Sciatica Problems

Sciatica is the term given to pain down the leg, which is caused by irritation of the main nerve into the leg, the sciatic nerve. This pain tends to be caused where the nerves pass through and emerge from the lower bones of the spine (lumbar vertebrae). Much of the advice regarding this condition is the same as that for low back pain.
Symptoms
In sciatica, there is a pain down into the leg, which travels below the knee, and may involve the foot. There may be numbness and there may be weakness of the lower leg muscles.
These symptoms may come on their own, but are often combined with low back pain. The order in which the symptoms appear may vary. Sometimes the back pain comes before the sciatica, and sometimes will follow.
Red Flags
As with low back pain, there is a group of features (the Red Flags) which doctors use to highlight the need to act more quickly, because they may suggest a problem which is not as straightforward as simple back pain or sciatica. If you fit into one of these groups or are concerned, you should see your doctor soon:
· You are younger than 20 or older than 55 when you get the problem for the first time.
· The pain follows a violent injury, such as a motor vehicle accident.
· The pain is constant and getting worse.
· The pain is in the back of the chest.
· You have had cancer in the past or at present.
· You are on steroids.
· You are a drug abuser, or have HIV.
· You are generally unwell in yourself.
· You have lost significant weight recently.
· You continue to have great difficulty bending forwards.
· You have developed a number of problems in your nervous system (e.g. numbness, loss of power, etc).
· You have developed an obvious structural deformity of your spine.
Anyway, it is probably wise to see your doctor if you develop sciatica. Certainly you should consult him or her if you are not able to adequately control the pain with simple over the counter medications, or if the pain carries on for more than two weeks.
Causes
The most common cause of true sciatica is a "slipped disc". The discs (or inter-vertebral discs) are the cushions that separate the bones of the spine (vertebrae). Your doctor may refer to a slipped disc as a prolapsed intervertebral disc (PID) or a herniated nucleus pulposus.
The intervertebral disc looks a bit like a draughts/checkers piece in shape. The ring around the outside is tough and fibrous, and the center is rather more like the consistency of a chewy sweet. These discs allow for some flexibility between the bones of the spine, and also act as shock absorbers.
The pressures within the discs can reach high levels when we bend or twist, even without carrying a heavy load. If we add to that a heavy load, especially held out at arms' length, the pressures rise even higher.
If part of the fibrous outer ring of the disc is rather weaker than the rest, the softer center (nucleus pulposus) may push its way through, bulging outwards. If this bulge presses against a nerve which is running from the main, central nervous system to one of the legs, it causes symptoms in

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