Sciatica in New Melle, MO. If you have ever known the pain associated with sciatica, you know how difficult it is to find words powerful enough to convey the ferocity of pain it causes and just how disabling it can become. If you have been diagnosed with or believe you suffer from sciatica, or a condition that affects the sciatic nerve, seek the care of a medical professional right away.

Axes Physical Therapy is a group of multiple physical therapy treatment locations positioned near New Melle, MO and throughout Missouri. Our clinics specializing in movement health and owned and operated by our treating doctors are dedicated to providing you with sound, personalized, intelligent care for your sciatica or other movement complaints near New Melle, MO. Speak to a physical therapist in the New Melle area about sciatica care for you today or make an appointment online now.

What You Should Know About Sciatica

Sciatica describes the irritation of the sciatic nerve, the most extensive nerve in the human body. The sciatic nerve begins in the nerve roots in the lower spine to the pelvis, where it then reaches back to each buttock and travels down and through the back of each leg. Sciatica can be distinguished from general low back pain or other conditions because the pain from sciatica runs along the path of the sciatic nerve.

The term sciatica is not, in itself, a diagnosisas people commonly assume. In fact, sciatica describes conditions tied to the sciatic nerve that rear up when an existing medical condition causes the sciatic nerve to be irritated, inflamed, pinched, or compressed. Sciatica symptoms vary wildly, but often include various forms of pain, weakness, numbness, or tingling down the buttock and leg. While low back pain in constrained to the immediate area around the back (though other conditions affecting the low back and lead to tightness, imbalance, and overcompensation that causes additional physical problems), people with sciatica experience symptoms down into the glute area, hamstrings, calves, or feet.

Do I Have Sciatica? – Sciatica Symptoms

Each sciatica patient experiences symptoms differently. Your sciatica’s exact presentation depends on where the damage or pressure is along the nerve root. Sciatica typically includes symptoms like pain, loss of sensation, weakness, tingling, and pain that worsens when in certain positions.

The hallmark of sciatica is pain that follows the path of the sciatic nerve which begins in the lower spine and travels through the hips and posterior, down the back of each leg. Typically, a patient with sciatica will experience symptoms only on one side — either the left or right hip and leg. There are, however, exceptions, and some sciatica patients are affected on both sides. This is determined by the position of the compression or pinching of the nerve.

Pain is such a significant component of the sciatica experience for New Melle, MO sciatica sufferers. Pain from sciatica varies from:

• Sharp
• Jolting
• Shooting
• Burning
• Electric
• Stabbing
• Tingling

If you are suffering from the debilitating pain and other limiting symptoms of sciatica, get in touch with a medical professional with spine health expertise right away. Axes Physical Therapy’s New Melle, MO area physical and occupational therapists will guide you in your recovery and design a plan to return you to the life you want to live.

Common Causes of Sciatica

Most instances of sciatica are caused, in one way or another, by the irritation or inflammation of the sciatic nerve. These cases are nearly always successfully cured with physical therapy in the New Melle area designed to target the underlying cause of your sciatica symptoms, and some even heal naturally as time passes and you practice safe exercise and home care. However, for patients suffering from sciatica due to the direct compression of the sciatic nerve, more aggressive treatments like invasive surgery may be used.

Often, patients with conditions such as sciatica pain do not know what caused their pain to begin with. You may have been in an accident or developed nerve irritation over time. Whatever the case may be, our New Melle, MO area physical therapists have the clinical success and up-to-date evidence-based knowledge you need and deserve from your sciatica treatment professional.

Common Causes of Sciatica Pain

• Herniated disc
• Slipped disc
• Bone spur
• Spinal stenosis
• Piriformis syndrome
• Degenerative disc disease
• Spondylolisthesis
• Pregnancy
• Vertebral fracture

Risk Factors for Sciatica near New Melle, MO

Certain activities and conditions could put you at a higher risk of developing painful, restrictive, debilitating conditions like sciatica. Risk factors associated with sciatica include:

• Age. Over the years, the tissues in our bodies degrade over time.
• Weight. The back muscles in heavier individuals are forced to work harder to keep the body upright, and their spinal discs and other joints are under more pressure.
• Other medical conditions. Diabetic patients are suseptable to nerve damage, and joint-related diagnoses like osteoarthritis can result in pain and pressure on your spine and sciatic nerve.
• Occupation/Daily activities. Trades that require lifting heavy loads for long periods, frequent bending and twisting, or driving (causing the up-and-down movement and vibration of the body) can cause sciatica.
• Lifestyle. Lifestyle activities like a sedentary lifestyle or tobacco use can lead to inflammation and weakness.

What Sciatica Treatment Options Do I Have in New Melle, MO?

There are numerous treatments that are commonly used to treat sciatica patients. These treatments, ranging from conservative recommendations like cold and heat applications to surgical operations, vary in proven efficacy. Regardless of their respective disciplines, medical providers who work with sciatica can all agree that being physically active is an essential component of managing and treating sciatica. This directly contradicts previous advice to confine patients to bed rest, which we now know is not effective in addressing disabiity or pain in patients.

Ultimately, you must turn to a licensed medical professional before taking any actions related to your medical care. The physical and occupational therapists of Axes Physical Therapy in the New Melle, MO area have dedicated our careers to guiding individuals of all types in the New Melle, MO area to optimal movement health. In your case, that means studying your medical history, sciatica symptoms, and other key information. Your dedicated Axes Physical Therapy treatment provider near New Melle, MO will perform a free screening before treating you so that we can best grasp the big picture of your physical condition and formulate an individualized treatment plan for you.

In addition to a history of success in treating New Melle, MO area sciatica patients, our skilled New Melle area practitioners have what it takes to give you the care you need. We apply our knowledge and experience working with kinesiology and the musculoskeletal system toward providing people like you in New Melle, MO with many forms of care, including the following

• Shoulder Pain Treatment
• Back Pain Treatment
• Neck Pain Treatment
• Physical Therapy Clinic
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment
• Sciatica Treatment
• Sports Medicine
• Hand Pain Physical Therapy
• Foot & Ankle Pain Treatment
• Hip Pain Treatment

Types of Treatments for Sciatica in New Melle, MO

The medical community and especially medical professionals specializing in spine health and neurology recommend some of the following as treatment of sciatica for certain patients. Your primary care physician, New Melle, MO Axes physical therapist, and any other necessary medical professionals will work in tandem to provide you with the sciatica care that is right for you.

• Medications. There is some conflicting information surrounding which drugs are recommended for patients with sciatica, but as with any medications for any condition, every medication comes with risk. Largely used in mitigating the experience of sciatica symptoms, some drugs that can be used for sciatca patients include:
  • Anti-inflammatories
  • Muscle relaxers
  • Antidepressants
  • Corticosteroids
  • Anticonvulsants
  • Opiod pain medications
• Physical therapy. Physical therapy is an effecitve treatment for sciatica that should be included in most sciatica treatment plans. Your physical therapy will involve a wide range of treatment services that target comprehensive movement health and repair the underlying cause of your sciatica pain. Working with a physical therapist in the New Melle, MO area can help you reach freedom from pain, improve your range of motion, heal stronger, avoid permanent disability and nerve damage, and protect against future injuries or sciatica flair-ups. Your New Melle, MO physical therapist will provide care that works to improve your posture, bring your body into balance, increase flexibility, improve strength, and release pressure.
• Injections. In some cases, your provider might try administering one more more injections to the affected area. If you are considering injections for your sciatica, your options include nerve root blocks, which apply a steroid and local anesthetic directly to the root of the irritated nerve, or epidural injections, which deliver the steroid and anesthetic to the epidural space enveloping the nerve. Injections for New Melle, MO area sciatica patients are often used to temporarily aleviate the irritation of the nerve for the purposes of pain relief and potentially preserve movement abilities needed for daily living. Injection treatment effects can last anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months.
• Surgery. Because of the risk involved, a surgical operation is usually not considered unless you have severe symptoms or your condition has not responded well to more conservative approaches. There are a number of surgical procedures that can be used to address sciatic, such as a microdiscectomy to remove a herniated disc or a laminectomy where the surgeon removes part of the vertebral bones to remove direct pressure on your sicatic nerve. To maximize your chances of success, any procedures should be paired with pre- and post-operative physical therapy care.
  You should consider sciatica surgery if:
  • you have loss of bowel or bladder control
  • you have bone spurs, known as spinal stenosis, putting direct pressure on your sciatic nerve
  • you have severe neurological dysfunction
  • other treatment methods have not helped or are no longer effective

Benefits of New Melle, MO Physical Therapy for Sciatica

The medical community agrees that physical movement is one of the best things for someone with sciatica to do. Staying active, stretching, and performing exercises that target the source of your sciatica are proven, necessary in the treatment of sciatica for anyone in the New Melle, MO area.

Coincidentally, these are all major elements to any physical therapy care we provide New Melle, MO area sciatica patients through the Axes Physical Therapy network of physical therapy offices. By working with a physical therapist near New Melle, MO, you can strengthen and mobilize tissues in the lower back, pelvis, abdomen, buttocks, and thighs and find true relief from your sciatica.

Physical therapy for sciatica and other conditions is meant to:

• Improve functional movement
• Relieve sciatic nerve pain
• Reduce muscle spasms
• Restore function of the lumbar spine and the sacroiliac joint
• Improve mobility of the lower body
• Foster a better healing environment in the lower back
• Restore overall balance and proper posture in the back and legs
• Promote neurologic adaptations to reduce the perception of pain
• Prevent future pain flareups and permanent nerve damage
• Foster confidence in your ability to move pain-free

In order to restore your movement health and deliver you sustainable relief from sciatica pain, your Axes physical therapist in the New Melle, MO area might include a variety of different treatment modalities in your sciatica treatment plan, such as:

• Hot and cold therapies
• TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stiumlation
• Ultrasound
• Flexbiliby and strength exercises
• Joint manipulation
• Soft tissue mobilization
• Dry needling
• Education and training for posure, safe technique, and activity modifications

Trust your movement health care team at Axes Physical Therapy to identify the sciatica treatment modalities you would benefit from most. Your New Melle, MO physical therapist will act as an integral player in your full medical team to help you manage your sciatica symptoms, alleviate the underlying irritation of your sciatic nerve, and reclaim the strength, flexibility, and full range of motion of a healthy individual. Speak to a specialist in New Melle, MO now to learn about your sciatica treatment options, including a quality, tailored physical therapy plan.

Get Relief for your Sciatica in New Melle, MO Now

When the agonizing pain and infuriating limitations of sciatica get in the way of doing the activities that are important to you, get quality care for your sciatica right away. Receiving prompt and thoughtful physical therapy for your sciatica in the New Melle, MO area can relieve your pain and restore the movement you depend upon to go about your life.

Axes Physical Therapy offers accessible, convenient, and proven sciatica treatment near New Melle, MO. Our fifteen Missouri physical therapy locations make it simple for you to get quality care. Find the location nearest you or request an appointment online right now.