The problem of sciatica and how to deal with it.
One of the most common, if not the most common, back complaint is that of sciatica. The sciatic nerve is the biggest in the body and it starts at the hips and runs down your legs to your feet. It runs through the lower back and the bottom and the symptoms are shooting, stabbing or burning pain in the legs and hips and a fit of sneezing or coughing can make it worse. Good sitting posture is a requirement in the management of it and avoiding it from happening again or getting worse. Operator Chairs like those from https://www.bestbuy-officechairs.co.uk/office-chairs/operator-task-chairs/ as they are designed to support your lower back and they can be adjusted to suit your height and the height requirements of your desk. These chairs allow for you to also support your shoulders which can help to alleviate any neck pain and headaches that may occur as a result of tension build up in your back and neck areas. What else can you do to make sure that if you have an incidence what can you do?
First of all the bad news; we can’t cure sciatica. However the good news is that we do know lots of ways to reduce it when it does happen and it certainly goes away after 4 to 6 weeks. The best thing you can do is to carry on with your daily life. Even if you have a flare up it’s still a good idea to look at taking some anti-inflammatory painkillers like ibuprofen and paracetamol (if you are medically able to). It might be an idea to take something stronger but this would require a prescription. Make sure that you do plenty of back stretches. You can’t make it any worse and even though it might seem counterproductive moving as much as you can will make it better much quicker. Sitting or lying down will only keep you in pain longer. One good treatment is the use of heat packs and thermal gels but the best treatment by far is to stretch the muscles as much as you can.
It is a very common complaint with people who work where they are lifting heavy loads, those that are sitting for long periods of time and are not required to move very much. Desk exercises are an excellent way of combating this and there is strong evidence to suggest that moving every 10 to 15 minutes, even only a short distance or stretching on the spot can help to prevent it. In our office based working lives it is an increasing issue, in fact medical experts predict that up to forty percent of us will experience it at some point.
