Sciatica Symptoms.

Many people suffer back injury and pain, though not all of these are sciatica. The main difference between other back pain and sciatica is the pain that runs from the buttock right through the leg, differing in intensity depending upon the individual cause.

In order to achieve a full diagnosis of the illness, X-rays and MRI may be used, and in my case, I was subjected to the Nuclear X-Rays because the re-occurence of the problem was so often as to cause concern and this treatment took a full and thorough picture of what was going on.

Symptoms differ so much from patient to patient, though are associated with a central theme that makes the practitioner look further to discover whether the problem stems from disc damage where the inner disc material is protruding and pushing against nerves, although this isn't the sole cause, and your symptoms may differ from other patients, in which case the hip area may be the reason for the illness.

Bad posture is something to look at as well, and if you feel the pain upon any kind of exertion or movement, trying to establish which movements trigger the pain can help you in trying to improve the sciatica.

The symptoms that point to sciatica are these:

*Pain down from the lower back that radiates down the leg.
*Pain when turning sharply.
*Pain down the leg when you lie in certain positions
*Pain walking although here, this should stem from the lower back area.
*Bladder weakness accompanying pain that radiates down the back of the leg
*Pins and needles in the legs and loss of feeling in legs.

What is frightening especially in older patients is that they often believe their problems to stem from circulation problems and fear deep vein thrombosis, as in my own case, and it was actually a relief to find that all the problems stemmed from sciatica and crural nerves being trapped.

Many mistake pain that radiates down the front of the leg for sciatica when in fact this is the trapping of another nerve which is called the crural nerve. It is similar in nature to sciatica although the only difference is that sciatica really only affects the back of the leg.

If you think that these symptoms fit your illness, do seek medical advice, as sciatic symptoms can be signals that your body does need help.

Learn more about this author, Rachelle de Bretagne.
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