When pain, numbness, or sensations of weakness flare up in your lower back, buttocks, legs, or feet, your symptoms might be caused by a nerve compression condition known as sciatica. In this condition, compression or irritation of your sciatic nerve results in painful, often intermittent, symptoms.
Can sciatica be relieved with noninvasive approaches like physical therapy instead of always requiring surgery? And, will sciatica always recur, or can this condition be resolved for good?
At Total Spine Institute of Sherman Oaks and Calabasas, California, Dr. Andrew Fox, Dr. Ryan Mattie, and our team of spine surgery and pain management experts are here to address your painful sciatica. Here’s what you need to know about using physical therapy to treat this type of nerve pain condition.
Sciatica symptoms often flare up for a few weeks at a time. And, frustratingly, just when you thought your sciatica problems were gone for good, the pain, numbness, or tingling returned with another flare-up.
The right treatment for your sciatica depends on the underlying reason for your condition. However, you might also be interested to know that physical therapy almost always plays a role in your treatment plan! Targeted exercises and stretches take pressure off your sciatic nerve, help to reduce swelling and inflammation, and build up core strength to prevent recurrence.
Sciatica can occur because of issues with your spine, like disc herniation. If this is the case for you, you may need surgery or other procedures to repair your spine. Physical therapy is likely to be part of your recovery plan.
Sciatica can also happen when inflammation or other factors cause your sciatic nerve to be irritated or compressed. Sciatica can even happen temporarily during pregnancy! That’s why it’s good news that physical therapy offers a great way to find relief without surgery.
Your provider at Total Spine Institute focuses your treatment on the most conservative approaches that are likely to work for you. That usually means starting with physical therapy, short-term pain management, and lifestyle changes to take pressure off your spine.
At the Total Spine Institute, we offer ultrasound-guided steroid and anesthetic injections and regenerative injections of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to help you heal. If physical therapy, stretching, and exercise aren’t sufficient to address the cause of your sciatica, you may need spinal surgery.
The team at the Total Spine Institute keeps your treatment as noninvasive as possible and uses minimally invasive and robotic-assisted surgery techniques.
The right treatment could resolve your sciatica for good. However, this condition tends to recur, especially as you age and especially if you have other risk factors like being overweight or frequently lifting heavy objects.
That said, the muscle strength you build through physical therapy and the strategies you learn for exercise, stretching, and improving your biomechanics can help you prevent or better cope with sciatica recurrence.
If you think your back, leg, or buttocks pain symptoms could be due to sciatica, contact the team at the Total Spine Institute to learn more about your condition and the right treatment plan to relieve your pain. If physical therapy is right for you, we’ll let you know!
Contact us online or over the phone today and schedule your initial consultation appointment.
