Causes of Sciatica and Back
Pain
Approx 80 percent of people will experience bad sciatica and
low back pain at least once during their lives, but 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.
Taking a high level view, most back pain and
siatica (which is correctly spelt as
sciatica) is the result of
- trauma or injury to your lower back
- a longer-term disorder such as arthritis
- an inherited weakness or condition
- poor lifestyle choices (diet, movement, exercise
etc)
- 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 mak efast progress 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.
|