Nonsurgical Solutions for Sciatica That Provide Lasting Relief

If you live with persistent pain from sciatica, you may be getting desperate. You don’t need to resort to surgery just yet, though. Not only do invasive options such as spinal fusion come with major recovery windows, but they can impact you for the rest of your life. 

Fortunately, Dr. Jonathan Carlson has plenty of alternatives you can explore before you go under the knife. He routinely helps people get relief from sciatica, so he knows what works. 

Here at Hawai’i Pain & Spine on the Windward side of O’ahu in Kailua, Hawai’i, Dr. Carlson can recommend treatments to alleviate your pain. Those might include:

1. Oral medication

In a lot of cases, sciatic pain comes from swelling (inflammation). You feel that shooting pain, tingling sensation, and other symptoms because something is pressing on your sciatic nerve. You have two of these key nerves. Each one runs from your low back down one of your legs. 

Inflammation in any sciatic nerve-adjacent area, and particularly in your lower back, can put pressure on this nerve. Fortunately, Dr. Carlson can help you target inflammation with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which you take orally. 

Similarly, he may recommend muscle relaxers to ease tight muscles and reduce pressure on your sciatic nerve.

2. Physical therapy

Targeted stretching and strengthening exercises give you a way to approach your sciatica from both sides. First, it can help alleviate your symptoms. Just as importantly, it can help improve your mobility and reduce the risk of future flare-ups. 

Dr. Carlson may recommend that you try some of these exercises at home, or he may help you connect with a physical therapist. 

3. Epidural corticosteroid injections

Sometimes, sciatica symptoms are so painful that physical therapy doesn't feel possible. If that’s true for you, Dr. Carlson may inject a corticosteroid near the affected area. This way, he can directly apply a powerful anti-inflammatory medicine right where you need it. 

4. Regenerative medicine 

Regenerative medicine gives you a way to tap into your body’s innate healing power, amplifying it to address your symptoms. 

Dr. Carlson offers platelet-rich plasma (PRP), for example. That means he uses a small sample of your blood to create a solution rich in platelets and the many growth factors they contain. Injecting these into the affected area can support healing in damaged tissue. 

Don’t hobble your way through life, but don’t jump to surgery, either. To explore nonsurgical treatments that can alleviate your sciatic pain, call our office to schedule an appointment with Dr. Carlson.