Sciatica

Sciatica is an excruciating condition known for sending electric-shock pain shooting down one leg. Without early treatment from Haddis T. Hagos, MD, DABA, DABA-PM, Brent Earls, MD, and the team at Pain Management Associates LLC in Greenbelt, Maryland, your first bout of sciatica may turn into a long-lasting condition. Their experts ease your pain with advanced interventional and minimally invasive procedures that treat the source of the problem. Don’t wait to get relief from sciatica; call the office or request an appointment online today.

What is sciatica?

Sciatica refers to pain and other symptoms you experience when you have a pinched sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerves leave your spinal cord in your lower back and go down both sides of your body, traveling through your buttocks and legs.

If the nerve becomes compressed, pain travels the length of the nerve, causing sciatica’s hallmark symptom: shooting leg pain.

Other nerves also leave the lower spinal cord and travel down your legs. If they’re pinched, you may experience similar symptoms.

What causes sciatica?

Though sciatica may occur after a traumatic injury, the shooting pain most often develops when a problem in your spine places pressure on the nerve. The conditions that commonly cause sciatica include:

• Herniated discs (causing 90% of all cases)
• Degenerative disc disease
• Bone spurs
• Thickened ligaments
• Facet joint arthritis
• Spondylolisthesis (slipped vertebra)
• Spinal stenosis

Spinal stenosis — narrowing of the bony canals — develops when herniated or degenerative discs, thick ligaments, or bone spurs protrude into one of the canals (openings or spaces) that allow the spinal cord and nerves to travel through the protective, bony spinal cord.

What are the symptoms of sciatica?

The primary symptoms are low back pain and pain that suddenly radiates down one leg. Though your pain may vary, most people find it excruciating and debilitating.

You may also experience tingling and burning in the same leg. If the nerve is severely damaged, you lose sensation and have leg numbness instead of pain.

How is sciatica treated?

After reviewing your medical history and completing a physical exam, your provider at Pain Management Associates LLC begins your treatment with conservative therapies. You may need to temporarily rest your back, take anti-inflammatory medications, or start physical therapy.

If you still have pain after conservative treatment, Pain Management Associates LLC specializes in many interventional and minimally invasive procedures that diminish your symptoms. A few examples include:

• Epidural steroid injections
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Nerve blocks
• Kyphoplasty (for osteoporotic compression fracture)
• MILD® (minimally invasive lumbar spine decompression)

A MILD procedure treats spinal stenosis. During the minimally invasive procedure, your provider makes a tiny incision in your lower back and uses specialized tools to remove the tissues pressing against the nerve.

When you need relief from sciatica pain, call Pain Management Associates LLC or book an appointment online today.