Can sciatica be cured by physiotherapy or does it need an operation?

Question

Did somebody cure a sciatica with physiotherapy?

Answer 1

Sciatica is not an incurable disease but a set of symptoms including pain associated with it that can be caused by pressure on certain nerves, herniated disc, and all sorts of things can cause some of these symptoms including pregnancy or even simply bad posture during long periods of imobility in certain positions and believe it or not, even the wrong shoes or slippers and even certain bad furniture can irritate it even worse.

You with your doctor need first to be sure it is in fact just sciatica and just what is actually causing the sciatic nerves to act up and from there one can determine what kind of physical therapy is needed.

Also I have noticed certain medications do in fact cause some leg and back pain so you may wish to check out the lists of side effects periodically to be sure they are up to date as I had such a complaint that my doctor kept insisting was impossible for the drug to be causing such pains and sure enough, a few months later it appeared on the list of side effects and he finally changed my bp medication.

Answer 2

Cure might be too strong a word to be used with sciatica.  There are no permanent cures and that includes surgery.  There are many reasons one can have an episode of sciatica and until the underlying reason is found the approach that is key.  Physical therapy can help you with stabilizing the problem and remove the pain and dysfunction.  What must be remembered is that if the underlying reason is a herniation or a significant bulge the pathway is always going to be there.  Even with a surgical intervention the pathway is still going to be there.  When there is a problem the therapist wants to move the offending cause away from the nerve or nerves.  The ultimate is to get the pelvis into a neutral position.  No matter what you are going to have to follow certain specific things to protect the back.  These things are going to be determined by what the therapist feels and his or her background.  You are going to have to do a daily if not twice a day program for the rest of your life.  Maintaining flexibility and strength is very important to you and your recovery.  So to answer the question yes there is a resolution to this problem from therapy.  

Answer 3

No matter what treatment one has had, physical therapy, chiropractic care, spinal decompression or surgery, once someone has had an issue such as sciatica and/or low back pain, they are statistically more likely to have it again in the future.  

However, the real question remains: Which treatments promote independence and give you strategies to:

1. Reduce the likelihood of a reoccurence

2. know a reoccurence is happening

3. Relieve the pain if it does happen to reoccur...preferrably without any special tools, tests or invasive proceedures.

This is the focus of physiotherapy and especially of the mechanical diagnosis and therapy paradigm.  Many people have learned how to correct their problems, prevent it from reoccuring, or at least know how to manage it without having to come back to the practicioner.

I would recommend the following website: http://www.mckenziemdt.org

Answer 4

sciatica cant be cured

its a nerve which gets pinched this then causes you pain

there's nothing you can do to stop it happening and once you have had an attack its likely you will have more