sciatica

Treatment and prevention of disc bulge, herniation and prolapse

Disc Bulges

Written by Dr. David Howard – B.Sc. (Clinical Sci.), M.H.Sc. (Osteopathy), B.App.Sc (Human Movement) from Pascoe Vale Osteopathy located in Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Other common names for a disc bulge are: disc prolapse, disc herniation, Ruptured Diskblown disk, slipped disc and pinched nerve.

A Doughnut…

We first need to understand a little more about the disc.  The best way to describe it is a comparison to a jam doughnut!

The disc is made up of a strong outer layer (the crusty outside), lots of water (the soft, squishy dough) with an inner core or nucleus (the jam).

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The cause, treatment and prevention of Sciatica

Sciatica

Written by Dr. David Howard – B.Sc. (Clinical Sci.), M.H.Sc. (Osteopathy), B.App.Sc (Human Movement) from Pascoe Vale Osteopathy located in Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

back painSciatica is a set of symptoms rather than a specific diagnosis. The symptoms are generally buttock pain and a sharp pain down the back of the thigh and sometimes into the calf.  Occasionally, when severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness and tingling in the leg.

The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the body. It originates from 5 smaller nerves from the spinal cord in the lumbar spine (lower back) and passes through the pelvis, buttock and into the leg.

The symptoms of sciatica are produced by pressure onto the nerve which decreases its ability to function and causes pain. There are many different causes of sciatica as there are many different parts of the body where it can become compressed.

Here I will outline a few of these causes:

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