Can Sciatica Cause Abdominal Pain
Your sciatic nerve runs all the way down your legs. When you have inflammation or irritation of the sciatic nerve, you have what everyone calls sciatica. This results in a pain that can range from mild to severe.
Now, imagine that you’re walking down the street in what is a normal day for you. As you walk, you feel something pulling in your leg. Or maybe, the pain is on your lower back.
What started as some discomfort, it now has become a severe pain that barely allows you to walk back home. That’s what sciatica can be like.
The best thing you can do is to look for professional help. Before sciatica becomes an emergency, you can consult a chiropractor to make sure that you keep it under control.
Now, many people experience a certain abdominal pain and wonder if it can be sciatica or something else. That’s why many people wonder, can sciatica cause abdominal pain? According to chiropractors, the answer is yes. Even though it’s rare, sciatica can cause abdominal pain. Now, usually, the pain is experienced in the lower back and the legs.
The most important thing is that no matter where the pain is felt, sciatica must be treated. If left untreated, sciatica can become what is called cauda equina syndrome. This is an emergency case that causes a crippling pain in the legs, stomach, and crotch area.
This syndrome can also cause numbness and weakness to the hips and loss of bowel control. When you experience any of those symptoms, you should see a doctor immediately.
Where Can The Sciatica Cause Pain
As mentioned earlier, sciatica can cause abdominal pain, but it’s rare. If you don’t have pain in other places that are more common for sciatica cases, chances are that you have another problem. That’s why it’s important to know where the pain is usually felt.
So, sciatica can cause pain where the sciatic nerve is located. This means from your lower back all the way down your legs. This is the most common places that sciatica will cause you pain. Below you have a more detailed look into each of those areas, so you can better assess and see for yourself if you could be experiencing sciatica. For those wanting a plan that will give you sciatica relief within 7 days, click here to get the details.
Lower Back Pain
The lower back is usually the first area that you experience sciatica pain. It starts with a pulling sensation on your muscle and develops into a severe, deep pain that gives you the sensation that something is perforating your muscle. This happens only when you don’t treat the symptoms as they occur.
The lower back pain caused by sciatica will limit your ability to sit down and get up. This is due to the fact that you force the muscles of your lower back as you make those movements. You may also experience pain if you don’t have a perfect posture.
The best thing you can do here is to look for a physician or a chiropractor. The important thing is that you treat it to make sure it doesn’t become severe pain or a syndrome.
A Constant Pain In The Rear
This type of pain, when caused by sciatica, worsens when you’re sitting. If you experience anything similar to that, it’s likely to be sciatica. The important thing is that you pay attention to your body before the situation becomes worrisome.
So, the pain in the rear is more commonly caused by sciatica, especially if you experience constant pain in the area. Now, since not everything is sciatica, the best thing you can do is to consult a chiropractor.
The pain in the rear is more like a deep pain than a pulling sensation that occurs on the lower back and the legs. So, paying attention to the type of pain also helps the correct treatment.
Pain In The Leg
The pain in the leg is considered the worst overall when it comes to sciatic pain. This is due to the pain in the legs being not only a problem when you sit but also when you walk. For instance, when you sit down some things hurt, and when you walk something pulls.
Now, the pain in the legs is usually stronger in the thighs. As you walk, you have this sensation that something is both pulling the muscle and perforating the leg at the same time. This can limit your movements and weaken the leg muscles.
The pain in the legs may also be a sign that the sciatica is worsening, so you should see a physician as soon as you can.
Possible Reasons For Abdominal Pain
So, sciatica can cause abdominal pain in rare cases. For that reason, the best you can do is to eliminate other possible symptoms that have similar pain experiences. This helps the doctor or chiropractor identify what may be causing your abdominal pain.
For example, you may experience abdominal pain due to stomach viruses, indigestion, constipation, and other reasons. The point is that there are many possible causes for your symptoms, and quite often a diagnosis is made by eliminating possible causes.
A good rule of thumb is that if you only feel the abdominal pain without experience pain in any other area that you usually would feel due to sciatica, chances are that it’s something else.
Sciatica
Many people believe that sciatica cannot cause abdominal pain. That’s because it’s not common for people to feel abdominal pain due to sciatica. Still, it’s possible. It usually happens in severe cases. That’s when you may be developing a cauda equina syndrome.
Now, the abdominal pain will usually come with the lower back, leg, or rear pain. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to every symptom to make sure it isn’t something else.
If it is sciatica, the best you can do is to begin treatment to make sure that you keep it under control. The sciatica usually begins as something that you can live with, but it can develop into some unbearable pain.
Gas and Constipation
It may seem weird, but the pain from gas and constipation can be confused as a sciatica abdominal pain. Especially if you’ve never felt both, you can’t really tell the difference. So, it’s possible that you would have one and think is the other.
That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to everything. For instance, gas and constipation are easier to spot. You are aware if you have been going to the bathroom regularly, so you know if it’s possible that your problem is gas and constipation.
Now, the best way to find out, in case you’re not sure, is to go and see a doctor. Obviously, the treatments are quite different and the time to recover as well.
Stomach Virus
A stomach virus can also cause similar pain. This problem can cause symptoms such as diarrhea and stomach pain. That stomach pain is similar to the same one that you would feel in a sciatica case. Since most abdominal pain is extremely similar, without the opinion of a professional, you can really distinguish them.
Now, if you remember to have eaten something different, or that you have other symptoms like diarrhea, it may be easier to find out that your problem is a stomach virus. Still, the best option is to go see a doctor if you’re experiencing any abdominal pain.
Cramps
Cramps, especially menstrual cramps, are quite similar to a sciatica abdominal pain. This is like the easiest one to get it confused with sciatica pain. The deep, long-lasting pain in the stomach description could be used to both of them.
If you’re a woman, it’s a good idea to talk about your menstrual cycle with your doctor to make sure that it isn’t the case.
Now, if your problem is sciatica, the pain will probably last longer. With cramps, it’s common for the pain to come and go. With sciatica, the pain is usually constant.
Treatments
If you do have a sciatica diagnosis, then you’ll have to initiate treatment as soon as you can to keep it under control. Usually, the treatment will happen with a chiropractor.
The first thing that you’re going to do is spinal manipulation. The chiropractor will gently and slowly realign your vertebrae. Then, you can do massage therapy to relax the muscles and heal the tissues.
Then, you begin treatment with stretches and exercises. Lastly, you’ll have to make some lifestyle changes. For example, sleeping with a pillow between your legs, avoiding sleeping on your stomach, and other things.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are many things that can cause abdominal pain. Still, sciatica can be one of them. Also, you have to pay attention to every single symptom that you have even if you don’t think they’re connected.
Now, if your problem really is sciatica, you must begin treatment before it develops into something more severe. The important thing is that you don’t ignore the signs that your body gives you. Check out this treatment plan that will relieve you of sciatica pain in less than seven days.