If you experience ongoing numbness, tingling, or shooting pain, sciatica might be the reason. At Hillcrest Pain and Spine in Lexington, Kentucky, board-certified pain management physician Ihab Labatia, MD, and his team diagnose and treat sciatica to make you feel more comfortable. Call the office to schedule an appointment or book one online today.
Sciatica is a condition that causes pain along your sciatic nerve’s pathway, which branches from your lower back through your hips and down each leg. It may affect just one side of your body, causing discomfort and other unpleasant symptoms. Treatment with Dr. Labatia offers sciatica pain relief.
Common symptoms linked with sciatica include:
Your symptoms may get worse with prolonged sitting, and they often affect just one side of your body. Loss of bladder or bowel function can also occur.
While sciatica can happen to anyone, some factors boost your risk of experiencing it. Examples include:
Using proper body mechanics and having good posture, as well as getting regular exercise, are ways you can reduce the risk of developing sciatica pain.
To find out if you have sciatica and develop an effective treatment, Dr. Labatia discusses your medical history, asks about your symptoms, and completes a physical exam. He may order blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, or nerve tests to make a final diagnosis.
Common sciatica treatments, depending on the cause and severity of your condition, include:
Cold or heat packs and sciatica-specific motions can reduce discomfort caused by sciatica. Dr. Labatia shows you which stretches and exercises to complete at home.
Physical therapy exercises and stretches with a licensed therapist can reduce sciatica pain and your risk of future problems.
Taking certain medications can relax your muscles or reduce inflammation and sciatica pain.
Steroid injections around an affected nerve root can reduce inflammation and discomfort linked with sciatica.
Radiofrequency ablation applies radiofrequency energy to nerves to reduce pain signals to your brain.
Spinal cord stimulators are devices Dr. Labatia implants beneath your skin to send electricity to the spinal cord for pain relief.
Surgery can alleviate pressure on compressed nerves due to bone spurs or herniated discs when other sciatica treatments haven’t worked.
To find out if you have sciatica or get treated for it, call theHillcrest Pain and Spine office or schedule an appointment online today.
