Sciatic nerve pain is pain in the lower back that radiates downward through the buttock and down the back of the legs and is commonly refereed to as sciatica. The pain can have many sensations some of these sensations are:

•    Stabbing pain
•    Tingling
•    Numbing
•    Electric shock shooting down the legs
•    Burning sensation

Any of these sensations can be symptoms of sciatica especially if the sensations radiate down the legs.

The most common cause of sciatic nerve pain comes from lifting heavy objects the wrong way.
The wrong way: bending over to pick up a heavy object and lifting it with the back by simply try to straightening up while lift the object.
The right way: squatting down grasping the object and lifting using the legs to lift instead of your back.
Other causes:
•    crushed or herniated discs
•    deterioration of the vertebra and discs brought on by old age
•    damaged piriformis muscle (the sciatic nerve runs under it) that is inflamed will cause pressure on the sciatic nerve
•    tumors growing on the lower part of the spinal column or muscles around the nerve causing pressure on it
Any of the above causes can produce sciatic nerve pain and in most cases the pain can be eased with the proper treatment.

When sciatica first occurs do not use heat to ease the pain. If you are wondering why, it’s because the pain is from inflammation and heat, only makes the inflammation worse, it may feel good or ease the pain while applied but once you remove the heat chances are the pain will be worse. So, when sciatica first occurs, use ice packs for twenty minutes at a time every two hours or so instead of the heating pad.

The right exercises can help to relieve the sciatic nerve pain as well as using ice packs. There are exercises known as the McKenzie Method that are designed to stretch and strengthen the muscles in the lower back, when done properly the will centralize the pain in the lower back (this is how you know they are working) the pain will move from the back of the legs to the lower back. If these exercises are done daily, they can help keep the sciatic nerve pain from returning in the future.

After years of suffering from sciatic nerve pain and using heat to try to ease the pain, I found Dr. Best and Sciatica Self Care. This free e-book taught me a lot the first thing was that I was making the sciatica worse by using heat to ease the pain instead of ice packs. The second was that lying around in bed instead of doing proper stretching exercises did not help ease the pain any quicker however, when I started the exercises and continued them even after the sciatic nerve pain was gone I found that it did not return as easily. For your free copy of the e-book Sciatica Self Care (there are also eleven videos that explain sciatica in more detail) visit Sciatic Pain Relief Resources and Information fill out the form in the right side bar and get instant access to the e-book and for immediate relief of the sciatic nerve pain visit Dr. Bests Website Sciatica Self Care.