Definition: Sciatica refers to pain/numbness/weakness due to sciatic nerve.
Symptoms: Main symptoms are buttock and/or thigh pain and/or calf pain made worse by extending the knees and ankle. The patient also may feel numbness/tingling of buttock and/or thighs and/or calf and/or foot.
Cause: Most of time simply due to nerve irritation caused by sedentary work, overwork, wrong posture, jerking, sprain, strain, and without any specific reason, but sometimes it may be due to some serious conditions such as disk herniation, lumbar spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, SI joint arthritis, piriformis syndrome, spinal tumors, etc.
Tests: If pain gets worse on walking on heels and toes then it is quite possible that you are suffering from sciatica. If pain is quite severe and persists for long time then one should consider investigations like MRI and CT myelogram to rule out disk herniation and spinal stenosis. X-rays are not useful because it is really hard to know these things on x-rays.
Things To Do: Avoid jerking, jumping, twisting kind of activities. Apply ice cubes warped in cloth around the areas of lower back just above buttock on the painful side for 15-20 minutes several times a day (at least 3-4 times a day) for three consecutive days. Start light stretching exercise when pain calms down little bit.
Homeopathic Treatment: Here I am describing some homeopathic medications which I have found useful in my clinical practice.
Berberis Vulgaris, Kali-Carb, Arsenic Album, Kali-Bichrom, Calcarea Carb, Lachesis, Kreosate, Sepia, Conium, Graphitis, etc.
Dear Reader please do not hesitate to mail me if you have any question or wants to know which homeopathic medicine will help you for your sciatica problem.
