Thankfully.

When people ring me to book a place in any of my Pilates classes, I always ask them about back and leg pain on the phone…any mention of sciatica-type problems and my ears prick up like a hound’s and I insist they get medical clearance before I accept them. I’ve lost a few potential clients that way, but n

Lots of people come to me with sciatica, and so I’ve been doing some research on the subject. It was really interesting, so I thought I’d write an brief article about it. I’ve missed out all the long Latin words that describe it in Doctorspeak as I could neither spell nor pronounce them!

Just about everyone knows what the term “sciatica” means. Mention the word and people start grimacing and rubbing the backs of their legs…most of us have felt that awful, stabbing pain at one time or another. Like a bolt of lightning, sciatica makes you yelp and stop whatever you’re doing! Luckily for me , the only times I ever experienced it was during pregnancy, but I know people who are plagued by it, and it’s no joke. Actually, neither’s pregnancy. Nothing natural about childbirth is what I say!

Sciatica is actually a set of symptoms, rather than a diagnosis in itself, and can be caused by several things…some not serious and some very serious indeed. This is why, if you get sciatica, you MUST get it checked out by a health professional (doctor, physiotherapist or chiropractor) before you try and self-treat. The cause could be anything from a tight muscle in your bottom to a slipped disk or even, at worst case scenario, a tumour. That last is rare, by the way. Thankfully.

When people ring me to book a place in any of my Pilates classes, I always ask them about back and leg pain on the phone…any mention of sciatica-type problems and my ears prick up like a hound’s and I insist they get medical clearance before I accept them. I’ve lost a few potential clients that way, but no

t the term “sciatica” means. Mention the word and people start grimacing and rubbing the backs of their legs…most of us have felt that awful, stabbing pain at one time or another. Like a bolt of lightning, sciatica makes you yelp and stop whatever you’re doing! Luckily for me , the only times I ever experienced it was during pregnancy, but I know people who are plagued by it, and it’s no joke. Actually, neither’s pregnancy. Nothing natural about childbirth is what I say!

Sciatica is actually a set of symptoms, rather than a diagnosis in itself, and can be caused by several things…some not serious and some very serious indeed. This is why, if you get sciatica, you MUST get it checked out by a health professional (doctor, physiotherapist or chiropractor) before you try and self-treat. The cause could be anything from a tight muscle in your bottom to a slipped disk or even, at worst case scenario, a tumour. That last is rare, by the way. Thankfully.

When people ring me to book a place in any of my Pilates classes, I always ask them about back and leg pain on the phone…any mention of sciatica-type problems and my ears prick up like a hound’s and I insist they get medical clearance before I accept them. I’ve lost a few potential clients that way, but n

ing pregnancy, but I know people who are plagued by it, and it’s no joke. Actually, neither’s pregnancy. Nothing natural about childbirth is what I say!

Sciatica is actually a set of symptoms, rather than a diagnosis in itself, and can be caused by several things…some not serious and some very serious indeed. This is why, if you get sciatica, you MUST get it checked out by a health professional (doctor, physiotherapist or chiropractor) before you try and self-treat. The cause could be anything from a tight muscle in your bottom to a slipped disk or even, at worst case scenario, a tumour. That last is rare, by the way. Thankfully.

When people ring me to book a place in any of my Pilates classes, I always ask them about back and leg pain on the phone…any mention of sciatica-type problems and my ears prick up like a hound’s and I insist they get medical clearance before I accept them. I’ve lost a few potential clients that way, but n

why, if you get sciatica, you MUST get it checked out by a health professional (doctor, physiotherapist or chiropractor) before you try and self-treat. The cause could be anything from a tight muscle in your bottom to a slipped disk or even, at worst case scenario, a tumour. That last is rare, by the way. Thankfully.

When people ring me to book a place in any of my Pilates classes, I always ask them about back and leg pain on the phone…any mention of sciatica-type problems and my ears prick up like a hound’s and I insist they get medical clearance before I accept them. I’ve lost a few potential clients that way, but n

Thankfully.

When people ring me to book a place in any of my Pilates classes, I always ask them about back and leg pain on the phone…any mention of sciatica-type problems and my ears prick up like a hound’s and I insist they get medical clearance before I accept them. I’ve lost a few potential clients that way, but nothing’s worse than someone turning up for their first class and gaily announcing that they sometimes get “a bit of leg pain” which causes numbness in their toes…At which point I lose the will to live!

The sciatic nerve is the longest in the entire body and runs roughly from the middle of your spine down through your buttock and right down the back of your leg. Any pressure on it anywhere down its length can cause the stabbing ache of sciatica. Without getting too technical (because we’re into medical territory here) there are four main causes of sciatic pain:

Slipped Disc

When you have a herniated (slipped) disc in your lumbar spine – your lower back – this causes pressure in the sciatic nerve, which is close to the spinal cord. So you have the double misery of lower back pain and sciatica too. A similar thing can happen with age-related wear and tear to the spine. Maybe there’s something to be said for being a Borg. Or a Cyberman. Then again, maybe not!

Stenosis

This is a narrowing of the spinal canal, often associated with age (though sometimes pregnancy can cause it). Again, pressure is put on the sciatic nerve, resulting in pain being felt in the back and/or leg.

Piriformis syndrome

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