Sciatica Treatment in Omaha

Sciatica is a potentially debilitating condition that causes moderate to severe back pain and lower leg pain. It can make walking and performing your daily tasks extremely difficult. Thankfully, our sciatica doctor in Omaha can diagnose the exact causes of your sciatic nerve pain and recommend the appropriate course of treatment to reduce your symptoms and heal the underlying injuries.

Understanding Sciatica and Sciatic Nerve Pain

When we talk about sciatica, we are not talking about a definitive diagnosis. Instead, the common medical term is used in reference to your symptoms. When a chiropractor, sciatica doctor or other medical professional tells you that you have sciatic nerve pain, they are actually saying that you have a compression of your sciatic nerve or the sciatic nerve is inflamed and pressing against other soft tissues and bones, and the compression or inflammation could be anywhere along the sciatic nerve.  The latter is important because the sciatic nerve starts in the lower back and extends into the feet after branching in the buttocks and traveling down each leg. This makes the sciatic nerve one of the longest nerves in the human body.

Symptoms of Sciatic Nerve Pain

A compression of the sciatic nerve primarily causes lower back and leg pain. However, it can also cause muscle weakness in the legs and loss of range of motion in the back. Most people experience worsening systems after sitting or standing for long periods of time.

Causes of Sciatic Nerve Pain

Most people develop sciatic nerve pain as the result of a herniated disc. However, sciatic nerve pain can also be caused by spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, piriformis syndrome and traumatic injuries, like falls at work and car accidents. Since sciatic nerve pain can be caused by a variety of different injuries and conditions, a complete diagnosis has to be made before an effective treatment plan can be developed.

Sciatic Nerve Pain Treatment with our Chiropractor in Omaha

Our chiropractor in Omaha can perform an examination and take digital x-rays to determine what is causing your sciatic nerve pain. Once a diagnosis has been made, our chiropractor will develop a three-pronged approach to help alleviate your symptoms, heal the injury and provide you with care to lower your risk of future injuries.

Spinal Adjustments

Spinal adjustments help realign slightly misaligned vertebrae in order to relieve the pressure on your sciatic nerve. This treatment can help with herniated discs, spondylolisthesis and spinal stenosis.

Intersegmental Traction

Intersegmental traction is a therapy that involves the use of a special chiropractic table. The table is adjusted according to your needs in order to mobilize the spinal column. During the treatment, two rollers continuously roll along the sides of the spinal column. This helps loosen tight muscles and ligaments that may be causing the spine to compress, contributing to herniated discs and back pain. This treatment is effective at healing sciatic nerve pain that is caused by a traumatic back injury and herniated discs.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is extremely effective at alleviating lower back pain that is caused by soft tissue injuries or muscle tightness. This treatment involves inserting sterile, thin needles into specific points along the spine to help facilitate the release of endorphins and increase circulation to the area.

Corrective Exercises

Many individuals with sciatic nerve pain often benefit from targeted corrective exercises as well as stretches. There are specific exercises that can help lower sciatic nerve pain when it flares, and exercises and stretches that can help strengthen weak back muscles.

Lifestyle Advice

When you have a back injury, the last thing you want to do is make the pain worse or re-injure the area while you are healing. Our lifestyle advice is designed to help you find safer ways to perform everyday tasks so that you do not aggravate your injury or re-injure your back while you are healing.

Nutritional Counseling

Your body needs the right types of macro and micro-nutrients in order to repair damaged tissues within the body. Our nutritional counseling service can help you improve the health of your diet so that your body has the right minerals and vitamins to heal your back injury.

Maintenance Care

Once the causes of your sciatic nerve pain have healed, our chiropractic doctor can provide you with ongoing maintenance care so that you can improve your overall health and help prevent future injuries or flare-ups of your sciatic nerve pain. Maintenance treatments can include any treatment that we offer in our Omaha office, but most often involves performing periodic spinal adjustments, intersegmental traction and acupuncture.

To schedule an appointment with our sciatica doctor in Omaha, NE, call us at 402-964-0300. Our chiropractors are ready to speak to you about how we can help.