Chronic pain can be incredibly disruptive to your daily life and can prevent you from working, participating in the activities you love, and can even impact your sleep. Your condition can be made even worse when the pain radiates from the back down through the hip and into the leg. This is the signature pain that’s linked with sciatica, which affects about four out of ten people at some point in their life. If you’re suffering from sciatica pain, a chiropractor at Foundations Spine and Well-Necessities can provide gentle and effective sciatica treatment, without the use of drugs. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that chiropractic treatment can help with sciatic pain. Our chiropractors utilize techniques that can provide instant pain relief to improve a person’s physical wellbeing and overall quality of life.
Stemming from the sacrum and the lower back are nerve roots that become the largest nerve in the body, known as the sciatic nerve. This nerve is basically a junction point for all the nerves that branch down through the legs, hips, and buttocks. When a part of this nerve is compressed through an underlying issue, such as a herniated disc, it can cause problems all down the line.
In the human body, that problem can present several symptoms, such as:
The most common cause of sciatic pain is a herniated disc; however, spinal tumors and bone spurs can also be to blame. In some cases, disc herniation can result in spinal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the spaces within the spine. This can lead to sciatica. Pain during pregnancy is also often caused by the compression of the sciatic nerve.
Other conditions that can cause sciatic pain can include:
Piriformis syndrome is another common cause of sciatica. This muscle connects to the thighbone and assists in hip rotation, passing over the sciatic nerve. The muscle is susceptible to injury from a difference in leg length, hip arthritis, and slip and falls. These situations can cause muscle cramping and spasming to develop in the piriformis muscle, which can pinch the sciatic nerve and cause pain and inflammation.
People who are at risk of sciatica can benefit from regular chiropractic treatment.
If you have a diagnosis of sciatica, medical attention is often required to manage pain. The treatment for sciatica can vary, depending on your unique circumstances. In some cases, a physician may recommend common treatments such as:
Physical therapy, combined with chiropractic treatment and other alternative therapies will allow a patient to explore a natural approach to sciatic pain treatment. Our chiropractors often work closely with physical therapists to create treatment plans to better help our clients and improve their quality of life.
Many patients who have tried anti-inflammatories, over-the-counter pain relievers, epidural steroid injections, and other drug-based treatments, have not found a long-term solution for improvements in pain.
While sciatica can cause severe pain that can be very debilitating, treatment from a skilled chiropractor can provide improvement in leg pain naturally and gently. This type of care focuses on treating the pain without harmful and costly side effects and without the use of surgical intervention, which can often make the pain worse. Common treatments used in chiropractic care, along with simple self-care treatments, can help decrease pain, reduce or eliminates muscle spasms, improve muscle flexibility, and minimizes or eliminates nerve pain, safely, and effectively.
Some of the common treatments we offer include:
Chiropractic massage offers many benefits for pain relief. It may induce the release of endorphins that act as natural painkillers and promote deep muscle relaxation. While a regular massage can release tension and muscle soreness, chiropractic massage is directed towards healing and soothing sciatica while reducing or eliminating muscle spasms. Our chiropractors have in-depth knowledge of the musculoskeletal system. They know where and how to apply pressure to make sure that the healing process begins. There are many benefits of massage therapy, especially when used with alternative therapies offered at our facility.
Alternating heat and cold therapy have been used by chiropractors to provide instant sciatic pain relief. Hot packs dull the pain and release tight muscles. Using cold packs slows down the blood flow, easing inflammation. A chiropractor understands the type of treatment that’s suitable for a person suffering from sciatica.
Chiropractors can apply spinal manipulation that allows a herniated disc to rest into position. This will take the pressure off the sciatic nerve. These types of adjustments can also help to free limited spinal movement while restoring misaligned vertebral discs. The techniques used can vary from a fast high-velocity thrust to a combination of gentle pressure and minimal force. These techniques allow a chiropractor to gently move the lower vertebral to avoid applying pressure directly to the sciatic nerve. This reduces pain and helps the body to regain nerve signal mobility and flow. Additionally, a chiropractor at our facility can use manipulations to stop muscles from spasming, which can provide long-term relief.
In some cases, the discs in the spine may become thinner and dry out naturally, resulting in spine compression and pinched nerves. A chiropractor can use spinal decompression to relieve compressed nerves that are causing sciatic pain. This can include techniques used to enhance the space between the vertebrae and lengthen the spine.
To learn more about your medical condition, a chiropractor will perform a physical exam and will discuss your medical history and look at every aspect of your life, including your daily activities. They may recommend activity modification, such as a new way to lift, sleep, sit, and stand to protect the positioning of the sciatic nerve. This can help a patient to strengthen the muscles in their back to keep the disc in place. They may also suggest basic exercises and a change in your activity level. The stronger the muscles in the back are, the less likely the discs will be to slip and put pressure on the sciatic nerve. A safe aerobic exercise program can improve muscle flexibility, can reduce acute pain, intense pain, and can complement both a physical therapy program and chiropractic treatment.
Moving in a certain way can worsen pain caused by sciatica. Depending on the root cause of the sciatic pain, a chiropractor can recommend exercises that will prevent nerve aggravation and can also help with releasing the pressure that comes from muscles that are tight and inflamed. These exercises may include stretches that can be done at home. Yoga is also often recommended to help relieve sciatic pain and can address chronic muscle weakness, using core muscle strengthening exercises.
Sciatica may be accompanied by painful and tight bands of muscles called trigger points. A person with sciatica is more likely to experience these areas of painful muscles that respond well to chiropractic adjustments, soft tissue mobilization, and trigger point dry needling. Fortunately, our chiropractors have experience working with this type of common sciatica complication and can use effective techniques that can instantly help to relieve severe pain.
Sciatica tends to vary dramatically from person to person, which is why we take a very personalized approach to treatment. Many patients have come to us with complaints of sciatic pain and have been able to find instant relief with the dry needling technique. By placing needles around and into the trigger points, we can release the tension in the muscles to eliminate pain.
If you have sciatica, we can reduce or eliminate your pain with the use of multiple tools that we have available at our facility. One of our chiropractors will assess your condition to determine the root cause of your sciatica and discuss your treatment options. This type of customized care plan will allow us to provide the most effective and safest treatments that can successfully relieve your pain, instantly.
Sciatica can be very debilitating. In severe cases, it can prevent you from going to work, can cause trouble sleeping, standing, and even walking. You don’t have to live with sciatic pain. If you’re tired of taking medication that doesn’t seem to work and you’re ready to try a natural treatment that can help you get your life back, then it’s time to schedule an appointment with a chiropractor. We offer drug-free, non-invasive gentle treatments that can naturally relieve your pain in a matter of moments.
Not many people are aware that chiropractic care can effectively treat sciatica and can even instantly relieve pain. We know how debilitating this condition can be and how hard it is to go on with your life when you’re in so much pain.
A chiropractor at Foundations Spine and Well-Necessities can help ease sciatica pain both in the short and long term. This pain can be very debilitating and while sciatica is very common, there’s no reason you should have to suffer and learn to live with it. With the right treatment, you can experience instant pain relief. Our chiropractors are well-trained and have extensive experience working with patients who are suffering from sciatica. Contact our office today to schedule an appointment with one of our skilled and experienced chiropractors and let the experts at Foundations Spine and Well-Necessities instantly improve your quality of life.