Having mild to severe pain in your lower back, glutes, or legs? Often, when back pain occurs in adults, we jump to the conclusion of having a slipped disk or torn muscle, but the reality is that you might just have Sciatica. Not too sure what Sciatica is? Stick around as we chat about this topic further and look at how you can treat sciatica with home remedies and self-care in conjunction with being treated by a professional.
We always recommend consulting a medical professional before starting any new treatments to ensure that it is the best course of action.
What Is Sciatica?
When you have Sciatica, this means you either have an injury or irritation to your sciatic nerve, which runs down your leg on both legs. With Sciatica, you’ll often experience pain along your back and butt or even down your leg. You might also experience a numbing sensation or pins and needles.
As the longest nerve in your body, the sciatic nerve is around 2cm thick. This is because it isn’t one nerve by itself – it consists of a collection of nerves that stem from the spinal cord. Due to the nerve running all the way down your leg, you could feel sciatic pain anywhere in that area.
How Is Sciatica Caused?
Sciatica can be caused by anything that affects the nerve. It can also be a result of anything else that happens to the five nerves that make up the sciatic nerve as well. Some common conditions that can cause sciatica are:
Injuries to muscles or joints along the area
Herniated disks
Spinal Stenosis
Foraminal stenosis
Osteoarthritis
Pregnancy
Spondylolisthesis
Growths, cysts, or tumors
Home remedies For Sciatica
In most cases of Sciatica, you can treat it at home with some basic home remedies. However, in more severe cases like growths or a tumour, the solution would have to follow the treatment plan for these conditions first, but home remedies can alleviate pain at least. Here are some home remedies we’d suggest trying:
Cold and heat
Cold and heat treatment is a great solution to ease the pain caused by sciatica. A great way of applying this method of sciatica treatment at home is by interchanging the pack you’re using from cold to hot, with stretches in between each session. For instance, use an ice pack for the first 7 days. Leave it on the painful area for 15 to 20 minutes and no more, and remember to wrap the ice pack so it doesn’t touch your skin directly. Cycle this for about an hour and a half and do some light stretching between sessions to keep your muscles loose.
Another convenient way to relieve pain is by doing an ice massage. Freeze water in a paper cup and then tear away the rim at the top of the cup. You only need to tear away a little bit of the rim to expose the frozen water. Then, slowly rub the end on the painful area. Give it a little pressure so that it massages the area properly without hurting you.
Once you’ve completed your first week with the ice pack, you can switch to using a heat pack. Heat packs warm up the area, allowing blood vessels to expand and improving blood flow. This allows your body to transport oxygenated blood and nutrients to the painful area faster, speeding up recovery.
As you did with the ice pack, cover the eat pack to ensure it isn’t in direct contact with your skin. Ensure it is sufficiently warm but not too hot. Apply it for about 15 minutes, and then lightly stretch that area. Do this a few times until the pain has mostly gone.
Stretching and moving
Many people usually resort to resting when they feel the effects of sciatica. This is probably because they don’t know their diagnosis properly and think they have pulled a muscle or slipped a disc. While resting is helpful with muscular injuries, it doesn’t help much when you have sciatica. You need to get moving and allow your muscles to loosen. So, get up, stretch out your body properly, and move around the house.
Moving is probably the most important thing you can do to help your pain.
Many people with sciatica put themselves on bed rest or lean back in an easy chair, thinking that this will help them to heal. It doesn’t!
It’s okay to rest for the first couple of days after sciatica pain starts; after that, staying in bed usually makes things worse, not better. Moving helps your pain in several ways:
There might be some discomfort as you move around. If so, don’t push too hard. We want the muscles to strengthen, not get worse. If you do notice that the pain is getting worse, then it’s time to consult your doctor.
Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers
Purchasing non-prescription pain meds can also be an effective method of managing the pain. You’d want to look for NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and medications such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve) that can help reduce inflammation and relieve pain. You can also Acetaminophen can also be used to manage pain if NSAIDs are not suitable for you.
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to confuse your back, hip, or leg pain for an injury like a pulled muscle or displaced disk. However, knowing the root of the issue can help you treat it more effectively and save you a trip to the doctor or two. Consider your symptoms in comparison to the symptoms of sciatica, and if they match, practice some of these home remedies to relieve pain as you heal.
