Suggest Treatment For Severe Pain That Radiates From Buttocks To Foot

Posted on Sun, 19 Jul 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 19 Jul 2015 Answered on

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi. I am having severe pain that radiates from my buttocks down to my foot. Sometimes it's one leg, sometimes it's both. I will also have a pain that radiates around my hips. Walking is becoming impossible

Answered by Dr. Klarida Papaqako (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Possible sciatic nerve pain

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Thank you for using HCM,

I read carefully your query. From the description of the pain radiation it looks like you are having a sciatica nerve pinched, which may have happened from any activity that affects your back like weight lifting for example.

Most of the times it may be self limiting, it just needs about 4-6 weeks to heal completely.

If I was your caring doctor, I would give these recommendations:
-- Try to rest, but complete bed rest is not recommended. So doing as much movement as you can is advised.
-- Use regularly pain killers, like advil (600mg 3 times/day). Also other medications like muscle relaxants and antidepressants. Antidepressants actually can help in this setting by reducing pain perception in the brain. You will need a prescription from your local providers in order to have access to these medicines.
-- Physical therapy- a variety of low back conditioning and stretching exercises can be helpful.

Depending on the precise cause of the sciatica and the duration of symptoms, the outlook for recovery from sciatica ranges from excellent to having long-term chronic symptoms.

Hope you will find this helpful. Let me know if you need further clarifications. Otherwise please kindly close and rate the answer.

Take care,
Dr. Papaqako

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T