Sciatica is a painful condition that occurs when the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve runs from your back to your butt and down each of your legs, becomes compressed. There are many symptoms, including severe pain in the lower back or buttocks, numbness or weakness in one leg (or both), difficulty walking or standing up straight, and shooting pains into other parts of the body.
As you can imagine, it’s not only excruciating but challenging to live with as well. Fortunately for sufferers, there are treatments available – such as chiropractic care – that can help reduce these symptoms and lead to fewer days of feeling uncomfortable.
Dr. Norman O’Dell is a chiropractor who specializes in the treatment of sciatica. He can quickly treat sciatica symptoms with gentle, safe, and effective chiropractic adjustments that are guaranteed to sway away from the symptoms. Minimal risks are accompanying an adjustment, but the benefits outweigh them. However, Dr. O’Dell also offers other treatments for patients who cannot adjust due to health concerns or other reasons such as pregnancy or cancer treatment.
What is Sciatica?
Sciatica is a condition that causes pain, numbness, or tingling in the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is an extensive collection of nerves running from your hips to your feet and back again, with branches going into your legs, buttocks, backside, and down the length of each leg. Sciatica is a condition where the nerve roots of the sciatic nerves are compressed or irritated. The pain can be severe and radiate down both legs, causing weakness in specific muscles that need to work together to control movement on one side of your body.
Sciatic pain is a common symptom of sciatica. The classic sign consists of lower back pain radiating out from the buttocks to the back of thigh and calf, sometimes affecting feet, too, with other symptoms such as numbness or tingling sensations in different parts of the leg and foot. Sciatic can be an annoying problem, but it’s not always serious (just like when you feel pins-and-needles sensation). It may cause debilitating soreness that prevents movement even for small distances.
Diagnosing sciatica is a complex process and should only be done by an expert physician. In order to diagnose, one of our chiropractors will first need your medical history and proceed to examine you thoroughly before making their decision on what’s wrong with you. Our chiropractors will probably ask about when symptoms began (including severity), any treatments that have been tried previously, and how those were successful or not for treating the pain in question.
The physical examination is an up-close and personal process that will allow the doctor to see if you have any limitations in movement, balance problems, or pain. Our chiropractors may also test reflexes in your extremities and evaluate muscle weakness, loss of sensation, or signs of neurological injury.
If needed, our chiropractors may request to do an x-ray for more severe conditions such as herniated discs at lower back levels. Still, it’s common for these types of things to show themselves during other parts of the exam instead of requiring further testing.
A chiropractor will use gentle adjustments specifically targeting the spine and other treatments such as electric stimulation therapy. These are proven methods to ease an individual’s sciatica symptoms if they are not suitable for adjustment due to health concerns and personal justifications.
How does Chiropractic care help people with Sciatica?
Dr. O’Dell could use many chiropractic treatments to help alleviate sciatica. For instance, he may recommend an individualized exercise routine to relieve pressure and bring back the normal function of the sciatica nerve. These procedures typically include a chiropractic adjustment and some soft tissue work on the affected areas, such as removing tight muscles from around or near those regions for increased mobility.
One method by which chiropractors use is chiropractic adjustments. An adjustment is a way of restoring joint movement and alignment resulting from injury or degeneration. These corrections help people feel better by removing pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Spinal adjustments are safe and effective for relieving sciatica symptoms, and they usually come with minimal risks.
Chiropractors are musculoskeletal experts that can treat aches and pains as well as provide customized stretching routines. Your chiropractor may be able to help you with your wellness goals in addition to the individualized treatment they offer, such as personalized stretch plans for clients looking for relief from pain caused by immobility or injury recovery following surgery.
What is a chiropractic adjustment?
An adjustment is a way of restoring joint movement and alignment resulting from injury or degeneration. These corrections help people feel better by removing pressure on the sciatic nerve.
This treatment aims to take the pressure off the sciatic nerve, which should help relieve pain and allow healing. This technique changes how bones are aligned for the nerves not to cause inflammation or any other symptoms like numbness and tingling.
Chiropractors are trained to be able to use a variety of techniques, including high-velocity thrusts on vertebrae and joints. These can help the body’s natural healing process by restoring healthy alignment to alleviate pain caused by misaligned bones or muscle tension.
What are some treatment options for Sciatica?
There are other methods besides adjustments that can be used in cases where an individual does not qualify for chiropractic care, such as:
- Electric stimulation therapy (a proven method to reduce pain);
- Ultrasound;
- Spinal manipulation;
- Therapeutic massage with deep tissue work; and
- Cold laser therapy plus nutritional counseling/supplements/vitamins and minerals if needed.
However, O’Dell Family Chiropractic focuses on the following interventions besides spinal adjustments:
- Exercise Routine: Regular exercise is a critical component in managing the symptoms of sciatica. Exercise helps to strengthen muscle tissue and joints on your spine, reducing pressure on nerve roots that are causing pain (sciatica). If you commit to exercising every day for six weeks or more, then your symptoms may be reduced over time, and there’ll be fewer recurrences as well.
- Proper Nutrition: A healthy, balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables is something we should all aim for. The most common inquiry is the food suitable for sciatica relief. When sciatic pain attacks, an increased level of nerve inflammation is evident; thus, anti-inflammatory foods will be appropriate to reduce the symptoms. For instance, saturated fats may induce inflammation. Deep-fried foods, fatty foods, dairy products with high-fat levels, and processed foods must be avoided since they have high levels of saturated fats.
- Massage Therapy: Massage therapy can be a powerful tool to promote healing in the body. By stimulating blood vessels, there is increased circulation of nutrients and oxygen and enhanced removal of waste products from your tissues, which all contribute to an increase in health overall. Massage stimulates specific pressure receptors in your brain that trigger the production of endorphins-the chemicals responsible for feelings of happiness. Massages increase blood flow around our bodies, so these special nerve fibers will be stimulated – causing them to produce more happy hormones.
As you can see, there are a number of treatment options for sciatica. We recommend starting with the most conservative treatments first before moving to more aggressive ones. If you have any questions about what may be best for your condition, contact us, and we’ll help figure out an individualized plan just for you.
Our chiropractors are trained to diagnose and treat this condition with the utmost care. Because of their knowledge, training, and experience in both manual therapy techniques and medicine, they can provide a wide range of treatments that may be used for sciatica pain relief.
For example, spinal adjustments may help alleviate pressure on nerves, while other therapies such as cold laser or massage might also relieve symptoms through different mechanisms. If you’re looking for a chiropractor near me and at-home remedies for your back pain, then contact us today! We have helped many people find relief from chronic conditions like sciatica, so we know how to get results fast. Request an appointment now to find the sciatica specialist relief near me!
References:
- https://ainsworthinstitute.com/conditions/sciatica/
- https://brentwoodchiropractic.ca/sciatica-what-is-it-what-causes-it-and-how-chiropractic-can-treat-it/#:~:text=Generally%2C%20chiropractors%20will%20address%20sciatica,release%20to%20the%20affected%20areas.
- https://pro-chiro.co.uk/how-can-chiropractors-help-with-sciatica/
- https://wellhealthcenters.com/sciatica-pain-chiropractor-help
- https://www.spine-health.com/blog/how-exercise-sciatica
- https://www.sciatic-relief.com/can-your-diet-affect-your-sciatica/
- https://www.spine-health.com/blog/massage-ease-sciatica-pain
