What has sciatica got to do with your wallet? Well studies have shown that those who keep a stuffed wallet in their back pocket often suffer from sciatica. The possibility was first reported in an article in the “New England Journal of Medicine” in 1966.
This particular report was about a lawyer. The lawyer who was gradually accumulating charge cards in his wallet began to complain of pains in his left leg. These pains went away when he removed his wallet and returned when he stuffed it back into his pocket. The patient’s condition was described as “credit-carditis”. Another person is said to have developed this condition from stuffing handkerchiefs in his pocket during a particularly bad run of hay fever. Another reported similar pains from stuffing his back pocket with golf balls.
So, credit cards are not the only reason why people got sciatica. Truck drivers, sedentary workers, call center operators and others who stuff their wallets with visiting cards or sit with their chairs pressing into their piriformis muscle, too can suffer from sciatica.
The onset of the condition is very gradual and often unnoticed. The piriformis muscle is connected with the sciatica nerve and this disorder occurs when it is irritated by the piriformis muscle. The person experiences pain, tingling and numbness in the buttocks and along the path of the sciatic nerve descending down the lower thigh.
The diagnosis of this condition is largely clinical and one of exclusion. During physical examination the doctor will stretch the irritated piriformis and try to provoke a sciatic compression. This, rules out the possibility of herniated nucleus propulsus (HNP), facet arthropathy, spinal stenosis and lumbar muscle strain and all the high sounding medical conditions. When all this has been excluded the doctor performs a simple operation called walletectomy–where he asks you to remove your wallet and empty it for his efforts. Of course, he prevents you from putting it back in your back pocket with the visiting cards and credit cards. If it is not your wallet but your seat that is causing you the problem, I am sure he will say “Now move it man!”
Is it really OK to medicate someone who is ill? With the discovery of several life saving drugs, most of us would say a definite YES. Yet Doctors and medical practitioners have lost sight of the fact that medicating someone is the last thing they need to do. The tests and diagnosis comes first. A record of the patient history must come next.