5 Signs You Should Seek Help for Your Sciatica

If there’s one thing that most everyone who’s had sciatica can agree on, it’s that the pain and discomfort are singular. Even the slightest movement can lead to jolting pain in your low back that often travels into your leg.

Unfortunately, sciatica affects a lot of people — about 40% of Americans experience this nerve compression issue at some point in their lives.

Fortunately, there are solutions for sciatica that range from physical therapy (PT) to interventional injections, and our team here at Revive Spine and Pain Center offers the full suite.  

So if you’re wondering whether to just soldier through your sciatica or to get help, we want to provide you with some helpful rules of thumb.

Sciatica at a glance

Before we review a few key signs that it’s time to seek our expertise, we want to briefly review what we’re up against with this common type of low back pain. 

Your sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in your body. It originates in your lower back and travels down each of your legs to your heels. If something in your spine — often a herniated disc — compresses this large nerve, you can feel pain around the compression, as well as symptoms that travel down the length of the nerve and into one of your legs.

Sciatica red flags

Whether it’s your first go-round with sciatica or you’ve been down this road before, we want to discuss home care as well as professional care.

In some cases, sciatica goes away on its own with conservative treatments, such as icing, stretching, physical therapy, and over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications. 

But all too often, sciatica can prove to be stubborn and might not respond as quickly or as fully as you’d like to these conservative, at-home steps. So if you’re experiencing any of these signs, it’s time to schedule an appointment with us:

Ongoing pain

If your sciatica responds to at-home treatments, you should see gradual results over 4-6 weeks. If you’re not seeing any improvement in the first week or two, it’s time for us to take a look.

Pain that worsens

By the same token, if your sciatica pain worsens while you’re trying to treat it at home, then you need a higher standard of care.

Trouble with mobility

If the pain in your lower back or in your buttocks and legs is preventing you from moving around, we can help alleviate that pain to get you moving freely again.

Weakness in your leg

Some numbness, tingling, and pain in one of your legs is common, but if you’re feeling any weakness in your leg or your foot is dropping, please come see us, as the nerve compression may be severe.

You can’t do your PT because of pain

One of the challenges of treating sciatica is that one of the best remedies — stretching and strengthening through PT — can be difficult because of the pain in your low back. If this is the case, we can relieve that pain so you can continue your PT work.

Treating sciatica

If you’re struggling with sciatica, we offer solutions that include:

• Lumbar epidural injections to combat pain and inflammation
• Medical acupuncture
• Regenerative medicine to boost disc health
• Rehabilitation

Our goal is to provide you with nonsurgical interventions to help you move past the discomfort and get on the road to better spine health.

If you’re at all on the fence about whether to seek help for sciatica, come see us so we can provide you with answers and relief. To get started, contact us at one of our conveniently located offices in Marlton, Hamilton Township, Northfield, or East Brunswick, New Jersey.