Sitting for too long causes sciatica?

Staying up late and working overtime is unbearable, and the body will suffer accordingly.

Living in front of the computer for too long, pain from buttocks to legs,

Is it causing sciatica?

According to the pain doctor of Zhongda Hospital Affiliated to Southeast University, patients with lumbar disc herniation, spinal stenosis, and sitting in bad posture for a long time will suffer from sciatica. But this is only a symptom, and the treatment needs to treat both the symptoms and the root causes.

Self-test whether you have sciatica?

According to Dr. Zhou Hao from the Pain Department of Zhongda Hospital, sciatica is a syndrome mainly caused by pain in the course and distribution of the sciatic nerve caused by various reasons.

The typical symptom of sciatica is radiating pain from the bottom of the buttocks to the back of the leg, usually electric shock, acupuncture or knife-like pain, which may be accompanied by burning, numbness and other abnormal sensations.

This kind of pain and paresthesia can appear or aggravate when exerting weight, standing for a long time, sitting for a long time, bending and extending the waist, and doing straight leg raising. If the above conditions occur and are relieved after rest, it is highly suspected that sciatica is present.

What Are the Culprits of Sciatica?

Common causes of sciatica include the following:

space occupying nerve in spinal canal

The lumbar or sacral nerves originate from the spinal canal. If there are space-occupying lesions in the spinal canal, such as lumbar disc herniation, spinal stenosis, or tumors in the spinal canal, it will compress and stimulate the nerve roots and induce sciatic nerve radiation pain.

Disorders such as muscle strain

The sciatic nerve emerges from the spinal canal and travels through the muscles of the waist, buttocks, and lower limbs. If the above-mentioned muscles suffer from inflammation and swelling due to strain or other reasons, it will stimulate and compress the sciatic nerve passing through it, and then induce sciatica.

In addition, abnormal physiological and anatomical structures of some people can also cause sciatica. According to statistics, 34.8% of the adult sciatic nerve will be divided into two branches when passing through the piriformis muscle.

Do these three things to reduce sciatica

According to the doctor, the occurrence of sciatica is closely related to fatigue and improper posture. In order to reduce the risk of occurrence, the waist should be "comfortable and not injured". Place it naturally, not too high, and don't cross your legs; sit for about half an hour and get up and move for 5-10 minutes; when bending over and keeping weight, you should squat down first, and when you get up, use your leg muscles to keep your back upright.

Again, exercise in moderation rather than overexertion. Maintaining an appropriate amount of exercise each week can go a long way toward building muscle strength and preventing sciatica from sudden overexertion of muscles. However, exercise should be done step by step and varies from person to person. Exercise must not be turned into fatigue and strain, and it is not appropriate to replace exercise with daily housework.

At the same time, for some middle-aged and elderly people, keeping warm is a way to prevent many painful diseases, including sciatica. Appropriately increasing or decreasing clothing according to temperature and humidity can effectively prevent muscle and fascia lesions, and further prevent myofascitis, changes in spinal stability, and sciatic nerve irritation before they happen.

How to cure sciatica?

According to Zhou Hao, the principle of treatment for sciatica is to see a doctor as soon as possible, find out the cause, and treat the cause.

Patients with different symptoms are treated differently:

For patients with mild symptoms and superficial etiology, treatment methods such as oral administration, topical drugs, and physical therapy can be used to solve the etiology and relieve sciatica;

For patients whose symptoms are not mild and the cause of the disease is deep, oral and topical drugs cannot effectively act on the lesion. Injection is required to deliver the drug to the lesion. Circulatory disturbances are relieved;

For sciatica caused by lesions in and around the spinal canal, minimally invasive surgery is required under the advice of a doctor to remove the compression and stimulation of the nerve.

doctor reminder

Nerves are very sensitive tissues in the human body. If the cause of the disease is removed in the early stage, there is still a possibility of repair. However, if the stimulus damage is too long, even if the cause is removed, the nerve damage will be difficult to repair, which will lead to lifelong pain and function. obstacle.

Therefore, for the treatment of sciatica, it is recommended to see a doctor as soon as possible. The pain doctor will find out the cause and make comprehensive considerations based on the course of the disease, the cause, and personal factors.

Jinling Palm Doctor, Zijinshan News

Editor: Lu Jinglan

Image: Tuchong Creative