Sciatica is an inflammatory disease that affects the nerve roots in the spinal cord. The disease can be chronic or acute. At the same time, the latter part goes into a chronic form. Sciatica occurs not only lumbar, but also thoracic, cervical, shoulder. It is a mistake to think that the disease affects only the elderly. It happens in the young, but the older the person, the greater the risk of falling ill with sciatica. Can Massage Help with Sciatica?
Symptoms
Symptoms of the disease depend on the location where the nerve endings were affected.
- Cervical and cervical-shoulder – pain occurs in the neck area, headaches are frequent, there may be dizziness. There is discomfort in the back of the head and shoulders. Sometimes sciatica leads to problems with hearing, vision and coordination. To confirm such problems, you need an X-ray, which will show the presence of sciatica of the cervical vertebrae.
- Thoracic – the pain is localized in the chest area, it seems as if it is girdling the person.
- Lumbosacral – pain in the lower back and when walking, the person has difficulty bending over and returning to the starting position. There may be pain in the hip that radiates to the leg.
Methods of treatment
The first task in the treatment regimen for sciatica will be to reduce pain and physical discomfort. Such therapy is designed to alleviate the condition of the person, because it reduces his ability to work, interferes with an active lifestyle. If the pain syndrome is acute, it is especially important, because poor circulation leads to spasms in the muscles.
When choosing a treatment regimen for the disease, doctors are guided by the exact location of the pain. If you need to relieve pain quickly, you can use anti-inflammatory drugs of the nonsteroidal type. Blockades with painkillers can also be used. Intramuscular injection of B vitamins will also be needed. They are necessary for the normalization of the nervous system, have an anti-inflammatory effect. A normal amount of vitamin B helps you recover faster and recover.
Local remedies are widely used. They are applied to the skin in the place of localization of pain with light movements. Next, you need to provide warmth, avoid hypothermia – the latter often causes a recurrence of pain.
Give up physical activity for a while. However, you can not completely give up sports – in this period is shown therapeutic exercise, various methods of physical therapy, swimming. Not the least role in the treatment is played by massage. It is used in all forms of sciatica – helps improve blood circulation, helps correct posture, strengthen the back muscles.
Massage helps to achieve the following:
- reduction of pain after the first session or, on the contrary, exacerbation;
- reduction in the severity of symptoms;
- muscle spasm is relieved, mobility returns;
- general improvement of well-being;
- it becomes more comfortable to move.
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