Sciatica. You may not know the medical term for this type of pain, but chances are that you’ve felt it at some point in your life – you know, that pain that starts in your lower back and shoots through your backend and down your leg.

It’s strong enough to make a person freeze for a moment until they can bear to move again. For many people, sciatica pain is a common occurrence. For others, it may feel more like numbness or tingling, even a weakness, in their lower back, extending down the back of their legs.

Sciatica pain is caused by the compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve, the lumbar nerves or the sacral nerves.
 
Sciatica affects one to ten percent of the population. At some point in their lives, people between the ages of 25 and 45 are bound to experience this type of shooting pain. Although sciatica pain can be caused by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve, this nerve is not necessarily the nerve always causing the pain. In most cases, it is the compression of the lumbar or sacral nerves instead.
 
There are several conditions that may cause sciatica as well. For instance:

“Spinal disc herniation” - is one of the main causes of this pain.  This pain is the result of the spinal disc compressing one of the sciatic nerve roots, resulting in a shooting pain that can extend down the back to as far as the foot.

“Spinal stenosis” -  is another condition that commonly has sciatica as one of its symptoms. A narrowing of the spinal canal, resulting in the spine and sciatic nerve roots being compressed, causes this condition.
 
“Pregnancy” - Women in their third trimester often experience sciatica, as the uterus grows large enough to cause the sciatic nerve to become compressed. They may also experience this pain due to muscular tension and spinal compression caused by carrying the extra weight of the baby as well as the posture changes that develop as a result of pregnancy.
 
Sciatica is also caused by “compression of spinal discs” caused by heavy lifting, twisting and poor ergonomics in a range of career fields such as nursing and construction.

Some also believe that sciatica can be self-inflicted.  As younger generations have begun wearing their pants lower in recent years, resulting in their pockets being lowered, sciatica has been caused by sitting on a wallet for many hours in a day.  These individuals may experience numbness or pain in the upper leg and behind the kneecap due to the compression of the nerve for an extended period of time.

To help protect yourself against sciatica:

1. Use proper lifting procedures and ergonomics every time you lift something, from a baby to a bag of cement.
2. Avoid twisting motions when carrying heavy objects and turn the entire body instead.
3. Engage in daily stretching exercises to help keep joints, tendons and ligaments in tip-top shape
4. And above all, be kind to your back. You know when you’re overdoing things.  Listen to your body.