Sciatica Physio – Manchester

You must have heard of sciatic pain. It is very common and considered to be an agonising pain that can happen anywhere between the lower back to the toes. If you have felt it, you know just how debilitating it can be in your daily life.

Sciatic pain occurs when there is pressure on, or damage to, the sciatic nerve. It is often felt as lower back pain that shoots down the back of the leg and can cause problems such as numbness, pins and needles and sometimes even muscle dysfunction, such as “drop foot”.

 

How can Physiotherapy help sciatica and why choose us?

At Total Restore Physiotherapy, we often see cases of sciatica and they are easily diagnosed with special testing and knowledge of the problem at hand.

At times, our therapists will send you for an MRI scan to confirm our findings, but most of the time this is not necessary as the diagnosis of sciatic pain is very straightforward and hard to miss.

We are very skilled with lower back pain and nerve damage at our clinic, as it is a common injury and one we take pride on treating and improving our patients lives.

 

Sciatica Facts

• Sciatic pain usually only affects one side of the body
  
• Pain may come from the back but can shoot all the way down to the foot/toes
  
• The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body
  
• Only 10-15% of people with sciatic pain need surgery to improve their symptoms
  

Causes of Sciatica

Sciatic pain can be caused by multiple reasons:

• The most common cause is a disc prolapse (also known as a slipped disc or disc herniation).
  
• Lumbar degeneration
  
• Disc disease
  
• Bone spurs
  
• Spondylolisthesis
  
• Spinal stenosis
  
• Spinal tumors
  
• Piriformis syndrome
  
• Pregnancy
  

 

Symptoms of Sciatica

If you have Sciatic nerve pain it will be very obvious, because it is a pain so intense that can truly ruin your daily life. It can be excruciating if you do not seek help.

Some symptoms of sciatic pain are:

• Lower back pain
  
• Pain in buttock (mainly when sitting)
  
• Pain worse when back is flexed
  
• Hip pain
  
• Shooting pain down the leg (tingling, pins & needles)
  
• Numbness through the sciatic chain
  
• Weakness in the limb affected
  
• Drop foot – inability to bring your foot/toes towards you
  
• Constant pain down the back of your leg from the lower back
  

Physio Treatment for Sciatica

Some of the techniques we use when treating patients with sciatica are:

• Education & advice
  
• Postural analysis and advice
  
• Hot & cold therapy
  
• Electrotherapy
  
• “Hands on” treatment
  
  • Mobilizations
    
  • Deep/Soft tissue release
    
• Acupuncture
  
• Exercises in session and as a home exercise program
  
• Prevention advice and treatment plan
  

Self-help advice:

• Hot and cold packs – cold reduces inflammation and heat can help with bringing blood flow to the area and reducing pain
  

• Rest in a pain free position – do NOT push yourself too hard
  
• Keep active – Walk around and get moving
  
• Take painkillers if necessary
  
• Stretching – Can relieve nerve root compression
  
  • AVOID bouncing, jerking or twisting while stretching
    
  • Piriformis stretch
    
  • Mckenzie technique
    
• Neural flossing exercises
  
• If lifting, lift from your legs not your back
  
• Ask your partner or family member to massage your lower back to reduce back spasms
  
• Improve your diet and sleeping position
  
• Contact your Physiotherapist and get working on a treatment plan!
  

 

Call us on 0161 833 3008 if you are suffering with sciatica and want to make an appointment with one of our specialist trained physiotherapists. Our clinic is located in the centre of Manchester, 2 minutes walk from Deansgate, on St Ann’s Square.