The Best Offense for Sciatica Back Pain Is a Good Defense

It has a variety of causes, ed but many people are genetically at risk of sciatica; at least 15% of the world may feel sciatica back pain at any time. You can be careful to avoid injury, live without any family history of the pain, and in fine physical condition but still experience the shooting, almost unbearable pain without warning. A publication in the UK recently reported that tens of thousands of British citizens alone experience chronic pain every year—not from injury, but due to complications after surgery. It’s a frightening thing to constantly face such potential risk, but precautions do exist. You can avoid sciatica back pain by tending to something as simple as your posture.

The sciatic nerve is the longest in the body, running from your buttocks to the sole of your foot. For 85% of people, during this long journey it passes under the pirformis muscle in the buttock. A minority, though, have their nerve running directly through it. If that muscle tightens too much, it can quickly pinch the nerve, instantly resulting in sciatica back pain. Until it happens, you won’t know if you’re among that 15%. Since it’s never wise to take that chance, live defensively, sitting with proper posture, taking a wallet out of your back pocket for long car rides, and always lift with your knees. Exercise and stretching work well too, and both remain less expensive than medication—or electric spinal cord stimulation, which is what some of those British sufferers have used to soothe their sciatic nerve.