Back pain: Simple ways to save your spine from sciatica

The pain radiates down the back of your leg, with a numbness or tingling that extends down to your toes.

It is accompanied by a quick jolt of pain each time you cough or sneeze, that can be sharp enough to bring tears to your eyes.

The culprit is sciatica, which occurs when the sciatic nerve, the largest one in the body - running from your hips to your feet - becomes irritated.

It is estimated that almost half of us (43 per cent) will be affected by the condition at some point.

Model Kelly Brook and former Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding have both suffered from the condition.

The sciatic nerve is made up of several individual nerves that branch off from the spinal cord through the vertebrae.

The pain is caused by the pinching of the sciatic nerve along its pathways.

Sciatic pain can be constant or develop when moving and includes numbness, tingling, burning or weakness and sharp shooting pains that travel down the leg in a line often into the foot.

Or the discomfort can become worse when sitting down.

According to research, if you are overweight or smoke then you are at more risk.

Sciatica usually gets better after four to six weeks, although it can take many months.

It is important to identify the cause early, as limping to avoid the pain can often trigger a separate set of symptoms.

WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON CAUSES?

LUMBAR HERNIATED DISC

Herniated discs (also known as slipped discs, prolapsed discs, bulging discs or protruding discs) occur when the gel-like substance inside the spinal disc pushes against the outer coating, causing it to bulge outwards.

This bulge can then push against the nerve.

DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE

Discs, alongside cartilage in the body, don't have a blood supply.

This means a disc's ability to repair and regenerate isn't as good as a muscle, for example.

As we age, the volume of fluid in the disc lessens, weakening the structure, leaving it vulnerable to bulging out against a nerve.

This can then cause sciatic-type pain.

PIRIFORMIS SYNDROME

This is a condition in which the piriformis muscle, located in the bottom, spasms and causes buttock pain.

The piriformis muscle can also irritate the nearby sciatic nerve and cause pain, numbness and tingling along the back of the leg and into the foot (similar to sciatic pain).

We are not designed to sit for as long as we do in the 21st century, with the increase in desk jobs.

The good news is that it is one of the easiest forms of sciatica to resolve with alternative treatments.

LUMBAR SPINAL STENOSIS

Spinal stenosis refers to an abnormal narrowing of the spinal canal that results in pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots.

It often develops over time as a result of degeneration in the spinal joints as we age and is most common in the over-60s.

PREGNANCY

The weight of the baby can cause many of the muscles that surround the sciatic nerve to tighten up around it, causing symptoms of sciatica.

Also during the third trimester of pregnancy a hormone called relaxin is released.

This relaxes the ligaments in the pelvis to allow for the baby to travel through easily during labour.

The relaxing of these ligaments can often cause the pelvis to become misaligned which can pinch some of the nerves.

MUSCLE STRAIN

If any of the muscles along the pathway of the sciatic nerve suffer a strain and it isn't treated properly, then it can cause scar tissue to form over that strain.

This scar tissue can potentially put pressure on the sciatic nerve.