How do Chiropractors Approach Sciatica?
If you feel pain, numbness, or tingling between your lower back and your leg, you’re not alone. Sciatica, one of the most common forms of back pain, occurs in about forty percent of the American adult population at least once in their lives, and is often recurring. But sciatica is merely a description of a problem with a particular nerve, which could be impinged for all sorts of reasons. At a chiropractic office, a musculoskeletal health expert would be able to diagnose the most likely cause of sciatica and develop a treatment plan to aid the body’s natural recovery with as little pain and intervention as possible.
What is the Sciatic Nerve?
Sciatic nerves are the largest nerves in the body. There is one in each leg, and they bundle together out of multiple nerves that emerge from the spinal cord in the lower back. They run through the muscles of the pelvic region and down each leg until they typically split in two behind the knee. Each section then continues into the foot. Compression in a sciatic nerve may result in pain or loss of function along its length, but usually occurs near its roots or as it weaves through the pelvis.
How Can the Sciatic Nerve be Injured?
The sciatic nerve can be compressed if the tissues surrounding it swell up after an acute injury, but it is more common for compression to result from slow, degenerative conditions. In either case, only one sciatic nerve would usually be compressed at a time. The sciatic nerve has five roots; two from the lumbar spine and three from the sacrum. If one of the soft discs between the lumbar vertebrae has ruptured, its gelatinous center may bulge outward and compress a nerve root. A fracture in the joints connecting the lumbar vertebrae could also result in one of the vertebrae slipping out of place and pressing down on the nerve, or in the release of chemical signals that would prompt the nearby muscles to swell.
Compression, or impingement, of the sciatic nerve, could also occur further down if one of the muscles or tendons in the pelvis is frayed. The lumbar vertebrae are connected to the upper femur by a deep wedge-shaped muscle called the piriformis. Usually, the sciatic nerve skirts around it, although in some people it goes straight through, and occasionally it divides in two and loops around it before bundling back together. In any configuration, if the piriformis muscle swells, it can impinge the sciatic nerve, and swelling in other muscles could also push the piriformis onto the sciatic nerve.
How Chiropractic Offices Treat Sciatica
Chiropractors would perform a variety of manual, range-of-motion, and imaging tests to verify that impingement of the sciatic nerve is the most likely cause of a patient’s distress. Our focus would then turn to relieving pressure on the nerve through means such as chiropractic adjustments and anti-inflammatory therapies. Adjustments can be performed both on joints and on soft tissues to move them back into place. Therapies such as electric muscle stimulation, low-level laser application, and ultrasound prompt increased blood flow, bringing fresh nutrients to injured muscles.
Sciatica usually clears up within six weeks, but preventing a relapse would require a patient to put their spinal discs, joints, and hip muscles under less stress. This would usually mean building up their core muscles to be able to take on more weight or reducing their overall weight. Stretching exercises would also make the hip muscles less vulnerable to fraying, and we can provide advice on posture when standing and seated that will distribute a person’s weight more evenly.
More Articles
- Caring for Your Joints and Muscles While Travel...
- Chiropractic Assistance for Sports Injuries
- Common Symptoms of Extremity Pain
- Conditions Treated by Spinal Decompression Ther...
- Chiropractors Can Help Relieve Lower Back Pain ...
- Common Causes of Pinched Nerves
- Getting to the Root of Shoulder Pain
- Causes of Neck Pain Your Chiropractor Can Help ...
- Chiropractic Care and Rest
- Problems in the Back Muscles
- Help for Herniated Discs
- Staying Safe While Groundskeeping
- Tightness in the Soft Tissues
- Backpack Usage
- Chiropractic and Headaches
- Good Habits for Your Spine at Work
- Maintaining Musculoskeletal Safety
- Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction
- Causes and Symptoms of Sciatica and How to Trea...
- Treating and Preventing Neck Pain
- Treating Your Back Pain
- Exercise for Fibromyalgia
- Spinal Decompression Therapy
- Travel for People with Musculoskeletal Trouble
- 10 Ways to Relieve Your Back Pain
- Whiplash Symptoms and Treatment
- Neck and Arm Radiculopathy Sharp pain
- Burner Stinger and Neck Injuries
- Frozen Shoulder
- Chiropractors Approach Sciatica
- Chiropractic Care for Pregnant Women
- Sleeping with Less Joint Pain
- Chiropractic Care and Heart Health
- Avoiding Neck Pain in the New Year
- Strengthen Your Immune System
- What is a Herniated Disc?
- National Chiropractic Health Month
- Proper Desk Posture
- Chiropractic Treatment For Auto Accident Injuries
- Hiking and Chiropractic
- Back Comfort at Home
- Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Runners
- What Is Multiple Sclerosis?
- Chiropractic Care for Headaches
- Back Muscle Spasms
- New Year, New Spine
- Slip & Fall Accidents During This Holiday Season
- Tips for Traveling with Joint Pain
- Prevent Back Injury While Doing Yard Work
- Brachial Plexus Injuries
- How Chiropractors help Athletes
- What Is Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS)?
- Degenerative Neck Pain
- Tips to Healthier Living this summer
- Back Pain and the Gluteal Region
- Workplace Habits and Poor Posture
- The Connection between Whiplash and Concussions
- Psychological Consequences of Back Pain
- What Is Sciatica?
- Effects of Inflammation in the Body
- Three Major Types of Mattresses
- How Standing Affects the Back
- Pregnancy Aches and Pains: How Chiropractic Can...
- Pediatric Chiropractic
- Chiropractic Approach to Arthritis
- Physical Effects of Stress
- Myofascial Release Technique
- Sleeping Positions for Aches and Pains
- Causes and Treatments of Hip Pain
- Back Pain in Cold Weather
- How the Change of Seasons Affects Our Health
- Chiropractic Treatment for Migraine Headaches
- Graston Technique
- Vertigo and Chiropractic Care