Causes Of Back Pain - Sciatica

By Author: Adam Arnette
Total Articles: 11
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What is it?
The term sciatica is commonly used to describe pain traveling in the distribution of the sciatic nerve. Sciatica is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression and/or irritation of one of five nerve roots that give rise to the sciatic nerve or by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve itself. The pain and/or numbness is felt in the lower back, buttock, and/or various parts of the leg and foot. Although sciatica is a relatively common form of low back pain and leg pain, the true meaning of the term is often misunderstood. In addition to pain, which is sometimes severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness, pins and needles or tingling and difficulty in moving or controlling the leg.

How it causes pain:
Typically, the symptoms are only felt on one side of the body. Sciatica is a set of symptoms rather than a diagnosis for what is irritating the root of the nerve, causing the pain.

Can it be fixed?
If patients have been previously diagnosed with Sciatica, this typically means there is a myriad of problems causing the pain/numbness symptoms. ...
... These problems can be treated by highly trained physicians with a minimally invasive natural-opening procedure.

How it can be treated:
Bulges and herniations in discs can be repaired with a laser, bony growths are removed with graspers, and other impingements are treated with various other tools—all through a tiny, minimally invasive catheter. The most unique thing about this specialized type of procedure, is that the physician can visualize the problems as he travels longitudinally up multiple levels in the spine, and fix them with just one procedure.

Lawrence B. Rothstein is a graduate of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio and The Ohio State University School of Medicine (1987). He completed his internship, residency in Anesthesia, and fellowship in Interventional Pain Management at the Cleveland Clinic where he was named Chief Fellow. He is board certified in Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.