Chiropractic Helps Sciatica: Fact or Fiction?
If you are experiencing intense pain, burning or tingling, numbness or weakness that runs through your buttocks and/or down the back of one leg and may or may not be accompanied by lower back pain, there’s a good chance you may be suffering from sciatica. This debilitating condition makes it difficult to stand, sit, lie down or walk.
Many people are unfamiliar with Sciatica so it is important to understand What is Sciatica, What is the Most Common Cause of Sciatica, What Are Other Causes of Sciatica, and importantly, How Chiropractic Treats Sciatica.
What is Sciatica?
Sciatica is a general term for the condition described above, i.e. intense pain, burning or tingling, numbness or weakness that runs through your buttocks and/or down the back of one leg and may or may not accompanied by lower back pain. This is a relatively common condition with about 40% of the population suffering from sciatica at some point in their lives.
This condition is known as sciatica because it is caused by an irritation or damage to the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the body and is about the size of a finger. It runs from your low back down through the buttocks and along the back of each leg to the foot.
You can feel pain at any point along the sciatic nerve but typically is felt through the buttock and down the back of the leg and into your foot and/or toes. For this reason you could feel pain, tingling, or numbness in your feet that is actually the result of an issue with the main sciatic nerve.
What is the Most Common Cause of Sciatica
In most cases, sciatica occurs when a lumbar (low back) vertebra is out of alignment or a disk herniates or bulges and there is pressure on the sciatic nerve. When a disk herniates the soft core of the disk protrudes or bulges into the spinal cord causing pressure on the nerve. This causes the nerves to send involuntary signals that cause a sensation of tingling, numbness, burning or pain.
What Are Other Causes of Sciatica
- Arthritis of the spine that occurs over time can compress or rub on the sciatic nerve.
- A back injury that causes inflammation in the lower back can trigger sciatic pain.
- Pressure on the low back from obesity.
- Poor posture while sitting or walking can place undue stress on the nerve
- A tumor that presses on the sciatic nerve or some other disease process that results in inflammation or damage to this large nerve.
How Chiropractic Treats Sciatica
Chiropractic is almost universally recognized as very effective conservative treatment for sciatica.
Through a combination of techniques chiropractic can provide genuine, sustained relief for the pain of sciatica by relieving and eliminating the pressure that causes the pain without the need for surgery or drugs. By correcting the problem at its source, chiropractic helps people suffering with sciatica return to a normal, active life..
These non-invasive techniques may be used in combination with Chiropractic adjustments to help eliminate sciatic pain:
- Decompression Therapy – Helps heal bulging discs putting pressure on the sciatic nerve
- Ice Therapy (Cryotherapy) – Provides relief by helping to reduce inflammation
- Low Light Laser Therapy – Stimulates the cell mitochondria to promote healing
- Ultrasound Therapy – Increases circulation to help reduce inflammation and increase healing
(…An alternative to surgery when sciatic pain is the result of disc herniation is chemonucleolysis with chymopapain. Since this enzyme is effective only in very specific circumstances, proper patient selection is crucial. Five criteria for selection are presented, emphasizing that since chemonucleolysis is not conservative treatment, it should be reserved for patients whose pain is unrelieved by conservative methods…)
