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Sciatic pain During Pregnancy? Help is at Hand

By Back Pain, Pregnancy, Uncategorised

Reducing Sciatic pain during pregnancy

If you are suffering from Sciatic pain during pregnancy then help is at hand. Often in the third trimester of pregnancy you can start to feel pain into the gluteal (buttock ) area and it can travel down the back of the leg and can go into the calf.

As the pregnancy progresses and the extra weight at the front continues to increase,  the pain down the bacpregnancy and sciatic paink of the leg can increase from occasionally uncomfortable to very painful.

Pain Killers are not recommended so what can you do?

You may think that there is no other option than to look up some stretches on Google and hope for the best!

Why does Sciatica occur?

The cause of sciatic pain in pregnancy is most often due to overworked muscles close by the sciatic nerve that runs from your lower back down through the buttock area and down each leg. As ligaments become increasingly relaxed, ready for the birth, your muscles have to work harder in your pelvis and hips to provide you with stability in that area. This often coincides with a slight rotation of the pelvis either to the right or the left. This could have been a pre existing rotation prior to the pregnancy or occurred during it as the body manages the extra weight. This causes one set of pelvic muscles  to become slightly shorter and contracted on one side and on the other side they become slightly stretched and overworked. Over time this leads to inflammation of the overworked muscles and pressure on the sciatic nerve leading to the term Sciatica.

What can you do to calm it down?

As an osteopath my aim is to improve the health of the tissues, in this case, the muscles on the overworked side and to address the structural changes, the rotation.  I improve the health of the tissues on the side of the sciatic symptoms by improving the circulation through soft tissue massage and sometimes Medical Acupuncture. The structural change, the rotation, on the opposite pain free side, I address through Therapeutic Functional exercise. I tailor the exercises to the patient but one of exercise that forms the basis is this exercise.

 Outcomes

Patients normally report a reduction in symptoms with 3-4 days after the initial treatment. After one follow up session and patients continuing to do the exercises as prescribed for a further 7 days, and patients report that the symptoms significantly reduce to just an occasional ‘niggle’.

“

I had experienced Sciatica occasionally with my previous two pregnancies with my previous children and it normally went with rest. However this time it was just getting worse and worse. I couldn't stand, sit or walk for any length of time. Rest wasn't working!

I saw Hugo and he explained why it was happening. He gave me some specific exercises to do on the opposite side of the pain. He also gave me some acupuncture and massaged the muscles which was quite painful but it felt like it was helping. After 3 days I could feel the difference. One more treatment and doing the exercises religiously for approx 7 days and my Sciatica had all but gone. I can't recommend Hugo enough. If you are pregnant and experiencing sciatic pain don't suffer, go and see him.

Libby, Mum of two soon to be three!
“

15th June 2017
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The role of Gluteals in Back Pain or running a PB

By Back Pain, Osteopathy, Prevention

 

From  Back Pain to running a PB – effective Gluteals are an important factor

If you suffer from back pain , even infrequently, or you’re aiming for a personal best for your next race or training harder for your chosen sport whether it be running, rugby, football, tennis, swimming, cycling, skiing or golf.. the strength and effectiveness of your Gluteals will be a factor. Read More

14th March 2017
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Is “Getting Fitter” a perennial New Year’s Resolution

By Back Pain, Prevention

Getting Fitter? A perennial New Year resolution?

Help and advice is at hand.

If your New Year’s resolution is to get fitter, faster, stronger or to be more active then hopefully this advice will help you achieve your goals.

Normally in January and February my Sports Clinic starts to see a steady rise of people who have taken up an activity, sports or increased the frequency of their chosen activity as they achieve New Year’s resolutions or may be just a promise to themselves to get fitter.

The most common is a recurring pain or old injury that has flared up or new aches and pain in neck, shoulder upper or lower back. Read More

3rd January 2017
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Knee Pain? The problem could be above and below

By Osteopathy

A female patient, 26yrs old, recently came to the practice with pain underneath her left knee cap. It also clicked occasionally and was much worse after the gym or running and walking up the stairs. It had been getting progressively worse for the last 6 months.

On examination the patient’s knee had no obvious mechanical injury to her ligaments. There were signs of a little wear and tear. However what was obvious was that the patient significantly pronated on her left foot and her left pelvis was anteriorly rotated.

The diagnosis was patella femoral syndrome.

TREATMENT – OSTEOPATHY, SPORTS MASSAGE AND THERAPEUTIC EXERCISE

This involved articulation and manipulation to the foot , the fibula head and the SIJ and lumbars to address the rotation. Sports massage to the muscles inserting at the knee including gastrocnemius, hamstrings, tfl, itb and quads and a recommendation to purchase orthotics to help her pronation.
The patient was also given therapeutic exercises to strengthen her core stability, relax and stretch her ilio-psoas and so reduce her pelvic tilt.
After two treatments the patient reported a complete cessation of pain. She had also ordered the orthotics.

LONG TERM SOLUTION

Now I recognise that not every patient will respond in the same way but this global approach to the patient’s knee pain, combining osteopathy with remedial  and sports massage and therapeutic exercise is a typical example of how I treat. And for this patient it was very effective at addressing her problem.  Long term she will need to use her orthotics and maintain her therapeutic exercises. But now the management of her pronation and potential future knee trouble is within her own control.

29th June 2015
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Osteopathy helping Mum’s with bad backs

By Pregnancy
Introduction
The biological changes that take place in the female body as it prepares for birth have a significant impact on the musculoskeletal  system.
Increased hormone levels (progesterone and relaxin) increase ligament laxity especially around the pelvis as it becomes ready for labour.
Increased weight at the front as the ‘bump’ grows increases the load and stress on the back muscles and the anterior core stability muscles. So not only do the back and postural muscles have to cope with the extra load and a changing centre of gravity but they also have to do so with little help from the ligaments too.
SLXLM

Read More

28th January 2015
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Osteopathy and prevention of hamstring strain recurrence

By Hamstring, Prevention

preventing-ham-string-reoccurence-issuesOsteopathy and recurring hamstring strain prevention

Introduction
The prevalence of hamstring strains amongst people who play sports that involves running and or jumping is high. Also once a hamstring strain has occurred the risk that it will happen again is much higher.
Research (Sherry MA , Best TM et al 2011) has confirmed what osteopaths have long understood that the angle of the pelvis and trunk strength often play an integral role in the strength of the hamstring and the prevalence of repeated strains in sportsmen and women.
Osteopathic treatment to realign the pelvis combined with therapeutic exercise to increase core stability and hamstring strength is a very effective way of addressing this.
I am going to share a recent case which illustrates how an osteopathic approach helped an amateur runner break the cycle of recurring hamstring strain.

Read More

4th December 2014
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How osteopathy can help patients with Arthritis

By Arthritis, Osteopathy

dealing-with-arthritisArthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis
Patients can suffer from either Rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. The two conditions are quite different. The first is an auto immune response where the body evokes an inflammatory response in a joint. The synovial membranes within the joint are attacked by the body’s own white cells (antibodies) and they become inflamed, red , swollen. The bone starts to degenerate. Joints tend to be affected bilaterally. That is to say on both left and right. Eg both hands or knees, elbows etc.
Treatment includes drugs to reduce the body’s immune response – steroids are given at the beginning. This can help but as the disease progresses stronger drugs are employed such as methotrexate or cyclosprorin.

Read More

7th November 2014
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