What is sciatica pain?
Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 11 March 2009 09:21
Sciatica pain is not an illness in itself, but a symptom of serious spinal problems. Unfortunately it is a rather frequent issue seen in the consultation room and one the first signs of serious defects of the lower spine.

The nerves go down from the brain to the lower part of the body through the vertebral column. Between the vertebrae - this is how the single members of the vertebral column are called - are soft spongiform rings that form the cartilage. This cartilage separates the vertebrae from each other and allows the nerves to exit the spinal chord and reach their respective destination.

When either the vertebrae or the cartilage in between are damaged or out of their normal position, pressure will be exerted of the nerve roots at their exit points from the spinal chord. If this pressure is strong enough, nerve roots can be irritated, damaged or in the worst case even severed.

Sciatica pain is the pain resulting from pressure to nerves connected to the sciatic nerve or in very severe cases even to the sciatic nerve itself, resulting in irritation or damage to these nerves.

The sciatic nerve and the nerves connected with it exit the vertebral column between the lumbar vertebrae 4 and 5 and the sacral vertebrae 1 to 3. The single vertebrae are named according to their position in the vertebral column and given numbers. So in the case of the sciatic nerve and the nerves connected to it, we speak of L 4/5 and S 1-3. These vertebrae are located in the lowest part of the back and the pelvic region.

The sciatic nerve itself is the longest and biggest nerve of the body. It starts in the lower back, and follows along the pelvis and then down all through the leg. It supplies the skin of the leg, the muscles of the back of the thigh, and those of the leg and foot.

Any damage to the sciatic nerve therefore has obviously severe consequences for the functionality of the legs and the feet. Any irritation of this nerve will usually lead to serious pain as a first indicator that something is wrong.