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Health in Focus: What is Sciatica?

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If you’ve ever gotten up after sitting down for a great amount of time, or stood in one spot for too long, you may feel some pain radiating in your back and buttocks all the way down to your feet. If the pain does not seem to subside and/or becomes unbearable, there may be a bigger issue. Dr. Jay Jagannathan, from , talks about “sciatica”, and ways to relieve the problem in this Health in Focus.

“Sciatica can be from a degenerative condition such as osteoarthritis, which pinches the nerves (or the part of the spine carrying the nerves), or a condition such as a disc herniation which pushes on the traversing or exiting nerve root,” explained Dr. Jagannathan.  “In rare cases, the nerve may be entrapped outside the spinal canal”.

Just like with most pain problems Dr. Jagannathan and his team face, the first step is to diagnose the symptoms, which is performed with an MRI.

“Treatment usually starts with nonsurgical measures such as physical therapy and steroid injections,” Dr. Jagannathan said.  “When these fail, surgery may be used to clean out the part of the nerve which is compressed”.

For more information about sciatica, treatments, and Jagannathan Neurosurgery, .

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