Sciatica

Posted On: February 12, 2020

Sciatica sounds like something out of a Dicken’s novel. The sentence would be: Old Fezziwig suffered from occasional bouts of Sciatica. The name is from the Victorian area and is the result of doctors identifying that the pain going down their patient’s leg was from Sciatic nerve irritation.

Physicians to this day still see a lot of patients with Sciatic pain. Technically the patient has to have pain going down the lower extremity and it has to be confirmed with a Sciatic nerve tension test like the straight leg raise.

Unlike the 1800’s we now recognize that Sciatic pain commonly comes from Sciatic nerve root irritation in the lumbosacral spine. There are typically two age groups that suffer with this, the young adult and the older adult.

Younger individuals with Sciatic pain usually have it as the result of nerve root irritation from a disc herniation and older adults irritate those same nerve roots from degenerative spinal stenosis.

Both types often respond well to physical therapy. If therapy isn’t helpful epidural injections help about 50% of the time. Sometimes surgery is the only option. They key with managing this condition is utilizing a skilled therapy team to properly diagnose and treat this condition.

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North Shore, Dr. J and the staff were great. I started out with a pinched cervical nerve which was causing extreme pain and numbness in my arm. Surgery had been ruled out by the neurosurgeon after an MRI. My physical recommended a regimen of physical therapy which I undertook with NorthShore in November. At that time I had consistent pain in the range of 8-9 out of 10. I had trouble sleeping, driving and performing most normal daily activities due to the constant pain. I have now been through two series of physical therapy sessions with North Shore over a couple of months and the pain and numbness are completely gone. Based on my experience I would highly recommend North Shore for physical therapy treatment and the staff is extremely friendly and helpful as a bonus! Jon Heintzelman

Jonathan Heintzelman

All aspects of the rehab program were done with professionalism. Intake evaluation, exercise program, massage therapy and exit evaluation were all excellent and yielded excellent results for me. All of the staff are friendly and efficient. Dr. Johnson, Jeannette, Cyprian and Mary are friendly and make an otherwise difficult experience much more tolerable. I have gone to them on two occasions over the last several years for different injuries and, in both instances, my problems were resolved. I highly recommend them.

Lee Eddy

I was a patient 6 years ago, with lower back pain and herniation. My PT was excellent and I was back to exercise and resolution of pain and herniation. Recently I have had hip pain and and tingling down my leg. My evaluation with DR Johnson was very thorough and spot on. The PT with Dre was incredible. I am now pain free with a resolution of the tingling as well. I will definitely return for any future problems that may arise!

Barbara Bank