Sciatica overview

Inflammation of the sciatic nerve can be very painful and bothersome but for some lucky patients this pain can be kept under control with medication but for others the best and only way to stop the pain is by having Los Angeles spine surgery. The sciatic nerve sends signals about movements to the legs and about sensation to the brain. The sciatic nerve is also the largest peripheral nerve in the body. The sciatic nerve is formed at the lower part of the spinal cord and made up of the lumbar and nerve roots from the spine. The sciatic nerve is positioned at the lower end of the spinal cord passes behind the hip joint, and runs down the back of the thigh.

The sciatic nerve is there to perform the two functions mentioned above: Send signals to the muscles from the brain, and collect sensory information from the legs back to the brain. For a person with sciatica condition is that the affect of the nerve will alter one or both of these functions by causing weakness in the leg muscles and pain in the legs, thighs or both and even the hips. Sciatica can be cured with Los Angeles back pain surgery but it is left to the patient to decide whether he or she can live with the symptoms with include:

• Bowel or bladder dysfunction (generally occurs with spinal cord compression)
• Spinal stenosis
• Neuroloic dysfunction including severe weakness
• Extreme pain

These symptoms are all reasons to have Sciatica surgery Los Angeles leading surgeons say, because sciatica is generally caused by a herniated spinal disk the pain is likely to linger and most patients find the greatest relief through surgery. a herniated disk is when the cushion between the vertebra of the spine ruptures. The ruptures causes disc to push in to areas where the nerve usually reside. The nerves are then compressed causing different pain levels, weakness, and numbness.

There are four most common types of Los Angeles Spinal surgery to relieve patients of sciatica pain.

· Discectomy- in this procedure the surgeon removes all or part of the herniated disk pushing on the sciatic nerve causing the sciatic symptoms

· Microdiscectomy- this procedure entails the same as the one above but is minimally invasive. The surgeon makes tiny incisions and uses a microscopic magnification to work inside the body and never cut the patient open. Because this procedure is minimally invasive healing quicken and the recovery time is much shorter.

· Laminectomy- removes the entire lamina

· Laminotomy- Removes part of the lamina both of these procedures create more space for the nerves preventing compression or pinching.

Recovery from sciatica requires that the patient be on medication from two to four weeks, but he or she may be out of bed within twenty-four hours. One must be taught how to sit, rise and stand and he or she may not do so for a while without help. Sports maybe avoided for quite a while with minimal twisting or moving the spine.