Sciatica Management

Course Description

How many times have you wondered if someone’s sciatica is really just pain in the butt or a symptom of something more involved? Sciatica is characterized by buttock and leg pain in the sciatic distribution. How does one distinguish between the various sources of sciatic pain, from lumbar disc disorder to a thick wallet in someone’s back pocket? Multiple clinical entities share
similar presentations such as lumbosacral radiculopathy, spondylolisthesis, piriformis syndrome, spinal stenosis and red flag diagnoses such as epidural hematoma or cancer. Explore the
causes of sciatica, how to perform provocative testing and determine optimal interventions to target involved tissues. Discover how to rapidly assess sciatica and design a plan of care to
effectively address the pain, sensory, motor, and functional impairments associated with sciatica. Master the art of sciatica management and help your patients rid themselves of that pain in the butt.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Explain factors contributing to development of sciatica and differentiation between sciatica and herniated disc, lumbosacral radiculopathy, nerve root impingement, piriformis syndrome, spinal stenosis, muscle spasm, Potts (TB) disease, neoplasm, epidural abscess or hematoma,
• Assess the sciatic nerve using sensory and motor tests, SLR, slump tests, sciatic neurodynamics and piriformis test.
• Incorporate manual therapy, exercise, neurodynamics and education to reduce compression and tension impairments, reduce symptoms and improve function for people with sciatica.
• Evaluate the clinical practice guidelines for sciatica, discuss the evidence for effectiveness of manual interventions and education for sciatica.

• Prerequisites

  None

• Educational Level

  Intermediate

• Other

  Satisfactory completion of this course will require the participant to respond to polling questions asked throughout the webinar.