What is sciatica?

Sciatica is a cluster of symptoms that occur when you have a pinched sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerves leave your lower spine, go through your right and left buttocks, and travel down both legs.

A pinched sciatic nerve causes the classic symptoms of lower back pain and sudden pain shooting down one leg. The pain is often severe enough to stop you in your tracks.

Many people also have other symptoms in the affected leg, such as tingling, burning, numbness, and muscle weakness.

What causes sciatica?

Spine conditions causing a pinched sciatic nerve include:

• Herniated discs
• Degenerative disc disease
• Spinal bone spurs
• Thickened ligaments
• Facet joint arthritis
• Spondylolisthesis (slipped vertebra)
• Spinal stenosis

The muscles in your buttocks could also pinch the nerve, a condition called piriformis syndrome.

When should I seek treatment for sciatica?

Your sciatica may improve with gentle stretching and walking, but you should meet Dr. Upadhyay and get treatment when you have:

• Severe pain
• Pain lasting longer than one week
• Pain that’s worse when you move
• Leg numbness or weakness

You should seek immediate care if your sciatica begins after an injury or if you can’t control your bowel or bladder.

How is sciatica treated?

Dr. Upadhyay reviews your medical history and completes a physical and neurological exam. Then, he may perform electrodiagnostic testing or order diagnostic imaging to diagnose sciatica.

He starts your treatment with therapies to ease your pain and support mobility, such as medication, physical therapy, and spinal injections. If conservative care doesn’t help, you may need to consider minimally invasive surgery to take care of the underlying problem pinching the nerve.

Dr. Upadhyay specializes in spinal surgeries targeting the source of your pain, including:

Microdiscectomy and discectomy

These procedures ease sciatica caused by a herniated or degenerated disc.

Microdiscectomy refers to removing only the damaged part of a herniated disc, while a discectomy procedure eliminates the entire disc.

If Dr. Upadhyay removes the entire disc, he may replace it with a prosthetic disc or perform a bone fusion. Both procedures restore spinal strength and stability, but a replacement disc maintains natural movement.

Nerve decompression

Dr. Upadhyay specializes in several procedures that treat a pinched nerve by enlarging the space and removing structures pushing against the nerve, such as bone spurs.

Call Connecticut Advanced Spine today or use online booking to request a sciatica consultation.