Sciatica And Numbness

There is quite a lot that sciatica patients have to bear with. Along with leg pain and back pain, they also have to deal with numbness. Essentially, numbness refers to complete lack of feeling. Numbness is often caused as a neurological effect of sciatica. It may be accompanied with weakness and a tingling sensation.

Sciatica is caused as a result of compression of the sciatic nerve. Due to the compression caused by various spinal structures, the spinal nerve tends to get inflamed. This results in back pain and leg pain. However, if the sciatic nerve is compressed for a long time, the nerve stops signaling all together. This in turn leads to numbness.

While the compression of the sciatic nerve is responsible for numbness, it is not the only cause. There are several other factors responsible for the same, ischemia being the most prominent. In simple words, ischemia is the process of reducing cellular oxygenation.

In its first stage, when the level of oxygen deprivation is extremely low ischemia affects only the nerve cells. This causes neurological symptoms such as tingling sensations and pain. However, when ischemia reaches advanced stages and the level of oxygen deprivation worsens, it begins to affect the muscular tissues. This is when the level of pain becomes more severe and stubborn too.

Like sciatic pain, sciatic numbness too can affect any part of the lower body. The numbness usually occurs in the areas that are served by the sciatic nerve or any of its branches. Since the sciatic nerve runs through the whole of the lower body, the lower body is susceptible to numbness. This numbness may be preceded or followed by a tingling sensation.

What you can do?
Numbness can be quite scary. But, the good part is that you can take steps to deal with the same. Since numbness is primarily a result of ischemia, it would be a good idea to keep yourself physically active. This will help increase the flow of oxygen within the body and hence keep numbness at bay.

Also, numbness is a consequence of sciatica. So, a treatment for sciatica would obviously help you cope with the numbness too. There are so many treatment options that you have as regards sciatica. Sometimes, ample rest coupled with gentle exercises can do the trick. In some cases, the patients may have to rely on OTC pain relief medications to battle the problem.

However, if the numbness gets severe and other line of treatments do not help, surgery may be the only solution. Talk to your health care provider about the same and he will be able to best advise you on suitable treatments.