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Physical Therapy Can Help You Find Relief for Back Pain and Sciatica
If you wake up in the morning with back pain or notice nagging aches in your back, buttock, or thighs, physical therapy in Costa Mesa, CA can help you find relief.
According to the American Physical Therapy Association, back pain is the most commonly reported pain across the nation, and one out of every four Americans has experienced back pain in the past three months.
While back pain and sciatica are similar, they still have their differences and are often confused with one another. Back pain is found specifically in the upper, middle or lower back. Sciatica is a more diffuse, radiating pain down the buttock, thigh, and even leg. It is also possible to have radiculopathy, which is a radiating numbness, tingling, burning, or sharp pain to a specific part of the leg. This is often associated with a herniated disc, or entrapment of the nerve in that area, as it exits the spine.
At Power Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, our Costa Mesa, CA physical therapists will get to the root of the problem and provide long-lasting relief. In many cases, our treatments are even able to eliminate the need for harmful painkilling drugs, such as opioids, or an invasive surgical procedure. If you are suffering from back pain or sciatica, don’t rely on medicines to help you mask the pain.
PT treatment for back pain and sciatica
While back pain may come and go, it is always important to treat it right away. If not, it can lead to poor joint movement, core weakness, and poor muscle coordination, which can all lead to unwanted injuries in the future.
Back pain and sciatica are both completely treatable through physical therapy. Our Costa Mesa, CA physical therapist will create a specific treatment plan for you based upon your diagnosis.
The early stages of your physical therapy treatment will focus on quick pain relief. Afterward, our physical therapist will expand your treatment to include strengthening your core muscle group with specific therapeutic exercises and stretches. This helps improve your strength and range of motion to prevent re-injury of your spine. Our physical therapist will also provide you with ergonomic techniques for taking care of your spine during daily activities, such as sitting at a desk or driving.
For the treatment of sciatica, our physical therapists will implement specific leg stretches into your treatment plan to loosen the sciatic nerve. This restores the natural health of the nerve and quickly reduces symptoms.
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What caused my back pain and sciatica?
General back pain typically develops as the result of an injury. This can be due to repetitive straining motions, such as leaning down multiple times throughout the day to pick up a toddler, or a more serious, sudden trauma, such as a motor vehicle accident.
Underlying conditions, such as herniated discs, can also cause immense pain, and cause radiculopathy pain to the thigh, leg, or foot. Degenerative disc disease is a common condition as we age, which can result in back pain. Those with this condition typically report dull, aching pains in their lower back, and have difficulty with prolonged standing or walking.
Sciatica’s technical name is “lumbar radiculopathy.” People who develop this condition are generally between the ages of 30 and 50. Many different types of injuries can cause the development of sciatica, including arthritis, bone spurs, or any other injury that impacts the sciatic nerve.
Most commonly, we find that people lose their flexibility in the hips and pelvis, which causes the gluteus and hip muscles to become tightened. In turn, this alters the mechanics of the spine, and compresses the sciatic nerve as it travels through these tissues.
Back pain and sciatica – defined
Sciatica
Sciatica is a specific type of back pain that is reported as being highly uncomfortable. However, it is also fortunately very simple to diagnose. People with sciatica experience pain along the sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve in your body. The sciatic nerve begins at your lower back and then splits at the base of your spine to extend further down to your buttocks, legs, and finally ends at the bottom of each foot. The sciatic nerve can become compressed or irritated, which causes a “shooting,” “stinging,” or “burning” sensation in your lower back, buttocks, legs, or feet.
Back pain
“Back pain” is a term that can be caused by an array of different conditions. For example, you may experience back pain due to poor posture, a motor vehicle accident, or a lifting injury. The treatment plan that our Costa Mesa, CA physical therapist sets up for you, will depend on how you developed the back pain, in addition to its exact location and your past medical history. Back pain can be described as acute, meaning it is short-term, or chronic, meaning it is long-term (typically lasting for three months or longer).
Find relief for your back pain and/or sciatica today
Click the link below to schedule a call with us if you would like to get some solid advice given to you over the phone. The phone call is complimentary and there is no obligation to book any appointments with us after the call is over. Our goal is to help you make the right decision about what to do next.
If you would like to know how the Physical Therapy team at Power Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine can help you relieve your pain and return to work – we invite you to start with a completely free, no-obligation, risk free appointment at our clinic.
If you want to know what it costs – and what availability we have at our physical therapy office in Costa Mesa, then please just click the button below and complete the short form.
*Note: This Free Discovery Session is something that we offer to people who are very nervous or skeptical about Physical Therapy – unsure of its benefits or if it is right for them. If that sounds like you, then please start with a free discovery session so that we can work with you to find out what is wrong and what can be done – without any financial risk on your part.
Visit our Costa Mesa Clinic location today to get started!