You are faced with this scenario – you feel a sharp pain running down your leg from your low back to your calf. You find it difficult to bend at the waist or to walk and worse yet, the pain is affecting your daily routine. Does this scenario sound familiar to you? Like many and perhaps millions, the symptoms you are experiencing are related to sciatic pain or better known as sciatica.
Chiropractic can help with individuals that suffer from sciatic pain. Before we can explain how Chiropractic can benefit those individuals that suffer from sciatic pain, we must define sciatica.
Sciatica is a pain that radiates down the buttocks region and down the back of the leg. Some individuals will also experience pain in the soles of the feet. The pain associated with sciatica can be described as sharp or burning in nature. Sciatica is also frequently accompanied with low-back discomfort but it can also occur in individuals with no history of back pain.
Sciatica is most commonly triggered by compression of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve emergencies from the spinal cord in the low back. It passes through the bony opening in the pelvis and beneath the muscles in the buttocks and halfway down the thigh. The compression of the sciatic nerve usually occurs at the region of the spine where the nerve is formed, in the spinal bones and pelvic region. This compression is known as a vertebral subluxation. Research studies have shown that vertebral subluxations are associated with increased risk or low back pain and sciatica.
Along with the vertebral subluxation, the sciatic nerve may be compressed by a ruptured spinal disc or by bony spurs caused by osteoarthritis. Swollen or tight muscles in the buttocks region may also restrict the nerve. In rare cases, the sciatic nerve may be compressed by a tumor or inflamed by a disease process.
Doctors of Chiropractic have a unique approach towards ending sciatic pain. The Chiropractor will investigate the cause of your pain, rather than merely covering up your symptoms. He will then work to correct the source of your complaint and will then strive to prevent a relapse by helping you achieve optimal health. Ending the sciatic pain usually involves restoring the motion and the alignment of the subluxated regions in the spine or pelvis. The Chiropractor achieves this with safe and gentle maneuvers called chiropractic adjustments. Along with the adjustments, the Chiropractor may recommend exercises, diet changes and perhaps some ergonomic changes to help in the recovery process.
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