Sciatica

What is it?

Left gluteal region, showing surface markings for arteries and sciatic nerve.

The term sciatica is commonly used to describe pain traveling in the distribution of the sciatic nerve. Sciatica is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression and/or irritation of one of five nerve roots that give rise to the sciatic nerve or by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve itself. The pain and/or numbness is felt in the lower back, buttock, and/or various parts of the leg and foot. Although sciatica is a relatively common form of low back pain and leg pain, the true meaning of the term is often misunderstood. In addition to pain, which is sometimes severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness, pins and needles or tingling and difficulty in moving or controlling the leg.

How it causes pain:

Typically, the symptoms are only felt on one side of the body. Sciatica is a set of symptoms rather than a diagnosis for what is irritating the root of the nerve, causing the pain.

Can North American Spine fix it?

If patients have been previously diagnosed with Sciatica, this typically means there is a myriad of problems causing the pain/numbness symptoms. These problems can be treated by North American Spine Physicians with our minimally invasive natural-opening procedure.

How North American Spine treats it:

Bulges and herniations in discs are repaired with a laser, bony growths are removed with graspers, and other impingements are treated with various other tools—all through a tiny, minimally invasive catheter.



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