Sciatica sounds like the name of an 80’s Rock Band but makes you feel like you are 80 years old! So, what exactly is sciatica? Your sciatic nerve travels from your lower back, past your hips, and down each of your legs. Sciatica pain can be found anywhere along this path and can stop anywhere in between causing pain to travel to the mid-thigh or as far as the toes.
Typically, sciatic nerve pain presents with pain only in one leg but can present with pain into both under certain conditions.
Sciatica Causes:
This condition often starts with either a misalignment of the vertebrae (known as subluxations) or it begins with disc injuries and bulges. In the case of spinal misalignment, there are many different ways this can happen and your chiropractor can evaluate you for this as well as one of the more common causes of sciatic nerve pain which is intervertebral disc related issues. There are a wide variety of disc injuries that can occur ranging from disc bulges and to disc extrusions. When a disc bulges it can cause a narrowing of the opening for your spinal cord or nerve roots and at times cause pressure on the nerve tissue causing the radiating leg pain and pain in the low back.
Treatment:
What we have found is that chiropractic manipulative adjustments (CMT) can greatly benefit most
people with sciatic nerve pain and research (1) shows that 28% of confirmed sciatic nerve patients with
disc herniation were symptom free at the 6 month follow up compared to just 6% in the control group not receiving CMT.
That being said, at Wellness 1 st Chiropractic, we believe that there is a time and place for all types of
care. Our goal is to evaluate you and determine if chiropractic manipulative treatment is right for you
and if not give you direction and referral to the appropriate care options.
It is important to note that severe nerve compression can lead to loss of sensation and even weakness in
your foot or toes. If you begin to develop notable numbness or weakness, we highly encourage you to
seek immediate medical care to have an MRI to visualize the extent and exact cause of the deficit so the
appropriate care can be rendered. Please call 507-437-7781 today for an evaluation.
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3072925/