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    Sciatica: By: Allison Brooks

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    Beta Wattimena
    Sciatica is caused by injury or compression of the sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve in the body. Common causes include a herniated disc pressing on the nerve root or inflammation of the piriformis muscle. Symptoms include low back pain radiating down the leg, worsened by prolonged sitting or standing. Diagnosis involves physical exams like the straight leg raise test and imaging like MRI. Treatment options progress from rest, ice, stretching and NSAIDs to surgery if conservative measures fail to provide relief from nerve pain and weakness.

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    Sciatica: By: Allison Brooks

    Uploaded by

    Beta Wattimena
    61 views12 pages
    Sciatica is caused by injury or compression of the sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve in the body. Common causes include a herniated disc pressing on the nerve root or inflammation of the piriformis muscle. Symptoms include low back pain radiating down the leg, worsened by prolonged sitting or standing. Diagnosis involves physical exams like the straight leg raise test and imaging like MRI. Treatment options progress from rest, ice, stretching and NSAIDs to surgery if conservative measures fail to provide relief from nerve pain and weakness.

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    Sciatica is caused by injury or compression of the sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve in the body. Common causes include a herniated disc pressing on the nerve root or inflammation of the piriformis muscle. Symptoms include low back pain radiating down the leg, worsened by prolonged sitting or standing. Diagnosis involves physical exams like the straight leg raise test and imaging like MRI. Treatment options progress from rest, ice, stretching and NSAIDs to surgery if conservative measures fail to provide relief from nerve pain and weakness.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    61 views12 pages

    Sciatica: By: Allison Brooks

    Uploaded by

    Beta Wattimena
    Sciatica is caused by injury or compression of the sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve in the body. Common causes include a herniated disc pressing on the nerve root or inflammation of the piriformis muscle. Symptoms include low back pain radiating down the leg, worsened by prolonged sitting or standing. Diagnosis involves physical exams like the straight leg raise test and imaging like MRI. Treatment options progress from rest, ice, stretching and NSAIDs to surgery if conservative measures fail to provide relief from nerve pain and weakness.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 12

    Sciatica

    By: Allison Brooks

    What is Sciatica?
    Injury to or compression of the sciatic nerve. Low back pain that travels down through the buttock and possibly into the leg.

    Sciatic Nerve Background


    Largest nerve of the body. Usually a combination of nerves roots that include: L4, L5, S1, S2, S3. Leaves pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen and passes through gluteal region, which then enters into the posterior compartment of thigh. Sciatic Nerve then divides into common fibular and the tibial nerve.

    Mechanism of Injury
    Herniated or slipped disc.
    The nucleus pulposus or jelly-like center of a disc can protrude and cause pressure on the nerve root.

    Piriformis syndrome.
    Inflammation of the piriformis muscle. Pinching of the sciatic nerve.

    Injections to buttock. Trauma to the buttock.

    Mechanism of Injury Continued


    Posterior dislocations or fractures to the hip joint. Aging
    narrowing of the nerve
    canal that contains the spinal cord

    Some rare causes of sciatic pain are: diabetes,


    pelvic infections, and various infectious causes of arthritis.

    Signs and Symptoms


    Described as shooting or tingling pain and sometimes numbness. Prolonged sitting or standing can worsen pain. Usually only occurs on 1 side of the leg. Weakness of muscles in the posterior thigh could be due to spasm, trauma, and inflammation. Weakness of the muscles can also show an abnormality in the patients gait.

    Palpation of Sciatic nerve


    Patient flexes hip, press firmly between the ischial tuberosity and the great trochanter The nerve is barely palpable but if injured it will become point tender.

    Special Tests
    Straight Leg Raising Test- must determine between sciatic nerve
    or tight hamstrings (positive sign for both is pain)
    To stretch the sciatic nerve elevate leg to where pain is and then dorsiflex the foot. If pain is reproduced with this motion, ask patient to locate the pain, depending on the type of pain, examiner will be able to make a differential diagnosis.

    Well Leg Straight Leg Raising Test


    Lifting uninjured leg produces pain.

    Sitting Root Test


    Patient sits with neck flexed and their knees extended, while hips are flexed at 90o. (pain is the positive sign)

    Further Testing to confirm sciatica would be:


    Spinal X-ray MRI CT Scan

    Management Options
    Rest Ice or Ice massage NSAIDS Moist Heat Stretching ***Long term nerve damage can occur if not treated promptly.

    Surgical Treatment
    Diskectomy- removal of a portion of the herniated disc that is irritating the nerve root. This surgery helps alleviate pressure and inflammation, if conservative management options such as the ones we just discussed do not relieve pain.

    Exercises
    Focus on exercises that strengthen and stretch the abdominal and back muscles for core stabilization. Decreases muscle imbalance, which can result in decreasing spasm and pain.

    Work Cited
    eMedicineHealth: Emergency Care and Consumer Health. Sciatica. Available at: http://www.emedicinehealth.com/sciatica/article_em.htm. Accessed March 15, 2007. Hoppenfeld, Stanley. Physical Examination of the Spine and Extremities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; 1976. MayoClinic: Diseases and Conditions. Sciatica. Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sciatica/DS00516/DSECTION=1. Accessed March 15, 2007. Magee, David J. Orthopedic Physical Assessment. 4th ed. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Saunders Elsevier; 2006. MedlinePlus. Sciatica. Available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000686.htm. Accessed March 15, 2007. Spine-Health: Spine Topics. What you need to know about Sciatica. Available at: http://www.spinehealth.com/topics/cd/d_sciatica/sc01.html. Accessed March 15, 2007.

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