Is sciatica pain disrupting your daily life? At Garden State Physical Therapy in Hillsborough, NJ, we understand how debilitating sciatica can be. Fortunately, our licensed physical therapists are here to help.

If you want to reclaim your active lifestyle, contact Garden State Physical Therapy today to discover our effective, personalized treatment plans.

How to Identify Sciatica Symptoms

Sciatica refers to a set of painful symptoms caused by the compression of the sciatic nerve, often due to a herniated or bulging spinal disk.

Common symptoms of sciatica include leg pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness in the legs. The severity of sciatica pain can vary, but it can be effectively treated with physical therapy.

Your physical therapist will diagnose sciatica through a thorough physical examination and may use imaging tests such as a CT scan or MRI to determine the exact cause of your pain.

Research shows that physical therapy often provides quicker and more effective pain relief than pain medications or surgery.

Once diagnosed, your physical therapist will create a customized treatment plan to relieve your pain, focusing on:

• Enhancing your range of motion

• Increasing strength and endurance

• Improving flexibility with targeted stretching exercises

• Educating you on proper body mechanics for standing, bending, lifting, and twisting

• Assessing and correcting your posture

Our physical therapists have access to advanced treatment modalities designed to alleviate your pain and prevent sciatica from recurring.

What to Expect from Physical Therapy Treatment

To alleviate sciatica pain, your physical therapist may use various treatments. Active treatments involve movements, stretches, and specific exercises to reduce pain and speed up healing.

Your therapist will guide you through exercises in our clinic and provide routines you can do at home to manage your pain effectively. If muscle weakness contributes to your pain, you will receive corrective exercises to strengthen your core.

Strengthening exercises may also target your hip, abdominal, and gluteal muscles. These exercises help fortify the spinal column, including tendons, ligaments, and supporting muscles, ensuring proper spinal alignment.

Stretching exercises are essential in treating stiff and inflexible muscles. Stretching the hamstrings is a crucial part of a sciatica treatment plan. Your therapist may also suggest aquatic exercises for low-impact movements that are easier to perform in water.

Passive treatments such as massage therapy, ice and heat therapies, electrical stimulation, and ultrasound can also be used. These techniques help reduce pain, stimulate blood flow, and accelerate recovery.

Massage therapy is particularly effective for sciatica, as it alleviates pain by relaxing back muscles that may be pressing on the sciatic nerve. Ice and heat therapies are also commonly used to ease pain, relax muscles, and reduce inflammation.

Get Relief Today at Garden State Physical Therapy!

You can effectively treat sciatica with physical therapy, a non-invasive approach that addresses the root cause of your pain. Your physical therapist will develop a personalized treatment plan tailored to your specific condition.

At Garden State Physical Therapy, our mission is to help you live a pain-free life without the need for harmful drugs or surgery.

If you’re suffering from sciatica, contact our Hillsborough, NJ clinic today to schedule a consultation with one of our expert physical therapists. We’ll help you return to the pain-free life you deserve.