Sciatica Pain

Are you tired of living with lower back pain? Our minimally invasive regenerative treatments could help you enjoy your life the way you want to.

Sciatica also known as sciatic neuritis, is a relatively common cause of back pain. According to the NHS, over 40% of people will experience it. It tends to affect people aged between 30-50 and those who are overweight the most. Sciatica is a nerve pain that is caused by irritation of the sciatic nerve, the longest nerve in the body. The sciatic nerve runs from the lower back where it splits to go through the hips, buttocks legs and feet on either side of the body. Sciatica pain can present itself in various forms but people with it may experience pain or discomfort in the lower back or the back and side of the legs.

What treatments does Living Room Health Regenerative Treatments offer?

Our renowned medical team provides a range of treatments, from the traditional to the innovative:

This is an effective and well-researched procedure that’s a potential alternative to surgery. It takes advantage of the blood’s natural healing properties to reduce pain and improve joint function. It uses a specially concentrated dosage of platelets prepared from your own blood to repair damaged cartilage, tendons, ligaments, muscle and bone. Depending on the root of the back pain, PRP can be injected into the discs (intradiscal), facet joints and paraspinal muscle. Patients usually see their symptoms improve within six weeks of having the injections. Read more clinical evidence supporting PRP here.

In a recent study, 91% of patients with chronic low back pain reported a significant reduction in pain, six months after PRGF treatment. This treatment involves applying plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF- Endoret) using intradiscal injections to repair tissue in the low back.

BMAC Injections harness the natural healing abilities of your own mesenchymal stem cells, found in the bone marrow, to regenerate and reconstruct the musculoskeletal system by replacing cells and tissues damaged by degenerative diseases or trauma. BMAC Injections treat pain and inflammation by accelerating healing through the assistance of biological growth factors. This minimally invasive, day-case procedure is done under x-ray guidance and has a minimal recovery time. Our innovative BMAC Injections offer an alternative treatment plan to traditional invasive surgery.

Read more here.

Also called facet or nerve root blocks, they are recommended if you’ve not had much success with the first-step approaches of painkillers, rest, stretching and physiotherapy.

What causes sciatica?

Any pain, numbness or tingling that’s felt along the path of one of these nerves is often called sciatica. Often, this is caused by degenerative spinal conditions, like a herniated or collapsed disc, the thick, jelly-filled structures that cushion the bones of your spine, or thickening of joints and ligaments near the nerves which then presses on a nerve as it leaves the spinal column. This can be very painful if it’s pressing on the sciatic nerve.

Other causes of sciatica or sciatic neuritis include:

People who have jobs which involve heavy lifting or long periods of sitting are also prone to suffer from sciatica.

What are the symptoms of sciatica?

Sciatica usually occurs on one side of your body rather than both. It’s often felt as a sharp or burning pain, starting in your lower back or buttock and radiating downwards through the back or front of your leg.

With sciatica your lower back, bottom, legs and feet may feel:

Sciatica is often associated with lower back pain but people who have it may not get lower back pain. If left untreated sciatica can make walking difficult and overtime it could cause degenerative arthritis of the lower back.

How is sciatica diagnosed?

If you are experiencing low back pain or pain in your hips, buttocks, legs and feet, a doctor will examine you applying pressure to different areas to see where it hurts. In some cases, the doctor may refer you to have an:

What are the non-surgical options for sciatica?

Treatment for sciatica aims to relieve symptoms and improve the function of the lower back, hips, buttocks, legs and feet.
Initial treatment may include medications such as analgesics which help reduce the pain, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs – NSAIDS – which reduce the pain and inflammation and steroid injections which reduce inflammation and provide short-term relief.

Your doctor may recommend applying ice packs to the area for a few days and then switching to heat packs for another couple of days. If you do this, it’s important to place a cloth between the ice and your skin to prevent you getting an ice-burn.

Sitting and resting can make sciatica worse, so it’s important to keep as active as possible. Your doctor may show you some gentle stretches you can do.

It may be recommended that you loose weight as this will relieve pressure placed on your spine.

Our expert team specialises in treating sciatica using advanced non-surgical techniques including mesenchymal stem cell therapy, Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) and Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy.

What are the surgical options for sciatica?

Sciatica symptoms normally lessen after four – six weeks. If they persist for more than three months, your doctor may discuss surgery with you.

Surgical options include discectomy, where part of the disc that is pressing on the sciatic nerve is removed. Or, microdiscectomy, which involves removing the disc through a small cut using a microscope.

Why have a consultation at Living Room Health Regenerative Treatments?

Our experienced consultants will undertake a thorough examination exploring non-surgical and surgical treatments. They’ll also discuss your suitability for our state-of-the-art biological therapies. 

Who will my consultation be with?

Your consultation will be with one of our spine specialists and will last approximately 30 minutes. On the day, or the day before you will be asked to attend for an MRI scan. 

As well as undertaking an examination, our specialists will take details of your medical history and discuss your symptoms. They will also detail all your treatment options and cover their potential benefits and risks. 

Our expert team comprises of highly experienced surgeons, sports medicine doctors and physiotherapists who are committed to delivering a high level of care and the correct treatment option so you can quickly get back to moving around. 

The first step is to book a consultation for a thorough assessment. Click here to make an appointment.

What is the autologous biological approach and when should it be considered?

Autologous translates as ‘from the same person.’ In brief, it involves using your own cells to encourage healing. The major benefits are that there is no chance of rejection, infection or contamination as you are using cells from your own body rather than a donor. 

We offer a range of therapies based on this principle which can be considered if traditional treatments including surgery aren’t relieving your pain. 

Clinical evidence

Biological treatments are pioneering procedures and we’re continuously monitoring and recording its effectiveness. Patients undertaking these treatments are asked to complete pre-operative and post-operative questionnaires. 

The information obtained from these questionnaires allows us to monitor your progress and it also contributes to our evidence-based database and other global studies on biological treatments. All information gathered is anonymised.

Intradiscal and intra-articular facet infiltrations with ‘Endoret’ plasma rich in growth factors reduce pain in patients with chronic low back pain. Read full paper.

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