Herniated Disc and Sciatica Pain - What is the Connection?

Is your sciatica pain common to herniated disc? If so, how do you get pain relief now?

There certainly are a lot of different things that can go wrong with our backs. One of the worst problems that we can have, however, is if we have a herniated disc, especially if it is irritating the sciatic nerve. A herniated disc occurs whenever the padding that exists between the individual vertebrae begins to break down and eventually ruptures or protrudes. This can cause enough pain on its own but there are times whenever the bulging material will press against the sciatic nerve, either pinching it or irritating it in some way or another. This can cause a lot of suffering for the individual that has these kinds of problems.

You might be interested to know that there is some controversy over exactly what is going wrong in this particular case. Some doctors will refer to it as a ruptured disc while others may refer to it as a torn disc or perhaps even disc disease. Regardless of what they are calling it, however, you are probably interested in what can be done in order to alleviate some of the symptoms that you are experiencing. Although this will have a lot to do with the different diagnosis that you get, there are some things that can be done in order to take some of the pressure off of the sciatic nerve.

The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve that exists in the body. Starting in the lower back, it runs through the area of the buttox and then down into the legs. Since it is such a large nerve and covers a lot of ground inside of your body, there are a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong with it. Typically, the pain will occur because of problems that are experienced in the lower back. If this nerve is pinched or irritated in some way, perhaps through a herniated disc, the pain may be localized or it may even travel down into your legs. In order for you to get rid of the pain that you are experiencing, you need to remove the pressure from the sciatic nerve.

One thing that you may be told to do is to use hot and cold treatments on this area of your back. This is a very common thing whenever it comes to herniated discs and they can actually help to ease some of the pain by reducing swelling. In the case of sciatica pain and a herniated disc, however, more may be needed in order for you to totally overcome the problem.

There are several types of physical therapy that you may have to go through in order to overcome the pain. Typically, this is accomplished through stretching and at times strengthening exercises that are done in the presence of a qualified physical therapist. There are also some specific exercises that you may be able to do at home in order to help speed along your recovery process.

Sciatica pain is something you won't want to live with for an extended length of time. Effective treatment is available now that will ease your sciatica pain sooner than you might think.