Sciatica, What Now?

The Sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the human body. Sciatica is a very painful, and often disabling condition that normally is characterize by pain felt in the lower back, the buttocks, hip, and often times travels down your leg and into your foot. The pain can be sharp and shooting in nature, but also may include numbness, tingling and even muscle weakness. This pain is caused by compression or irritation of the nerve itself. The compression can occur in one of many different locations due to different reasons: arthritis in the lumbar spine, herniated disc, degenerated disc, or tight muscles around the hip joint, especially the piriformis muscle, this is called piriformis syndrome. Sciatica is also very common among pregnant women due to the postural changes that occur with pregnancy. For the sake of this article, any time Sciatica is mentioned I am also referring to piriofrmis syndrome.

There are many treatment options for sciatica. Everything from surgical intervention, corticosteroid injections, pharmaceutical treatment, or you could just wait and do nothing hoping the pain goes away. If these options don't sound appealing to you I suggest you read on.

Chiropractors all over the world have had great success treating Sciatica, It is the number one complaint I see in my private practice. Chiropractors take the time to determine what is causing the sciatica. Through exam they can determine if it is a disc problem, degenerative changes in the spine, or a spasmed piriformis muscle. Once the cause of the irritation is diagnosed, the Doctor of Chiropractic then designs a treatment plan that is geared towards eliminating that cause.

Chiropractors use physical techniques to treat sciatica because it is a physical problem. Stretching of tight muscles, spinal adjustments to increase range of motion, ultrasound therapy to minimize the inflammation, and massage therapy to reduce the muscle spasms that can be associated with this condition. By addressing the cause of the pain you have a much greater chance that the sciatic pain will not return. If you don't address the cause of the problem and only treat the symptom (pain) you are at a much higher risk for the sciatica to become chronic in nature, meaning it will most likely come back again.

In my experience, Sciatica responds very well to Chiropractic treatments, not only in the short-term, but, also in the long-term with recurrences being very minimal.

I highly recommend seeking the advice of a Chiropractor if you are suffering from sciatica. Treatments are un-invasive, safe, and effective.