by Dr Fiona Bishop

Have you ever had pain shooting from your lower back down into your buttock and then down your leg, even reaching to your foot? Then you’ve probable had sciatica. This condition is due to pressure on the sciatic nerve, the longest nerve in the body. It can be due to straining the muscles in your lower back through bad lifting techniques. Sometimes it happens in pregnancy due to the pressure of the baby on your spine. A “slipped disc”, where one of the discs between the bones in your spine squishes out or ruptures, pushing on the nerve, is a more serious cause. Rarely it can be caused by tumours in the spine.

Typical symptoms include muscle cramps and burning or shooting pains anywhere from the butt down to the foot, numbness of the skin on your leg, weakness of the leg muscles, and sometimes little involuntary jerking movements of the calf or thigh muscles. It usually affects only one side.

Serious symptoms such as losing control of your bladder or bowels should prompt you to see a doctor urgently.

Treatment is aimed at relieving symptoms initially. Most cases will settle with painkillers, anti-inflammatories and acupuncture. Therapists such as physios, osteopaths and chiropractors may be able to help adjust your back to provide relief too.

Usually a CT or MRI scan will be ordered if your sciatica isn’t settling with the above treatment. Sometimes the sciatic nerve can be so badly compressed that the only option to relieve the pain is surgery.

Long-term prevention involves strengthening up the core muscles in your back, with exercises such as Pilates and swimming.