Hi, Naomi here, this blog post will be talking about sciatica, its causes and how massage can help.
For many, Sciatic pain is often experienced as sharp burning pain which travels form the lower back to different places within the legs, but those affected will often describe other sensations such as tingling, numbness and weakness.
This type of pain is often referred to as sciatica, for some it is something they experience every so often due to a nerve popping into the vertebrae and then popping back out. But for some it can be permanent experience that requires treatment.
Causes:
Often Muscular tension in the glute min area can cause pain and discomfort in the area, often this leads to trouble walking and is referred to by patients as sciatica, in this case Deep Tissue Massage to releive the tension should be sufficient….
The sciatic nerve pain is caused by an irritated or compressed nerve roots in the lumber spine. These nerves run all the way through the glutes and into the legs.
The irritation or compression can be caused by a few different spinal problems:
* Most commonly sciatic pain or sciatica is due to a misalignment of the vertebrae, which pinches the spinal nerve.
* Sometimes it can be caused by a herniated disc which is when the disc fluid seeps out and places harmful pressure on the nerve root.
* It could be due to degenerative disc disease which could lead to a disc moving and tilting causing the nerve root to be pinched.
* Another cause is Spinal Stenosis. Spinal Stenosis is another form of spinal degeneration but in this instance bony spurs begin to grow between the discs and the spinal canal causing pressure, trapping and impingement of the nerve roots.
* Nerve root injury can occur within the 5 vertebrae in the lumbar spine or the S1 also known as the sacrum. The pain will vary within the legs depending on where the damage and impingement has occurred within the lumbar.
* Muscle spasm can also be to blame in some instances, people who experience this type of sciatica often find that it is worse during the morning and gets better during the day. In this circumstance the muscles tighten in around the lower back and glutes impinging the sciatic nerve. Again, a Massage at YOU Massage Therapy will definitely be able to help this.
Another muscular trigger is the tightening of the piriformis which can end up tight stretched and pinching the sciatic nerve deep within the pelvis.
How massage can help:
Immediate action is required with regards to sciatica to prevent it causing any other problems and prevent it from worsening. Massage can help reduce tightness and muscles spasms which may be affecting the position of the vertabra. It can also aid the diagnosis by distinguishing between muscular and spinal related sciatica.
Massage can help sciatica in numerous different ways, for many it can be used to manage pain and reduce inflammation. Massage stimulates circulation which will help bring fresh blood into tight muscles which helps improve the quality of the muscle, therefore helping the muscles to do their job properly. Massage also stimulates the lymphatic system this helps the body flush out toxins and removed excess fluid and white blood cells from inflamed areas. Massage will relax tight muscles and can increase muscle quality and tone muscles that are being underused.
Often with muscular related sciatica bad posture is one of the main causes, overusing and under using certain muscles to stabilise, lift and generally moving will cause certain muscles to tighten and therefore can lead to the sciatica nerve roots being pinched either by the muscles themselves or by pulling a vertebrae slightly out of place. By loosening these muscles and improving the quality and tone of others can help improve posture therefore sciatic pain. Deep tissue massage and neuro muscular techniques are most commonly used to treat tense and potentially inflamed muscles but for some this can be very painful. In these circumstances a combination of lymph drainage massage and hot stones massage may be more suitable as hot stones can be used to treat tight and knotty muscles using heat instead.
