The majority of people with low back pain assume they have sciatica.
Would you believe that the majority of people are incorrect in their self diagnosis?
Today we are talking about what a diagnosis of sciatica is.
Sciatica involves the sciatic nerve. It stems from our lower (Lumbar) spine, with one in each leg. If you were to draw a line in the middle of your buttocks and straight down the back of your leg, the line would stop just above the crook of your knee.
The nerve splits off into a variety of other patterns, all the way down to your feet. This connection is why foot pain can be caused by your low back. Isn’t that crazy??
Why is this important? Isn’t all back pain the same?
NO. Definitely not. There are many, many, many structures that can cause back pain. They are all unique structures that serve different purposes. For example, we have muscles that move our body, ligaments that provide stability, nerves that provide sensation, and the list goes on!
All of these structures need to be treated differently. When injured, they have unique pathology and they affect the body in different ways. Combine that with your own personal health history, injuries, medications, job, hobbies etc, and you’re looking at a very complicated situation!
This is why it’s so important to have a professional assessment of what the cause of your low back pain is. If you Google ‘exercises for low back pain’, you’ll notice that they are pretty generic and pretty repetitive.
Think of each low back injury like a snowflake. Completely different. There isn’t a cookie cutter or google-able fix that is guaranteed to work.
It’s important to have a clear understanding of your body so you have safely, effectively, and efficiently heal. Don’t sell yourself short and put yourself at risk of injury, or worsening what you already have. Knowledge is power, friends!
Get in touch with us in Lundar or Ashern to get to the bottom of your low back pain!