Page 70 - Golf Champion - August 2024

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Sciatica: Understanding the Cause to Find the Cure

좌골신경통, 원인을 알면 치료할 수 있다

Woori Kyeonghee Oriental
Medicine Clinic
Oriental Medicine doctor / a doctor of
Oriental medicine
우리 경희 한의원 한의사 / 한의학 박사
Lee Woo-kyung

buttocks, pain naturally occurs along the nerve’s path in
the buttocks, thighs, and calves.
Possible causes include herniated discs, degenerative
discs, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, and piriformis
syndrome.
These issues may involve problems with the discs, which
are cartilage between the vertebrae, the bones themselves
compressing the nerve, or the piriformis muscle in the
pelvis pressing on the nerve.

To accurately identify the cause, simply knowing the
location of the pain is insufficient; an X-ray or MRI is
ciatica, often simply referred to as "sciatica," is not
needed for a precise diagnosis.
Sactually the name of a disease. It is a term used to
describe the symptom of pain that extends from the Therefore, appropriate diagnosis based on symptoms is
buttocks down the leg. essential for treating sciatica.

Just as common symptoms like stomach pain can result There are cases where a person, suspecting a herniated
from conditions such as gastritis, ulcers, acid reflux, or disc based on symptoms alone, undergoes risky disc
stomach cancer, sciatica describes a visible symptom surgery only to find the sciatica persists.
rather than the underlying cause. Subsequent detailed examination reveals the actual cause
This condition often prevents people from playing the to be piriformis syndrome.
golf they love. Even a slight pain in the finger or minor Conversely, some focus solely on initial pain relief without
discomfort in shoes can disrupt a swing, making it addressing the underlying cause, leading to worsening
especially difficult to play golf with sciatica. nerve damage and potentially causing leg paralysis.

The ischium is a large bone in the buttocks, and the sciatic If motor function deterioration and sensory nerve paralysis
nerve is a relatively large nerve, roughly the thickness of a continue for a long time, even intensive treatment may
thumb, that passes inside the ischium. come too late, leaving permanent aftereffects, so caution

This nerve branches out from the spine in the lower back, is necessary.
passes through the ischium, and continues down to the Except for the less than 5% of cases where severe nerve
thigh, behind the knee, and into the calf. Therefore, if compression causes increasing leg weakness or bladder
something compresses this nerve in the lower back or and bowel dysfunction, the remaining 95% of sciatica

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