Sciatica, a pinched nerve condition also known as lumbar radiculopathy, is common among many American adults, especially with increased age. If you have sciatica, you know how much a flare-up of your back, buttock, and leg pain symptoms can impede your ability to live your life to the fullest.
The team at Total Spine Institute helps new and existing patients living with sciatica from locations in Sherman Oaks and Calabasas, California. Let our team, under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Fox and Dr. Ryan Mattie, assist you with managing your sciatica symptoms of pain, numbness, tingling, and more.
These techniques are commonly recommended by the experts at Total Spine Institute for preventing and reducing the intensity of sciatica flare-ups.
Your sciatic nerve runs up each of your legs through your buttocks and up along the length of your spine. If your sciatic nerve becomes inflamed from sciatica, you end up suffering from painful symptoms due to the nerve being pinched. That’s why you may feel pain that seems to radiate from your legs through your back.
You can reduce the inflammation in your body by making changes to the foods you eat. Some foods, like sugars and refined carbohydrates, increase your overall inflammation levels. Other foods and beverages, like berries rich in antioxidants, green tea, ginger, nuts, fatty fish like salmon, whole grains, and vegetables.
Some micronutrients can reduce your inflammatory responses and risk of sciatica flare-ups. In addition to an anti-inflammatory diet, supplementing micronutrients like magnesium, vitamins D, E, B12, and B6, selenium, and zinc can also improve your outcomes if you’re prone to chronic sciatica flare-ups.
Both your body and your mind are involved in your sciatica pain. The team at Total Spine Institute can recommend therapies for both your body and your mind that can help you manage and control your sciatica symptoms.
Physical therapy exercises and stretches strengthen and release tension from the muscles that support your spine, relieving nerve pain over the long term. Water therapy exercise is often particularly helpful for chronic sciatica patients.
You may also be able to reduce the frequency and intensity of your sciatica symptoms by using mind-body techniques like meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy. You might be amazed how much your psychological and emotional wellness contributes to your freedom from physical sciatica symptoms!
Spinal injections with corticosteroid medications are another way of reducing inflammation in your body. We target your spinal injections in your lower back to address swelling and pain around your sciatic nerve. Your pain relief results can last for as long as three months. The number of injections you can receive may be limited due to other health factors.
The team at Total Spine Institute also uses regenerative medicine treatments like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection therapy to help your body kickstart regrowth, reversing the damage of chronic conditions like sciatica and making flare-ups less of a cause for concern.
To learn more about living a flare-up free life with sciatica, get in touch with Dr. Fox and the team at Total Spine Institute today. Schedule your initial consultation appointment over the phone now, or book online.
