Sciatica

What is sciatica?

Symptoms of sciatica

Triggers for sciatica

Causes of sciatica

Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for sciatica

References

What is sciatica?

Sciatica is pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the longest and largest nerve in the body. It starts in the lower spine, goes through your hip and buttock and down your leg where it divides into two branches at the knee.

Sciatica it is rare in young people; a first episode is more likely between the ages of 30 and 50.

Most sciatica gets better within a few weeks and doesn't result in permanent damage.

Sciatica may be related to back pain.

Symptoms of sciatica

• Pain deep in the buttock. This pain can travel down the back of the leg, sometimes even as far as the foot.
• Shooting pains like an electric shock, from the buttock, down the leg.
• Cramping or burning sensation in the thigh.
• Tingling or pins-and-needles sensation in the leg or thigh.
• Numbness.
• Muscular weakness in the leg.
• Sciatica is usually felt in only one leg at a time.

Triggers for sciatica

• Sitting for long periods.
• Over-exertion.
• Back injury.
• Constipation.
• Squatting.
• Coughing.

Causes of sciatica

• Sciatica sometimes has a psychological component, which is probably related to the compromise of the nervous system due to a deficiency of B vitamins, particularly vitamins B1 (thiamine) and B6 (pyridoxine). Vitamin B12 may also be deficient. (1, 2)
  
  This may explain why sciatica often resolves after a period.
• Herniated or protruding disc. This is when one of the disks in the spine is bulging or out of place, and pressing on the sciatic nerve. It can also cause a muscle imbalance in the spine, and inflammation around the nerve.
• Copper deficiency.
• Lumbar spinal stenosis is the narrowing or constriction of the space in the spinal canal. People who suffer from stenosis have back pain most of the time, and leg pain and numbness start when they begin to walk. Spinal stenosis tends to affect older rather than younger people.
• Isthmic Spondylolisthesis is when a vertebra is dislocated from its normal position and pinches the sciatic nerve. In adults the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae (L4 and L5) are most commonly affected. It is usually caused by degenerative diseases of the spine such as osteo-arthritis.
• Bony growths (osteophytes) or loss of cartilage in joints.
• Pregnancy can be a cause of pressure on the sciatic nerve.
• The piriformis muscle can exert pressure on the sciatic nerve if there is muscular imbalance in the pelvic area. This is not a common cause. In about 12% of the population, the sciatic nerve passes through the piriformis instead of underneath it, making these people more prone to sciatica.

Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for sciatica

• Ensure you have vitamin B1 (thiamine) sufficiency, and B6 (pyridoxine) sufficiency. The best food source of vitamin B1 is unfortified nutritional yeast. Other food sources include grass-fed meat, fish and brewer's yeast.
• Eliminate all added sugar, refined carbohydrates, sweet foods, sweet fruit, dried fruit and fruit juice. Sugar inhibits vitamin B sufficiency. See the Grow Youthful diet.
• Inclined Bed Therapy (IBT). IBT costs nothing, has no side effects except good ones, and is sometimes miraculously effective. Why wouldn't you try it?

References

1. Song XS, Huang ZJ, Song XJ. Thiamine suppresses thermal hyperalgesia, inhibits hyperexcitability, and lessens alterations of sodium currents in injured, dorsal root ganglion neurons in rats. Anesthesiology. 2009 Feb;110(2):387-400. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0b013e3181942f1e. PMID: 19194165.

2. Mazevet D, Vassilev K, Perrigot M. Neuropathies par carence en thiamine sans intoxication alcoolique: deux cas de troubles vesicosphincteriens [Neuropathy with non-alcoholic thiamine deficiency: two cases of bladder disorders]. Ann Readapt Med Phys. 2005 Feb;48(1):43-7. French. doi: 10.1016/j.annrmp.2004.06.054. PMID: 15664684.