What Is the Best Treatment for Sciatica?

If you’ve had radiating pain in your lower back and down one leg, it’s probably sciatica. This condition develops when something presses on one of your sciatic nerves. You have two of these nerves, each running from the base of your spine down the leg to the foot. 

Sciatica often causes pain that feels like a jolt of electricity. It might be enough to keep you from wanting to move. But you don’t have to live with this discomfort. 

At our Vascular & Interventional Associates office in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, our team specializes in treating sciatica. We’ve helped people throughout northern Kentucky and the Cincinnati, Ohio, area get relief from this painful condition. That means creating a personalized treatment plan for each patient. 

We take that approach because the best treatment for sciatica is one that’s based on your specific case.

Beginning with a thorough evaluation

Effectively treating sciatica means identifying what’s putting that pressure on your sciatic nerve. You could have a herniated disc in your spine that’s now pressing into the nerve, for example, or you might have developed a bone spur. In some cases, inflammation is enough to irritate the nerve. 

When you visit our office, we talk with you about your symptoms and perform a physical exam. We also deploy diagnostic tools as needed to figure out what’s going on. We might order an X-ray or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). 

This allows us to tailor treatment to you. 

Prescribing treatments as necessary

The good news is that in a lot of cases, the body has the ability to heal sciatica on its own. If you’re experiencing this painful condition because material from a herniated disc is pressing on your spinal column, for example, your body can often reabsorb that disc material when given time. 

The key, then, is supporting the body so it can do that healing work. For that, we might recommend physical therapy or healthy lifestyle changes, like adding more physical activity throughout your day. Getting moving can help your body heal faster. Losing weight can also make a difference for sciatica pain. 

To ease your discomfort and help you stay mobile, we might recommend medication. That could mean common pain relievers like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or an epidural steroid injection. 

If nothing else brings you relief, we can also explore surgery; however, most people find relief without needing a surgical procedure to remove whatever is placing pressure on your sciatic nerve. 

The best treatment for sciatica depends on what’s going on in your body. To get a personalized treatment plan to move you toward pain relief, make an appointment at Vascular & Interventional Associates today by calling our office or booking a visit online.