Sciatica affects roughly 40% of the population, including pop songstress Adele.
“I have a wobble these days because I have really bad sciatica,” said the singer during a concert at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
Sciatica is a painful condition that radiates from the sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve in the human body. The pain typically shoots from the lower back to the hips, buttocks and down the back of the legs.
Sciatica occurs when the nerve is pinched and often results from a herniated disk or an overgrowth of bone, according to The Mayo Clinic.
In an interview with The Face magazine, the Grammy Award winner described how her back problems began.
“I slipped my first disc when I was 15 from sneezing. I was in bed and I sneezed and my fifth one flew out. In January, I slipped my sixth one, my L6. And then where I had a C‑section, my core was useless,” she explained.
Symptoms
While risk factors for sciatica include age, obesity, posture and diabetes, there are some key symptoms to be aware of.
- Lower back pain that radiates or spreads down your buttocks and the back of one thigh
- Pain that extends from your buttock down to your foot
- Numbness (in severe cases)
- Weakness (in severe cases)
Prevention and treatment
While preventing sciatica from occurring in the first place is tricky, regular exercise, good posture and healthy lifting can help you avoid the conditions that can lead to sciatica.
If you’ve been diagnosed with the condition, treatment can range from lifestyle modifications to reduce pain to surgery to correct the underlying problem. Treatments include:
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDS) medicines such as ibuprofen
- Heat or cold applied to the sore muscles
- Movement (keeping your body in motion minimizes inflammation)
- Osteopathic manipulation
- Surgery (to repair your herniated disk, if the condition persists)
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