How to treat sciatica?

Written by Ai Bing Quan
General Surgery
Updated on February 07, 2025
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Patients with sciatic nerve pain must rest in bed, especially those whose pain is caused by nerve compression. They must pay close attention to keeping warm and resting regularly, and use heat application on the waist and buttocks. For medicinal treatment, the drugs are mainly divided into Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Western medicine primarily uses non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and neurotrophic drugs. Traditional Chinese medicine mainly uses drugs that invigorate the blood to promote the repair of nerve edema and surrounding tissue swelling. Treatment can also include acupuncture and physical therapy, particularly ultrashort wave therapy and direct current iontophoresis during the acute phase, combined with acupuncture, which can effectively promote the alleviation of sciatic nerve pain.

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Written by Cheng Bin
Orthopedics
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Pre-symptoms of sciatica

For the early symptoms of sciatica, it is usually manifested as obvious pain in the area where the sciatic nerve enters and distributes. The main symptom is radiating pain, especially under circumstances such as catching a cold, strenuous exercise, fatigue, or suffering from trauma, where the pain will be more pronounced. There are many causes of sciatica in clinical practice. Common causes include issues with the lumbar spine, such as disc herniation, lumbar spondylolisthesis, and spinal stenosis, which can compress the spinal nerves and result in symptoms of sciatic nerve pain.

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Written by Na Hong Wei
Orthopedics
1min 16sec home-news-image

Sciatica obvious symptoms

Sciatica is divided into primary sciatica, which is sciatic neuritis, and secondary sciatica. This is due to other causes leading to swelling and pain. Clinically, it generally manifests in the following six aspects: First, pain that is primarily limited to the distribution area of the sciatic nerve, including the back of the thigh, the back of the calf, the outer side, and the sole of the foot, as well as the lateral side of the dorsum of the foot. Second, muscle strength governed by the sciatic nerve begins to diminish. Third, there are fixed tender points. Tender points are located at the ischial notch or could also be at the exit of the piriformis muscle. Fourth, there are symptoms of sciatic nerve traction, such as positive limb elevation, or positive straight leg raise test and enhancement test. Fifth, the Achilles tendon reflex is weakened or absent, while the muscle penetrative reflex is abnormally heightened due to stimulation. Sixth pertains to abnormal sensations in the areas governed by the sciatic nerve, including reduced or absent sensations, reduced absolute vibration at the external ankle, and some very mild sensory disturbances.

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Written by Na Hong Wei
Orthopedics
38sec home-news-image

Sciatica belongs to which department?

Sciatica mostly falls under the category of orthopedics. It is a common orthopedic disease, with primary and secondary causes. The secondary type is often caused by compression at the exit point of the lumbar spine and sciatic nerve, so sciatica can be treated in orthopedics or spinal surgery. Primary sciatica, generally caused by inflammation of the sciatic nerve, is managed by neurology. To address sciatica, many hospitals now have departments of pain management. Therefore, sciatica can be treated by four departments: orthopedics, spinal surgery, neurology, and pain management.

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Written by Ai Bing Quan
General Surgery
52sec home-news-image

How to treat sciatica?

Patients with sciatic nerve pain must rest in bed, especially those whose pain is caused by nerve compression. They must pay close attention to keeping warm and resting regularly, and use heat application on the waist and buttocks. For medicinal treatment, the drugs are mainly divided into Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Western medicine primarily uses non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and neurotrophic drugs. Traditional Chinese medicine mainly uses drugs that invigorate the blood to promote the repair of nerve edema and surrounding tissue swelling. Treatment can also include acupuncture and physical therapy, particularly ultrashort wave therapy and direct current iontophoresis during the acute phase, combined with acupuncture, which can effectively promote the alleviation of sciatic nerve pain.

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Written by Lv Yao
Orthopedics
26sec home-news-image

Which department should I go to for sciatica?

When experiencing sciatic nerve pain, we first need to analyze the cause of such pain symptoms, such as a herniated disc compressing the nerve root leading to sciatica. In this case, we recommend visiting an orthopedic or spinal surgery department. If there is no disc herniation or nerve root compression, consideration should be given to whether the pain is caused by piriformis syndrome, in which case a visit to the pain management department is suggested.