What is sciatica and what is the best method of treatment for this condition?
Sciatica
Q. What is sciatica and what is the best method of treatment for this condition?
A. Sciatica is a painful affection
of the sciatic nerve or large nerve which supplies the back
part of the thigh and also the leg.
The pain and suffering caused
by this disease is often
most distressing. Fortunately it may generally be relieved.
A very hot bath is a most
excellent remedy for relieving the pain of
sciatica. The patient sits in an ordinary tub with the
limbs extended and the water deep enough to
reach the umbilicus. The temperature of the
water is gradually raised until as hot as
can possibly be borne. The duration of the bath should
be two to ten minutes. At the end the temperature may be reduced to 80° F. for half a minute. The patient should be then put in bed and
wrapped up warmly. Hot fomentations over the
painful parts, the arc light, photophore, thermophore, galvanism and massage
are other measures which may be used
advantageously. Sometimes sciatica is due to
intestinal autointoxication.
Most persons suffering from
sciatica are subjects of chronic
constipation. One of the most effective
measures of combating the disease is to change the intestinal flora and to
secure normal bowel activity, that is, three or four full bowel movements
daily. The patient should adopt permanently a strictly anti-toxic diet. A
person who suffers pain in the hip which does not rapidly yield to treatment
should submit him self to examination by a competent x-ray specialist. Pain
in this region is not infrequently due to sarcoma or some other form of
malignant disease, or to tuberculosis.