SciaticaWritten by Dr. Michael L. Johnson
If your sciatic nerve becomes inflamed, condition is called sciatica (pronounced si-ad'-i-ka). The pain can be intense! It often follows path of your nerve - down back of your leg, ankle, foot, and toes - but it can also radiate to your back! Along with burning, sharp pains, you may also feel nerve sensations such as pins-and-needles, tingling, prickling, crawling sensations, or tenderness. Ironically, your leg may also feel numb!To complicate matters, although sciatica pain is usually in back of legs or thighs, some people may feel pain in front or side of legs or even in hips. For some, pain is in both legs: bilateral sciatica! The quality of pain may vary. There may be constant throbbing, but then it may let up for hours or even days; it may ache or be knife-like. Sometimes postural changes like lying down or changing positions affect pain, and sometimes they don't. In severe cases, sciatica can cause a loss of reflexes or even a wasting of calf muscles. For sciatica sufferers, a good night's sleep may be a thing of past. Simple things like walking, sitting, or standing up can be difficult or impossible.
| | The Pain Is In Your BrainWritten by Dr. Michael L. Johnson
There is an extremely important relationship between brain, IML (intermediate lateral cell nucleus of spinal cord), and motor activity (activity that allows us to move in regards to chronic pain syndromes). The intermediate lateral cell nucleus, or IML, of spinal cord drives sympathetic nervous system. Increasing sympathetic tone increases release of norepinephrine and catecholamines through stimulation of adrenal medulla. When all of this occurs, nociceptive afferent fibers, or pain fibers, are bathed in norepinephrine. When nociceptive afferents are bathed in norepinephrine, secondary to increase sympathetic output, there is an increase in expression of alpha 1 adrenergic receptors which are linked to sodium channels and cause excitation. Thus, there is an increase in IML, or intermediate lateral cell nucleus. The increase in IML output causes an increase in release of norepinephrine, which when released causes an upregulation in uncovering of
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