Sciatica is a medical term for a group of symptoms caused by spinal nerve damage or stress. Sciatica is the result of irritation of the nerve roots of the lower lumbar and lumbosacral spine. Nerve compression, pinching, crowding, or other mechanical issues that push the nerves together can cause serious and debilitating pain to patients. Most patients with sciatica are over 50, but these symptoms can affect people of any age or activity level.
The symptoms that make up sciatica include:
- Pain in the buttocks or the leg
- Burning or tingling in the leg
- Muscle weakness or numbness
- Difficulty moving the leg or foot
- Shooting pain that affects mobility
Sciatica usually only affects one side of the body. Serious cases can be a threat to your daily function—severe cases cause numbness and immobility in the legs and could require surgery to correct. Other cases involve the loss of bowel or bladder control, contributing to incontinence.
The Causes of Sciatica
In general, sciatica is caused by the degeneration of spinal structures. The below causes are all different manifestations of spinal degeneration: disc disease, crowding of the stenosis (the space in the spine that nerves travel through), and displacement of vertebrae over the bone below are issues known to create sciatica. While some people are more genetically prone to these diseases than others, spinal degeneration is often a result of repetitive stress and stress fractures. Warehouse workers, industrial employees, weightlifters, and anyone who exerts their back on a daily basis for years at a time is at risk for developing these conditions—and thus suffering from sciatica.
Common causes of sciatica include:
- Lumbar spinal stenosis
- Degenerative disc disease
- Spondylolisthesis (lumbar subluxation)
- Pregnancy
For most patients, readily available nonsurgical remedies and regular exercise will go a long way to relieving their pain. When the pain is severe or does not get better on its own, a more structured treatment approach, and possibly surgery, may be the best approach to finding pain relief and preventing or minimizing future pain and/or dysfunction.
The goals of non-surgical treatments are to relieve pain and any neurological symptoms caused by a compressed nerve root. There is a broad range of options available for sciatica treatment, including epidural steroid injections and eventually surgery if all conservative treatment fails.
Were Your Injuries Caused by Employment or an Accident?
Car accidents, construction accidents, and high levels of exertion in industrial jobs are all linked to compromised spinal function. The stress and high-energy impact of singular events (or hundreds of events over time) can result in severe sciatica—which many people don’t associate with their accident at first. At The Trial Professionals, our Orlando broken bone lawyers are highly familiar with the skeletal injuries associated with industrial work, car accidents, and repetitive stress.
Our legal team knows how these events relate to each other in order to cause severe pain—more importantly, we know what you’re going through and what you need for permanent and lifelong pain relief. Call us for a free consultation on your case—we are happy to answer your questions, inform you if you have a case, and tell you where to go from here.
Call 800-874-2577 or contact us online. We provide appointments at our offices in Orlando, Naples, and Fort Myers. We also offer appointments in Delray Beach, Daytona Beach, Miami, and Jacksonville.
