Lifestyle and home remedies

For most people, sciatica responds well to self-care measures. You'll heal more quickly if you continue with your usual activities but avoid what may have triggered the pain in the first place. Although resting for a day or so may provide some relief, prolonged inactivity will make your signs and symptoms worse.
Other self-care treatments that may be helpful include:

• Cold packs. Initially, you may get relief from a cold pack placed on the painful area for up 20 minutes several times a day. Use an ice pack or a package of frozen peas wrapped in a clean towel.
• Hot packs. After two to three days, apply heat to the areas that hurt. Use hot packs, a heat lamp or a heating pad on the lowest setting. If you continue to have pain, try alternating warm and cold packs.
• Stretching. Stretching exercises for your low back can help you feel better and may help relieve nerve root compression. Avoid jerking, bouncing or twisting during the stretch and try to hold the stretch at least 30 seconds.
• Over-the-counter medications. Pain relievers such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) and naproxen (Aleve) are sometimes helpful for sciatica. 

Alternative medicine

Alternative therapies commonly used for low back pain include:

• Acupuncture. In acupuncture, the practitioner inserts hair-thin needles into your skin at specific points on your body. Some studies have suggested that acupuncture can help back pain, while others have found no benefit. If you decide to try acupuncture, choose a licensed practitioner to ensure that he or she has had extensive training.
• Chiropractic. Spinal adjustment (manipulation) is one form of therapy chiropractors use to treat restricted spinal mobility. The goal is to restore spinal movement and, as a result, improve function and decrease pain. Spinal manipulation appears to be as effective and safe as standard treatments for low back pain.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sciatica/basics/alternative-medicine/con-20026478

Sciatica can have many causes

Like other common medical terms, sciatica is not the name of a disease. Rather, it is a set of symptoms (a syndrome) that includes pain, numbness, weakness or tingling in the lower back, buttocks and parts of the legs, knees or feet. Usually, this happens on one side of the body only. We give this syndrome the name “sciatica” because of its relation to the sciatic nerve.

What causes sciatica?
The sciatic nerve is the longest and widest nerve in your body. It starts in your lower back, runs through your buttocks, divides into two branches in your thighs and runs down each leg to your feet. Very simply, when the fibers of this nerve are compressed or irritated, it hurts big time.
What’s happening in your body? There are many ways that the sciatic nerve can get in trouble, and depending on the location, we give it a different name. For example: There is a muscle called the piriformis that goes from your sacroiliac joint (bottom of the spine) to your hip bone. And alas, the sciatic nerve runs right under the piriformis. That means that if the piriformis spasms or is just too tight, then you have instant sciatica. This is called piriformis syndrome. Sciatica can result from a herniated (ruptured) disc, a bone spur on the spine or stenosis (abnormal narrowing) of the spinal canal. The weight of the fetus during pregnancy, and rarely, vigorous coughing or even sneezing, and even more rarely, one vertebra sliding over another can result in sciatica. Arthritis, osteoporosis, a tumor, blood clot or abscess can be sources of pressure on the nerve, as well.


Herniated disc Between each pair of vertebrae in your spine is a cushioning pad that we call a “disc.” The disc consists of a tough fibrous outer ring that contains a soft, central portion. In this most common cause of sciatica (some say 90 percent), that fibrous ring gets torn, allowing the jellylike inside of the disc to bulge out. This may not only put pressure on nerve fibers, but also release an inflammatory chemical called tumor necrosis factor-alpha that causes pain even without compression; TNF may also be present if there is stenosis. And isn’t it really annoying when your doctor says something like, ‘You know, Mr. Keller, age is a factor!’ Alas, however, aging, as well as wear and tear, leads to some unfortunate changes in the spinal discs. Specifically, that soft, cushioning interior becomes a bit stiff, and so more of the load it bears is transferred to the outer ring. This additional pressure can lead to cracks in the ring, sometimes big enough to allow the inner material to bulge through.

Prevention
But the best therapy for sciatica is preventing it in the first place, and there are some very simple precautions you can take: Keep your weight under control, get regular physical activity and don’t sit for extended periods of time. Also — especially to men — don’t carry your wallet or anything else in your hip pockets, and wear an elastic belt instead of the unforgiving leather that most men use. Daily stretching exercises (15 minutes maximum) will keep your piriformis and other gluteal muscles flexible. To help head off disc herniations, avoid especially heavy lifting and exaggerated twisting of the torso.

 http://www.newburyportnews.com/news/lifestyles/article_52eb436e-5709-5f28-b0da-7b98ae8995d2.html

What Causes Sciatica?

6 Most Common Causes of Sciatica

There are 6 lower back problems that are the most common causes of sciatica:

Lumbar herniated disc
A herniated disc occurs when the soft inner core of the disc (nucleus pulposus) leaks out, or herniates, through the fibrous outer core (annulus) and irritates the contiguous nerve root.
A herniated disc is sometimes referred to as a slipped disc, ruptured disc, bulging disc, protruding disc, or a pinched nerve. Sciatica is the most common symptom of a lumbar herniated disc
Degenerative disc disease
While disc degeneration is a natural process that occurs with aging, for some people one or more degenerated discs in the lower back can also irritate a nerve root and cause sciatica.
Degenerative disc disease is diagnosed when a weakened disc results in excessive micro-motion at that spinal level, and inflammatory proteins from inside the disc become exposed and irritate the area (including the nerve roots).

Isthmic spondylolisthesis
This condition occurs when a small stress fracture allows one vertebral body to slip forward on another (e.g. the L5 vertebra slips over the S1 vertebra).
With a combination of disc space collapse, the fracture, and the vertebral body slipping forward, the nerve can get pinched and cause sciatica.


Lumbar spinal stenosis
This condition commonly causes sciatica due to a narrowing of the spinal canal. Lumbar spinal stenosis is related to natural aging in the spine and is relatively common in adults over age 60.
The condition typically results from a combination of one or more of the following: enlarged facet joints, overgrowth of soft tissue, and a bulging disc placing pressure on the nerve roots, causing sciatica pain.


Piriformis syndrome
The sciatic nerve can get irritated as it runs under the piriformis muscle in the buttock. If the piriformis muscle irritates or pinches a nerve root that comprises the sciatic nerve, it can cause sciatica-type pain.
This is not a true radiculopathy (the clinical definition of sciatica), but the leg pain can feel the same as sciatica caused by a nerve irritation.

Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
Irritation of the sacroiliac joint - located at the bottom of the spine - can also irritate the L5 nerve, which lies on top of the sacroiliac joint, causing sciatica-type pain.
The leg pain can feel the same as sciatica caused by a nerve irritation.http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/sciatica/sciatica-causes