Sciatica affects as many as 4 in 10 adults. While prevalent, this type of pain isn’t understood that well. Unfortunately, that means many people needlessly live with disabling sciatica pain. At Pain Care Boise, renowned pain management physicians William Binegar, MD, and Christopher Vaughan, MD, understand the true roots of sciatica pain. They use the latest, state-of-the-art, minimally invasive procedures to correct the cause of your sciatica so that you can live without the pain. Call the Downtown Boise, Idaho, office today or click the online appointment scheduler now.
Sciatica is radiating pain in your lower back, hips, and thighs. The pain begins in the bottom part of the back, then shoots down one leg. It usually stops just below the knee. Sciatica isn’t a condition itself but a unique pain that usually starts because of damage or changes to the spine.
Sciatica is named for the sciatic nerve, the main nerve in the lower back. While sciatica can happen because of sciatic nerve irritation, in most cases, the irritation actually happens in the nerve roots.
The leading causes of nerve root irritation are:
Sciatic nerve irritation is most commonly caused by piriformis syndrome. This syndrome begins with buttock muscle spasms that affect the nearby sciatic nerve.
Another possible cause of sciatic nerve irritation is ischiofemoral impingement, a narrowing between the femur (thigh bone) and the lower back part of your hip bone. This happens in the buttocks, triggering sciatic nerve irritation.
Posterior femoral cutaneous nerve entrapment, which shows up in a branch of your sciatic nerve, can cause pain that shoots down your thigh. Unlike most sciatica pain, pain from this type of nerve entrapment usually stops in the upper leg.
Sciatica usually improves significantly with pain management. The exact treatment you’ll have will depend on the origin of the sciatica.
If your sciatica is caused by nerve root irritation, several treatments are available. Epidural steroid injections reduce the irritation for as much as a few months at a time. If spinal stenosis causes your nerve root irritation, you’ll need a procedure like Vertiflex® or MILD® for spinal decompression or Minuteman® to stabilize your spine.
If you have sciatica-related back pain after surgery, you might need a spinal cord stimulator (SCS) or dorsal root ganglion (DRG) implant to regulate or mask pain signals.
If you have sciatic nerve irritation due to piriformis syndrome, steroid injections directly into the muscle can be very effective. For ischiofemoral impingement, steroid injections and physical therapy to improve leg rotation are both available.
For posterior femoral cutaneous nerve entrapment, the two main treatments are steroid injections in the nerve branch and peripheral nerve stimulation.
From injections to minimally invasive surgery, the Pain Care Boise team offers the most advanced pain management services in the area. Call the office today or click the provided link to arrange your appointment now.
