Living with Sciatica? Here’s How to Finally Find Long-Term Relief Without Surgery

The pain that comes with sciatica can be brutal, which makes sense since the sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in your body. Thankfully, you don’t need to add to your pain with surgery to get you much-needed relief.

If you’re reading this, we’re going to assume that you’ve experienced a bout of sciatica, which can be a singular kind of discomfort. The pain can be so severe that you will look for any treatment that can provide relief.

The good news is that we can offer therapies that are designed to provide both immediate and longer-term relief for the very common problem of sciatica that affects about 40% of people at some point in their lives.

As both spine and pain management experts, Dr. Maziar Massrour and Dr. Naveen Reddy believe in finding a path of least resistance when it comes to managing back pain. This is why the team at Apex Pain Specialists focuses on sustainable and nonsurgical solutions to common problems like sciatica. Let’s take a look.

Sciatica: Of all the nerve

Your sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in your body and it’s formed from five pairs of spinal nerve roots in your lower back that come together to form two long nerves. These two nerves travel down each side of your lower extremities (through your buttocks and down each leg to your feet).

With sciatica, something is pressing on this nerve, usually a herniated disc, a bone spur, or a “tight” spinal canal, which can lead to symptoms in your lower back and lower extremity. The discomfort follows the distribution of the sciatica nerve and extends down into one of your legs/feet. By discomfort, we're referring not only to pain, but numbness, tingling, and weakness.

Setting yourself up for sciatica success

If you’re dealing with a bout of sciatica, we want to first determine the extent and location of the nerve compression. Once we identify the source of your sciatica, our next step is to find the best treatment to make you comfortable.

Relieving the pain through epidural steroid injections or nerve blocks

In many cases, we start with epidural steroid and local anesthestic injections to relieve the pain, which will make it far easier for you to then engage in therapies that will provide you much longer-lasting results.

While effective at relieving the pain, these treatments don’t promote healing or repair of the damaged tissue. What they do is relieve your immediate sciatica symptoms so that you can take further steps to relieve the nerve compression, such as strengthening the muscles surrounding your spine through physical therapy.

Discseel®: An innovative way to repair your disc

Another great therapy for low back pain with or without sciatica is the Discseel procedure. During this minimally invasive treatment, we inject biologic material, fibrin, into your damaged disc to repair the damage.

Not only is the Discseel procedure far less invasive than surgery, but it also can be performed in under an hour. You are free to return home afterward. Also, unlike epidural steroid injections, the Discseel procedure is reparative, which means it will offer long-term relief.

Lifestyle changes

In addition to these sciatica treatments, we also work closely with patients to figure out ways in which to avoid sciatica flare-ups down the road. Through healthier habits like losing weight, core strengthening, and avoiding sitting or standing for long periods, you can manage how much pressure you’re placing on your spine and your sciatic nerve.

To figure out which combination of treatments is best for your sciatica, we invite you to call our office in Chandler, Arizona, today at 480-820-7246 to schedule a consultation. You can also book an appointment online.