Don't wait any longer to find relief for your sciatica.
Sciatica is a painful condition that affects the sciatic nerve, one of the longest nerves in your body. It runs from your lower back through your hips and buttocks down each leg. This condition causes discomfort, pain, numbness or tingling in these areas.
While some people may experience only mild symptoms, others can have severe pain that radiates down their legs and makes it difficult to walk or sit for long periods of time. This condition can occur due to several different factors, such as:
This condition is caused by narrowing of the spinal canal, which can put pressure on the sciatic nerve.
When a disc in the spine herniates, it can press against and irritate the sciatic nerve.
This occurs when muscles located between the vertebrae of the lower back constrict and cause pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Understanding the symptoms of sciatica is crucial in order to seek appropriate medical attention and get effective treatment. Here are the common symptoms of sciatica and how they can impact your daily life.
When the sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated, it can cause pain that radiates from the lower back to the buttocks and down one or both legs. This pain is often described as a sharp, shooting, or burning sensation and can be accompanied by numbness, tingling, or weakness in the affected leg.
Numbness in the legs is a common symptom of sciatica and is often accompanied by other symptoms such as pain, tingling, and weakness. The numbness can be felt in one or both legs and may extend from the buttocks down to the feet.
The numbness is caused by the compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve, which disrupts the nerve signals that are responsible for sensation in the legs. When this happens, the brain may receive a signal of numbness or a loss of sensation in the legs.
One common symptom of sciatica is difficulty standing up after sitting for an extended period of time. This is because sitting for a long time can cause compression of the sciatic nerve, leading to inflammation and irritation.
When a person stands up after sitting for a while, the pressure on the nerve is suddenly released, causing pain and discomfort. This pain can also be accompanied by numbness or tingling sensations in the affected leg.
The weakness in muscle groups is caused by the compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve. The muscles that are affected will depend on which part of the nerve is affected.
For example, if the nerve is compressed in the lower back, it may cause weakness in the muscles of the foot or ankle. If the nerve is compressed in the buttocks, it may cause weakness in the muscles of the thigh or calf.
This weakness can be mild or severe, depending on the extent of the compression or irritation of the nerve. In some cases, the weakness may be accompanied by pain, numbness, or tingling sensations in the affected area.
Compression of the sciatic nerve can cause the muscles in the affected area to become tight and tense, leading to muscle spasms. These spasms can range from mild to severe and can cause discomfort, pain, and even difficulty with movement.
Muscle spasms in the lower back, buttocks, and legs are common in sciatica. These spasms can occur spontaneously or be triggered by certain movements or activities. In some cases, the spasms can be so severe that they cause the affected individual to experience a sudden, sharp pain in the affected area.
When the sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated, it can cause pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness in the lower back, buttocks, and legs. Inflammation of the muscles surrounding the sciatic nerve can worsen these symptoms by adding pressure to the already compressed nerve.
The muscles surrounding the sciatic nerve can become inflamed due to various reasons such as overuse, injury, or strain. Inflammation causes the affected muscles to swell, become tender, and painful, which can exacerbate the pain caused by sciatica.
Hip pain is a common symptom of sciatica because the sciatic nerve runs through the buttocks and down the back of the leg, passing near the hip joint. When the nerve is compressed or irritated, it can cause pain in the hip joint, as well as in the buttocks, lower back, and leg.
The severity of hip pain in sciatica can vary from mild discomfort to severe, sharp pain that makes it difficult to move or stand.
A compressed or irritated sciatica nerve can cause inflammation and muscle tension in the surrounding tissues. This tension can cause the muscles in the hamstrings and calves to become stiff and inflexible, making it difficult to move the legs and perform activities such as walking or running.
The stiffness in the hamstrings and calves can also lead to additional strain on the lower back, exacerbating the underlying sciatic nerve compression or irritation. In some cases, this can create a vicious cycle of pain, stiffness, and muscle tension that further aggravates the sciatica symptoms.
Though symptoms of sciatica can be managed through traditional treatments, such as physical therapy, stretching, and medications, more advanced patients may benefit from stem cell treatment for this condition. This treatment is a form of regenerative medicine that involves injecting stem cells directly into the affected area to help promote tissue repair and regeneration.
Stem cell treatment can help decrease inflammation, reduce pain, and promote healing in the affected area. This treatment has become increasingly popular as a non-invasive and effective method to help relieve the symptoms of this painful condition. It has been used successfully in many medical conditions due to its potential regenerative properties.
Two specific stem cell therapies that have shown great promise in treating sciatica are High Dose PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) and High Dose BMA (Bone Marrow Aspirate). Both of these treatments involve harvesting cells from the patient’s own body and then injecting them into affected areas.
High Dose PRP and BMA treatments are emerging as effective therapies for sciatica, offering promising results with minimal risk.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) refers to autologous blood samples that have been processed to have platelet concentrations that are 10-30 times higher than baseline levels using our lab protocol. The use of PRP in regenerative medicine has received significant interest, due to its ability to deliver high concentrations of growth factors precisely and non-invasively to an area in need.
PRP procedures involve injecting the body’s own healing factors (platelets) into the injured tissue using image guidance with fluoroscopy and MSK ultrasound. This procedure can be used to treat a variety of orthopedic conditions, including joint instability, minor arthritis, ligament, and tendon injuries, and strains.
More than 30 randomized controlled trials have been carried out on the effectiveness of PRP to support the body’s ability to heal naturally by stimulating the stem cells within the targeted area. In the case of PRP for sciatica, reviews have shown that PRP treatments can improve the native functionalities of the spine.
Stem cells are an essential component of the human body and play an important role in the repair of injured bones, ligaments, tendons, and other tissues. However, when we age or suffer an injury, the body may become unable to deliver enough stem cells to the area in need.
To help with this, bone marrow concentrate procedures at Orthagenex use imaging guidance to deliver concentrated bone marrow containing stem cells to the area in need. This encourages the body’s inherent ability to heal itself by replenishing the cell population in the injured area.
In practice, bone marrow concentrate procedures are carried out by cannulating the bone near the pelvis with a trocar, a sharp-tipped device. This provides a narrow tunnel that can be used to collect samples of the bone marrow’s liquid component, which is rich in stem cells.
This new treatment option may provide relief from chronic sciatica symptoms like pain and numbness down the leg.
If you’re struggling with sciatica and traditional treatments have not provided the relief you need, consider consulting with Orthagenex to learn more about how regenerative orthopedics may be able to help. Don’t let sciatica hold you back from living your life to the fullest – take the first step towards decreased pain and spinal health.
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