1 disc. Note the dull ache to shooting pain pattern, figure 4, follows the nerve from the sacroiliac joint, over the hip, down the posterior lateral thigh to the calf and heel. There is an area of numbness to pin prick, figure 5, in the back of the calf and the lateral heel, foot and toe. The ankle jerk reflex is also diminished or absent, figure 6. With pinching of S1 nerve the patient may have difficulty walking on their toes.
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Low back and buttock stretches
May 23, 2014 by manager • Newsletters
Stretching?
Stretching exercise have been around for centuries. Yoga, Tai Chi and Pilaties would not thrive today if they were not effective for more than just a blissful sense of wellbeing. Many of my patients have reported feeling better with more flexibility and less pain after regularly attending one of the above stretching classes.
In the last 100 years Western Healthcare has prescribed all manner of exercise for a host of health issues from heart disease to diabetes and back pain. Modern research has been able to analyze when and why some exercise are effective and when they are not. We know everybody is a bit different and that what works for one person may be ineffective or cause harm for the next. Your chiropractor can advise you on how, when and why to stretch different parts of the body for optimum therapeutic and lifestyle outcomes.
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