Sciatic Pregnancy | What Are Your Options?
Sciatic Pregnancy – now what options do you have when your sciatic nerve is giving you a hard time during what is supposed to be a very exciting and joyful time of your life? Pregnancy sciatica is a series of symptoms caused by the irritation of the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower spine, through your buttocks, down the back of your thighs into your feet. When the nerve gets inflamed due to pressure by either a herniated disk, or a clenched muscle (as in piriformis syndrome) or a list of other conditions, shooting pains, a burning sensation, tingling or numbness in lower back, buttocks and even thighs may be the result.
During the second and third trimester the position of the baby tends to heighten the pressure on the tissue surrounding the sciatic nerve and it comes as no surprise to see a prior sciatica condition get worse. In preparation for birth ligaments and tendons also loosen up. You add the extra weight around the waist to that and the probabilities for disk injury went up a notch or two, which, if it happens then puts pressure on the sciatic nerve. Women are more susceptible to disk injury during pregnancy due to these circumstances.
In many cases sciatic pregnancy pain disappears on its own, but sometimes the process may take as many as six weeks or even more. Some patients schedule routine visits with their physical therapist to help them to relieve some of the symptoms. Often manual therapy helps relieve discomfort and pressure from back pain during pregnancy.
A therapist would also be the person to speak to about some sciatic pregnancy exercises you can do that would be beneficial to only to your comfort but would also help strengthening the abdominal and back muscles and also the pelvic floor muscles. With these muscle groups in better condition you may experience less difficulty during labor and delivery and even the recuperation process afterwards.
To relieve their sciatic pregnancy pain, some women also use chiropractic treatment. Only make sure, when seeing a manual therapist or chiropractor, that they have experience working with prenatal patients.
To reduce inflammation and other sciatica symptoms many women have found massage therapy to be very helpful, since it greatly relieves muscle tension and tightness. When certain muscle groups tense up too much (like for example the piriformis muscle in your buttocks) they will probably add to your sciatica pain. Massages reduce tension and inflammation and therefore help to increase circulation and speed up the healing process.
If you feel a sciatica flare up come on talk to your doctor or physical therapist about what types of sciatica treatments are even feasible for you in your condition. Not every treatment for sciatica is for every type of cause of sciatica, especially not during pregnancy. You need to make a careful choice with the help of knowledgeable health care professionals. Bed rest may be beneficial for one or two days and so may be the some Cold/Hot therapy applied to your lower back, until the worst of the pain simmers down. Pay very close attention to your posture and make sure to use correct posture at all times, since poor posture is the main underlying cause for sciatica pain. Correct posture with help you greatly, relieving pain and pressure on your disks.
Learn more about sciatic pregnancy. Stop by Christina Meier’s site where you can find out all about sciatic pregnancy and how to get some help.