Causes of Sciatica and Back Pain

Sciatica is a common cause of low back pain and leg pain that occurs most frequently in people 30 to 50 years of age. It is generally caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve from a damaged or herniated disc.

Approx 80 percent of people will experience bad sciatica and low back pain at least once during their lives. However, one of the difficulties with making sense of your situation is that it can be unpredictable and often unrelated to anything you (think you) have done until you educate yourself and realize how to look after your back.

The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the body that runs from the lower back region through the buttock and continues all the way down the back of the leg. When it becomes irritated or inflamed the result is sciatica.

Sciatica normally only affects one side of your body with the pain starting in the lower back and travelling all the way down the back of your leg an dmay even reach the your toes.

Taking a high level view, most back pain and siatica (which is correctly spelt as sciatica) is the result of

1. trauma or injury to your lower back
2. a longer-term disorder such as arthritis
3. an inherited weakness or condition
4. poor lifestyle choices (diet, movement, exercise etc)
5. old age

Some of these conditions are easier to resolve than others, but most will respond positively to the right program of exercise, diet and good "back habits". These are the principles described in the Better Back System which we suggest you buy if you want to get fast results with ending your sciatica and back pain.

One of the confusing aspects of sciatica and back pain is that:

• The causes of sciatica and back pain are often not obvious to an ordinary doctor, even with the benefit of X-rays (unless you have incurred an obvious, recent injury).
• Even back specialists are sometimes unable to pinpoint the precise causes of back pain (and I know this from specific experience).

My wife and I have however consulted with several doctors and back specialists over a period of more than 18 years about sciatica and backpain and it has become clear that the spine is a very complex structure which is difficult to diagnose.

So read on to understand more about sciatica and how you can treat yourself. Read also about back pain and doctors.

My Story:

I started visiting a back specialist (a chiropractor) around 1990, after a few years of what I thought were 'hamstring problems' when I was playing soccer. X-rays were taken that showed I had some degeneration of the disks in my lower back and neck areas - hence the siatica.

• Nothing too major, but clear signs of wear and tear.

I began visiting a chiropractor regularly and each visit definitely helped, but a common problem was that my siatica quickly came back. Sometimes just a few days later, or even a few hours later, my back would go 'out' again and the pain and discomfort came back.

• I eventually learnt that the other part of my problem was that the muscles supporting my back just were not strong enough to support the back in doing what I wanted, which was why my sciatica kept coming back.

Now, I admit that part of my problem is that I'm not prepared to give up the things I love doing, but why should we have to give things up - life is too short right?

Who wants to spend their life worrying about their back? Not me that's for sure and I got fed of wondering "If I do this, is it going to put my back out and start the pain all over again?"

So after much trial and error I found out what works best in terms of looking after my back and staying activbe and its all described in the Better Back System.

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