Back Pain Relief: Sciatica

Sciatica is one of the most common back pain complaints there is. Back pain relief can be elusive if the cause is not found and treated. This article is about the primary causes and what you can do to eliminate the problem.

There are two main causes of sciatica. They usually have to happen at the same time for the problem to develop. One is structural, the other has to do with a difference in bodies.

The sciatic nerve is a long nerve that runs from the lower back and down the back of leg. In some people, it moves through a hip flexer that can swell and press on the nerve causing the pain known as sciatica.

This muscle is the piriformis which wraps around near the top of the hip in back. If this muscle swells for some reason, sciatica pain often results. This is the most obvious cause of the pain. However, there are reasons this happens in the first place.

One of the main reasons has to do with a misalignment in the sacrum and the hip joints. In some people, this misalignment itself causes the pressure on the nerve. In others, the misalignment causes the piriformis to become inflamed which causes pressure on the nerve.

This misalignment can be corrected by mechanical means such as a chiropractic adjustment, or by adjusting yourself using Self Adjusting Technique. However, there is often a complication present, the root cause of the misalignment in the first place.

Many chronic misalignments have a root cause that has to do with a weakness in the ligaments and tendons in the area. Most often, this weakness is caused by a systemic weakness that develops from a poor diet, toxic environment, stress or a combination of these three factors.

The body easily deals with these issues if they are short term and don’t happen often, but that is rarely the case in this modern world. The ready availability of processed foods makes right diet difficult for many. Emotional stress is just around the corner pretty much no mater what you do. And, toxins are in the environment from pole to pole, nowhere is completely safe anymore.

These issues are all dealt with in similar ways. Toxins less so than emotional or dietary stress, but still requiring the same intervention by the body. Nutrients are used up as the body works to return to balance from these assaults. Many of the nutrients that are used to keep this balance are the same ones that the ligaments and tendons use to maintain their strength. Keeping systemic balance is more important to immediate survival, so the connective tissue is neglected.

The best way to prevent and cure sciatica is to avoid the stress that causes the problem in the first place. There are short term methods that can help, but cleaning up the diet, avoiding stress — or at least releasing it, and a program of detoxification are the best ways to have back pain relief from sciatica.

Tomorrow I’ll post some yoga stretches that can help with temporary relief from sciatica.