Sciatica Treatment Near Me in New York

Are you experiencing hip pain that radiates into your back and down your leg on one side? You could have sciatica. In this article, we discuss the causes, symptoms, and diagnosis of the condition and how to seek sciatica treatment.

If you and your doctor determine you need sciatica surgery in New York, a spine specialist for sciatica can help.

What Is Sciatica?

Also known as lumbar radiculopathy, sciatica occurs when your spine puts pressure on the sciatic nerve. The nerve runs along your lower back, hips, and down into each leg. Being the same width as your finger, it’s the largest nerve in the body.

The condition is often the result of a separate underlying condition, and 5 to 10% of people with lower back pain also have sciatica. Fixing the problem with your spinal nerves may also reduce or eliminate your sciatica problems.

What Causes Sciatica?

The following problems are the most common sciatica causes.

Wear and Tear

As we age, the discs between our vertebrae deteriorate and dry out, putting pressure on the spine and sciatic nerve.

Back Injury

A bulging or herniated disc can put pressure on the nerve or leak spinal fluid, which then inflames the sciatic nerve. Bone spurs and other issues can also cause sciatica, depending on their location. A herniated disc causes about 90% of sciatica problems.

Infection or Tumor

While rare, an infection within the hip or spinal cord can cause inflammation in the sciatic nerve. The pressure from a growing tumor also causes sciatica.

The Symptoms of Sciatica

Sciatica generally affects only one side of the body.

Pain

Doctors define sciatica by the pain it causes. However, the pain can manifest in several ways, such as the following:

• You feel constant pain in the affected leg or one side of the buttocks. The pain rarely affects both legs.
• Many patients feel worse pain while sitting.
• The pain feels like a burning or tingling and is often more than a “dull ache.”
• You may feel a sharp stabbing pain when you try to stand or walk.
• The pain can radiate down into the foot or toes but rarely occurs in the foot alone.
• Sneezing or coughing might aggravate the pain.

Weakness

While less common, some patients feel numbness, tingling, or weakness in the leg affected by sciatica.

How Doctors Diagnose Sciatica

Before seeking sciatica treatment in New York, you must obtain a diagnosis. The doctor uses the following procedure:

1. The doctor conducts a physical examination in which they establish your medical history and determine your symptoms and current medications.
2. In addition to the physical examination, the doctor might perform a neurological exam.
3. Your provider might order imaging tests, such as an X-ray, MRI, or CT scan. The scan can help determine the location of the nerve pressure or the underlying condition. 

Your Options for Sciatica Treatment in New York

What is the best treatment for sciatica pain? You and your doctor can devise a treatment plan from the following options:

• Over-the-counter pain management: For mild to moderate cases of sciatica, NSAIDs such as ibuprofen can provide enough pain relief to go about your daily life.
• Oral cortisone: Oral steroids, such as Prednisone, can treat mild forms of sciatica.
• Steroid injections: For more severe forms of sciatica, the doctor can inject steroids directly into the spine.
• Exercise: Certain exercise routines can help strengthen your core muscles and relieve the pressure on your spinal discs and sciatic nerve.
• Surgery: Approximately 80 to 90% of sciatica patients recover without needing surgery. As an elective surgery that increases the quality of life, you should consult your doctor about its benefits if other treatment options don’t work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions about sciatica.

What Are the Risk Factors for Sciatica?

The risk factors for sciatica include age, weight, and lifestyle. Consider the following:

• Age: Sciatica presents most frequently between the ages of 35 and 55.
• Weight: Since obesity causes more pressure on the spine, patients who are overweight are more likely to suffer back problems and sciatica.
• Lifestyle: A sedentary lifestyle can increase your chances of sciatica because sitting compresses your spine and puts more pressure on the sciatic nerve. Smoking also increases your risk of sciatica because of the inflammation it causes.

Can I Prevent Sciatica?

You can help prevent sciatica by minimizing your risk factors. Take regular breaks from sitting to stand or walk and exercise consistently to strengthen your muscles. Stretch daily to maintain flexibility and avoid back injury.

Manage your weight with a well-balanced diet and quit smoking. Not only will this reduce your risk of sciatica, but it improves your overall health and quality of life.

What Are My Surgical Options for Sciatica?

The most common surgical options for sciatica address the herniated disc, which causes most cases of sciatica. Surgical options for herniated discs include laminotomy (removing the disk), artificial disc surgery, and spinal fusion. 

Can I Ignore Sciatica Pain?

Most people can effectively ignore sciatica. With proper pain management and light exercise and stretching, most people experience recovery in four to six weeks. However, you should still manage the pain to reduce disturbing your daily life.

If sciatica pain lasts more than six weeks, seek help from a spine specialist.

Can Sciatica Reoccur After Treatment?

Acute sciatica can reoccur or may come and go, lasting only a short period. Doctors call these instances flare-ups, and they often occur from poor posture while sleeping, sitting, exercising, or having sex.

The same methods you use to reduce your risk of sciatica can also help reduce the frequency of flare-ups. During a flare-up, practice pain management, good posture, and light stretching.

Conclusion

If you’re experiencing lower back, hip, and leg pain, seek out sciatica treatment. We can diagnose your spinal problems and work with you toward a better quality of life with less pain. When you notice sciatica symptoms, reach out to your doctor to determine the cause.

Our doctors accept most insurance plans, including workers’ compensation, no-fault, and PIP. Same-day appointments may be available.

We can help reduce sciatic nerve pain and develop treatment options.

Sciatica Pain Treatment

Sciatica generally alludes to pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve, which branches from your lower back through your hips and buttocks and down each leg.  Sciatica most often occurs when a herniated disc, bone spur on the spine or narrowing of the spine (spinal stenosis) compresses part of the nerve causing inflammation, pain and often some numbness in the affected leg.

Although the pain associated with sciatica can be severe, most cases resolve with non-operative treatments in a few weeks. People who have severe sciatica that’s associated with significant leg weakness or bowel or bladder changes might be candidates for surgery.

For most cases, Sciatica only affects one side of the lower body and the pain often radiates from the lower back all the way through the back of the thigh and down through the leg.  Some combination of the following symptoms is most common:

• Lower back pain, if experienced at all, is not as severe as leg pain.
• Constant pain in only one side of the buttock or leg, but rarely both the right and left sides.
• Pain that originates in the low back or buttock and continues along the path of the sciatic nerve – down the back of the thigh and into the lower leg and foot.
• Pain that feels better when patients lie down or are walking, but worsens when standing or sitting.
• Pain that is typically described as sharp or searing, rather than dull
• Some experience a “pins-and-needles” sensation, numbness or weakness, or a prickling sensation down the leg.

SCIATICA

WE CAN HELP!

Treatment for sciatic pain ranges from hot and cold packs, medications, exercises, over the counter pain relievers and alternative remedies.  In some cases, a steroid medication is injected into the space around the spinal nerve. Research suggests these injections have a modest effect when irritation is caused by pressure from a herniated, or ruptured disc.

If pain from sciatica persists for at least six weeks despite treatment, minimal invasive procedures may be an option. The goal for these surgeries, is to remedy the cause of the sciatica. For example, if a herniated disc is putting pressure on the nerve, then surgery to correct the problem may relieve sciatica pain.  Our spinal experts will diagnose the severity of your ailment, and put together the right treatment plan to get you back to living your life pain free!